Blazers G Wesley Matthews (Irregular Heartbeat) Set To Play In Regular Season Opener

Portland Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews met with reporters Friday to discuss an irregular heartbeat that he suffered during practice on Wednesday practice that kept him from making the trip for Thursday's preseason win over the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.

Matthews underwent an electrical procedure to address the irregularity on Wednesday. He received clearance to return to practice on Friday, which he did, and he said that he will play in the Blazers' regular season opener against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 30.

Are you OK?

Anything with your heart, of course it's going to scare you. My health has been great. It still is, it's still fine. No concerns. I'm good.

How did it happen?

I don't know. I can't tell you. It's probably a combination of things, stress, fatigue, you know I don't sleep. I talked to [Blazers GM] Neil [Olshey] and [trainer] Geoff [Clark] and we're putting something together with that. I was just practicing, felt fine, felt great. We were shooting free throws and I felt my heart racing, like it was trying to jump out of my chest. I kept playing for al ittle bit and then I pulled myself out. It was a whirlwind of events after that.

Has anything like this happened before?

First time.

What did it feel like?

It wasn't very settling. I didn't know what it was. I was confused. I was actually worried because we do our stress echos, and heart stuff and testing, and that was just three weeks ago. Everything was fine, everything was normal. It was something that just happened out of nowhere. Right away, my mind went to fear. After talking to the specialist and talking to the doctors, now it's more on the line of that it's a fluke.

What's your status?

I went and saw a specialist this morning, at 9 a.m. before I came out here. After he was telling me the ins and outs of everything, my first question was: When can I play? He was like, 'You know what, I don't see why we should hold you out of everything.'

What was the procedure like?

They hit you with the paddles. They paddled me. It hurts [in my chest] right now.

What's next?

We're going to definitely monitor it. Keep taps on it. But it's basically how I feel. I'm going to get a heart monitor later today to track it and see if everything's OK. I'm going to see a sleep specialist and get hooked up on one of those chambers. Just make sure we're covering all of our bases.

Will you play in the regular season opener?

I played today. I'll be out there. That's my goal.

In five preseason games, Matthews averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds and shot 26.5 percent from the field.

Blazers guard Will Barton started in place of Matthews during the two preseason games in which he did not play.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter