Greg Oden Still Sidelined Indefinitely

Portland fans are used to hearing this: Greg Oden has a knee injury, and no one knows when he's going to return. To be fair, his current ailment -- a chipped left knee cap -- isn't considered all that serious, but an injury that originally had Oden listed as day-to-day has now sidelined him for two weeks.

After banging knees with Corey Maggette in Portland's last game before the All-Star break, Oden sat out the Rookie Challenge before missing Portland's first four games of the second half. He'll miss his fifth tonight in San Antonio, and unless he can prove to Nate McMillan in practice on Thursday that he's completely healthy, there's a very good chance he'll sit out the final game of the road trip on Friday in Minnesota.

The timing couldn't be worse. Oden was supposed to be Portland's answer to some of the elite big men in the West, but instead they lost to Yao Ming and the Rockets last night and face Tim Duncan and the Spurs tonight with their franchise center in street clothes. (Update: Portland caught a break -- Duncan is sitting this one out.)

What's most frustrating is that doctors have already cleared Oden for action. From The Oregonian:

"The doctor said it depends how I feel," Oden said. "If I feel I can go out and play, I can go out and play. I'm just trying to make sure it is better. I don't want to re-injure it if I do come back."

Oden obviously has bad luck when it comes to injuries, but you have to wonder if it's made him a little gun shy about playing through pain. No one knows Oden's body better than he does, but by the same token, no one in the NBA is feeling 100% this late in the season.

Portland enters tonight's action a game and a half behind the Nuggets in the Northwest, and winning the division could be the difference between opening the playoffs at home or on the road. It makes sense for a guy like Gilbert Arenas to wait until he's absolutely certain he's ready to return, but Oden doesn't have that luxury.