In the midst of the Trailblazer’s 111-94 blow out of the Los Angeles Lakers, Rudy Fernandez left the game on a stretcher after being  fouled hard by Laker reserve Trevor Ariza.

The incident occurred towards the end of the third quarter, after Fernandez hit a three with a couple minutes left to put the Blazers up 81-51 on the NBA’s best team.

Then with the quarter winding down a couple minutes later, Rudy broke out on a fast break off a Brandon Roy pass.  Rudy went up with Ariza coming up quickly behind.  And as soon as Rudy began to elevate, Ariza takes a wild swing with his right arm, hitting Rudy on his way up.

The momentum of Ariza’s swipe connects with Rudy’s head and arm, causing Pau Gasol’s fellow countryman to completely lose balance, going sideways in the air, and falling hard on his back, elbow and hip. Check out the video of the foul:

And really, the above video doesn’t look make the foul look that bad, but I am trying to find a different angle I saw of the foul that makes the foul look about 3x worse.

Fernandez laid still near the basket for more than 10 minutes as the Blazers surrounded Ariza and some pushing and shoving between the two teams occurred before Rudy was taken off the court strapped in to a stretcher, with his neck in a brace.

After Rudy fell, Jordan Farmar immediately went to see if he was alright.  As you can tell from the video, Rudy was conscious when he landed as he moved onto his back and made a couple gestures with his hands.  He was also alert when he was taken off the court with full movement of all extremities.

As Fernandez laid on the court, the Portland fans chanted: “Rudy! Rudy!”

Ariza was asked about the hard foul after the game, “First off, I want to say I hope Rudy’s all right. I was just trying to make a hard play to the ball. I hope he’s fine and my bes t wishes go out to him and his family,” said Ariza. “I was just trying to go for the ball, trying to make a good play on the ball and unfortunately somebody got hurt.” I haven’t heard the tape, but that just doesn’t sound very sincere.

This is the Laker’s third consecutive loss on the road, and Kobe Bryant left without speaking to reporters.  Bryant shot 11-29 from the floor.

Fernandez’s X-rays and a CT scan were negative and according to the Oregonian: Rudy Fernandez sustained a soft tissue injury to his upper right chest and side area… the Blazers’ reserve will be held overnight for observation at an area hospital. Fernandez finished with 11 points on 4-4 shooting, including 2 threes, and 1-1 from the free-throw line.  He is listed as questionable for Wednesday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Links and Resources:  Latest on Fernandez Injury (Oregonian), Lakers’ Ariza speaks about Fernandez, the hard foul and the ensuing altercation (The Oregonian)