Blazers' Matthews suffers torn Achilles, out for season

The Portland Trail Blazers will have to make due in the unforgiving Western Conference without Wesley Matthews.

The team's starting shooting guard, who left Thursday's victory over the Dallas Mavericks in a heap of pain, suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.

Matthews crumpled to the floor after suffering the injury on an awkward, non-contact play while handling the ball in the third quarter. He was helped off the court without putting any weight on his left foot.

"It's disbelief, you know?" Matthews told reporters the game. "I'm sitting up there in that tube having an MRI, and I don't hear noise, I don't feel my Achilles, I'm just ... . I can't believe I'm up there while my team's battling. I just haven't processed all of it yet."

"I've made that same cut hundreds of thousands of times in my life," said Matthews. 

"I felt the initial pop, and I think you guys could tell on the replay, I looked back, and it feels like someone kicked you. I was praying that someone was back there. No one was back there, and I heard Ron (Garretson), the ref, he actually says, 'Oh no' like he knew."

Matthews, one of three Blazers to have suited up for all 60 of the team's games this season, averaged 16.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals on a career-high Effective Field Goal Percentage of 56.5.

The 28-year-old is set for unrestricted free agency this summer.

The Blazers, who sit third-place in the Western Conference at 41-19 following their fifth straight win, perform 5.5 points per 100 possessions better with Matthews on the court as opposed to on the bench, according to Basketball Reference.

Portland will be hard-pressed to replace Matthews' two-way consistency, but they're also in much better shape to do so than they would have been had they not acquired veteran two-guard Arron Afflalo at last month's trade deadline.

Nicolas Batum rebounding from his career-worst season thus far would also help the cause.