Lillard To Miss Second Game

Portland Trail Blazers’ star point guard Damian Lillard will miss his second consecutive game as he sits out for Wednesday’s matchup against the Miami Heat. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Lillard is sitting out this contest due to a lingering abdominal injury that has caused him to miss games earlier in this season.

Sitting out against the Heat marks Lillard’s second straight absence and eighth overall missed game. Lillard also missed five straight games between November 30th and December 8th for injury management for the same abdominal injury, called abdominal tendinopathy.

The Trail Blazers’ star is averaging 24.0 points and 7.3 assists per game on 40.2% from the field and 32.4% from three through 29 appearances this season.

Lillard’s absence will likely lead to a second straight start for young point guard Anfernee Simons, this start being his 5th start on the season. Simons scored a career-high 43 points in a win over the Atlanta Hawks.