Nicolas Batum was so incredulous, so annoyed, that anyone would dare discuss such a thing at such a time, he refused to dignify the query with an answer.

So when someone approached him last week in Salt Lake City to ask what playing in all 82 games this season would mean — particularly in light of everything he and the Trail Blazers have been through in recent seasons — he threw his arms up, twirled around and walked in the opposite direction.

“I won’t talk about it,” Batum said. After a few steps, he bent down and knocked on the wooden floor of EnergySolutions Arena, where the Blazers had just finished a morning shootaround, just to make sure merely responding wasn’t a jinx.

“I‘m sorry, but I’ve been through too much with this organization,” he said.

But regardless of whether Batum wants to talk about it, the fact remains: The Blazers have enjoyed a remarkably healthy season. So much so, as they prepare to play their final regular-season game Wednesday night at the Moda Center, the franchise is poised to make history.

When Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Batum start against the Los Angeles Clippers, it will be the first time in franchise history four players have started all 82 games of a season. The feat is so rare, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Blazers will become just the fourth team in 12 seasons to start four players in all 82 games, joining the 2010-11 Los Angeles Lakers, 2009-10 Oklahoma City Thunder and 2002-03 Golden State Warriors.

“That means a lot,” Lillard said of the history-making feat. “Especially with the history of this organization. I think that says a lot about the improvement of the (Health and Performance) squad. I think it says a lot about how we’ve worked and built our bodies up to be able to sustain a certain level of play over 82 games. That’s big. We’re going to have four guys out there 82 times — a lot of people don’t get to have that.”

Especially in Portland, where injury woes have been so well chronicled, they’ve become an identity of the franchise. From Bill Walton and Sam Bowie to Greg Oden and Brandon Roy, many careers — and successful seasons — have been derailed by injuries. But with a little karma, a lot of luck, and a revamped training staff that has taken a state-of-the-art “holistic approach” to nutrition, preventative maintenance and sports training, the Blazers are enjoying the most injury-free season in franchise history.

Heading into Monday night's games, 12 NBA players had played in 81 games this season — and four were Blazers. Lillard, who is as durable and tough as any player in the league, has never missed a game in his two NBA seasons. Matthews, who played in the first 250 games of his NBA career and is poised to play in every game for the fourth time in his five seasons, goes by the nickname "Iron Man" for a reason. And Batum, who has played much of the season with an avulsion fracture on his left middle finger, will play in 82 for the first time in his six-season career.

And then there's Lopez, who is making a mockery of the fabled "Portland Center Curse." Lopez, who will play in all 82 for the second consecutive season, ranks fifth among centers in minutes played (2,531) and is the only player at his position in the NBA to play in 81 games so far this season. He'll become the first Blazers center to play in all 82 regular season games since Joel Przybilla in 2008-09 and, excluding JJ Hickson — who was a power forward playing out of position — Lopez will be the first Blazers center to play more than 2,000 minutes in a season since Dale Davis in 2002-03.

“A little bit of it is just luck, honestly,” Lopez said. “We’ve had a good training staff, good coaches, but there’s a lot of luck involved. Also, we have guys up and down the team that just want to play with each other. And I really think, night-in and night-out, we really want to be on the floor together, want to have each other’s backs. Our whole team has gone together so well, I think it’s just kind of a testament to that a little bit.”

It’s difficult to describe how hard it is to play every game during the grinding 82-game NBA schedule. A sprained ankle or sore knee might keep a layperson out of a pick-up game every now and then. Imagine playing one of the world’s most physical sports against some of the best athletes on the planet. “It’s really grimy sometimes,” Lopez said, laughing. Players are paid handsomely, but they lay their bodies on the line multiple times a week. It’s only logical that a bump or bruise — or something more serious — would sideline a player at some point over the course of a seven-month season.

Of the 469 players who played in the NBA last season, only 28 played in all 82 games, including Lopez and Lillard.

“It’s a huge challenge, not only physically, but mentally, to be able to engage yourself into the game every night, without saying, ‘All right, I don’t have it tonight and I’m going to pack it in,’ ” Lillard said. “It’s tough. But I think a lot of that comes back to how you’re made up mentally, how you prepare yourself before the season physically. That plays a big part.”

The Blazers do not allow Chris Stackpole, their first-year director of health and performance, to speak to the media. But the players say there has been a drastic change in the way the Blazers train and maintain their bodies, and some of the credit for their good health goes to Stackpole. There's been greater focus on rest and hydration and stretching. Preventive measures — from cold tubs to hot tubs to massages — are emphasized more than ever. And sometimes, when Stackpole and his staff determine the players' bodies need rest, they advise coach Terry Stotts to alter his practice plans.

“I’ve noticed a change in how things have worked this season, as far as the health and performance group goes,” Lillard said. “They might say, ‘OK, today is not a good day to practice. Today we should shoot for 30 minutes, get a lift in, and that’s it.’ So just stuff like that has helped. Also, personal accountability is bigger than everything else. You might have a nagging injury, but you still need to be out there. So, it’s you holding yourself accountable to make sure you get rest, make sure you take care of your body, get in the cold tub, get a massage, whatever it is, so you know you can be there for your teammates. It’s personal accountability to knowing that you need to do everything you can so that you can be out there for the team.”

The benefits of good health are obvious. A coaching staff can count on having its best players every game and can build a consistent and reliable game plan accordingly. The players, whether they’re starting or coming off the bench, grow comfortable with their roles and expectations. And, what’s more, it fosters cohesion and chemistry in the locker room.

“It’s a comfort, a confidence,” Matthews said. “You just continue to build off each other and learn from each other every single night. People get used to playing with certain people and your chemistry grows.”

For at least one season, the franchise that has become synonymous with injuries can instead be linked to historically good health. Even if Batum doesn’t want to talk about it.

“I don’t know if it’s worth over-analyzing, but I think it’s certainly a big part of our success,” Stotts said of the Blazers’ health. “I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of it.”

-- Joe Freeman