Portland Trail Blazers swingman Wesley Matthews practiced Friday after suffering an irregular heartbeat and undergoing an electrical procedure. Matthews told reporters he saw a specialist on Friday morning and has been cleared to play in Portland's regular season opener on Wednesday in Phoenix, via Sean Meagher of the Oregonian:
Wesley Matthews to play in season opener after heartbeat scare
Portland Trail Blazers guard Wesley Matthews returned to practice following an irregular heartbeat and will play in their season opener.
USA TODAY Sports
How did it happen?
I don’t know, I can’t tell you. It was probably just a combination of a bunch of things; stress, fatigue -- you know I don’t sleep. I talked to (Blazers GM) Neil (Olshey) and (head athletic trainer) Geoff (Clark) and we’re going to put something together that’s going to help me with that. I was just practicing, I felt fine, I felt great and we were just shooting free throws and I felt my heart racing like it was trying to jump out of my chest. I kept playing for a little bit and then I pulled myself out. Then it was just a whirlwind of events after that.
…
How scary was that?
It wasn’t very settling (laughs). I didn’t know what it was, I was very confused. I was worried because we do our stress echoes and we do all our heart stuff, tests and everything, during our physicals and that was three weeks ago and everything was fine, everything was normal. So for something to just happen out of nowhere, right away my mind went to fear. Now after talking to the specialist and talking to the doctor everybody’s more on the line that it was just a fluke.
Matthews didn't play in the Blazers' 90-74 preseason win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. Will Barton started in his place and scored two points on 1-9 shooting in 27 minutes.
Matthews averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds over five preseason games, shooting just 26.5 percent from the field.
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