Apr
11
Marcus Camby confirmed in Monday’s practice that he will play against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, when the Portland Trail Blazers compete in their last home game of the regular season.
Camby missed Portland’s last two games, including the 93-86 win over the Los Angles Lakers at home, after suffering a neck injury against the Golden State Warriors last Tuesday.
In the mean time, the Trail Blazers (47-33) have won two straight to remain in sixth place in the Western Conference, and are currently one game in front of New Orleans and Memphis (46-34).
“It wasn’t a normal practice,” said Camby. “We went hard…We were going at each other and working on everything.”
Camby participated with the first team and he said the team worked on a number of set plays, defensive schemes and transition defense.
Camby said his neck is feeling better and his legs are "fine."
Trail Blazers will prepare to take on a defiant Grizzlies team, which holds the No. 8 spot in the playoff race. Memphis is riding a two-game streak and has won six of their last seven matchups.
“They got Z-Bo,” said Camby. “He’s playing well and Tony Allen is playing well…They’re playing good basketball.”
“We just have to take care of business,” said Camby of the remaining two games. “We’re in [the playoffs]. It doesn’t matter who we play.”
Trail Blazers hold tryouts
Earl Barron, Dwayne Jones and Robert Swift worked out for the Trail Blazers on Monday at the practice facility.
Portland had released center Jarron Collins after the March 20 loss to the Lakers. He was in his second 10-day contract with the team. The Trail Blazers are left with one open spot, which could be filled by one of these bigs right before entering the playoffs.
Barron completed his second 10-day contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, where he played in seven games. This season, he’s averaging 5.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in 19 games with six starts.
The 6-foot-10, 251-pound Jones played on China’s Fujian Xunxing team after competing in three preseason games with the Phoenix Suns in 2010. He averaged 2.0 points and 3.3 rebounds.
The Bakersfield, CA native Swift played three seasons with the Seattle Supersonics from 2004-06 and 2007-08. In 2005-06, he averaged a career-best 6.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and clocked 21.0 minutes per contest in 47 games (20 starts).
The Oklahoma City Thunder picked him up in 2008-09, where he averaged 3.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 26 games (10 starts).
He also was a member of the D-League’s Bakersfield Jam in 2009. In 2010, he traveled to Tokyo to play for the Tokyo Apache.