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Hassan Whiteside will start in place of Wenyen Gabriel when the Portland Trail Blazers face the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of their first-round, 2020 NBA Playoffs series. The news comes from Casey Holdahl of the Trail Blazers.
Hassan Whiteside will get the start in Game 3 in place of Wenyen Gabriel.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) August 23, 2020
The Blazers have been scrambling to fill the void left by starting power forward Zach Collins, who is out for the season with an ankle injury. They won Game 1 but got blow out of Game 2, largely due to a 31-point, 11-rebound effort from Anthony Davis. Whiteside and Jusuf Nurkic will give Portland size to go up against the Lakers duo of Davis and LeBron James.
Whiteside averaged 15.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and a league-leading 2.9 blocks per game while starting for the Blazers this season. Like all Portland’s big men, he is prone to foul trouble, averaging 2.9 personal fouls in 30 minutes per game during the regular season, more than a disqualification per-36 in the NBA Orlando bubble.