Here at the Sports Jerks depository, we like to give you a weekly roundup of the NBA’s hobbled. As our Week 19 Injury Report deftly points out, the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Wolves are walking bandages at this point. Surprisingly, the New York Knicks, or the oldest team in history, have proven more resilient with only Rasheed Wallace out the season for a foot injury, Baron Davis out for a grisly injury that happened last season, and Melo out perhaps for just tonight’s game. Not too bad for a team with an average player age of 32.
Although our weekly report does a splendid job of giving you a run and gun breakdown of, well, players’ breakdowns, we thought we’d also fill you in on the guys who’ve been rehabilitating a while. The season is on its last legs, but there’s still plenty of time for these players to make an impact on your roster (if healthy).
As they’ve slowly fallen down the Western Conference standings, the Utah Jazz have needed their speedy point guard. They might get him tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which wouldn’t be optimal for Williams, given how good Kyrie Irving is.
Still, the Jazz, would be glad to move their former starter to the lineup, as they’re currently the eighth seed out West. Before his thumb injury, Mo was putting up 12.9 points and 6.7 assists, in 31.4 minutes. And who said LeBron didn’t have help in Cleveland?
Granger has been on restricted minutes since returning to the Pacers lineup, but will now sit out another week, as part of a precautionary measure by training staff.
In games against the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls, Granger experienced discomfort in his left knee. As they prep for the playoffs, Pacers management will play it safe and keep Granger out until they can assess the situation. Most likely, Granger will be returning this season, so expect a 2-week turnaround for that.
It’s easy to forget the bit of drama that happened earlier this season between Love and ‘Wolves management. Probably because the Minnesota Timberwolves have been ravaged by so many injuries they’ve become hard to watch (and pay attention to). Even with Shevd and Rubio’s brilliance.
After receiving surgery on his twice-broken hand in January, Love should be rearing up for a close return. He was given an 8-10 week recovery time frame, which rounds out in a week or two. He’s been seen practicing 18-footers in practice in the last few days, and should be in relatively good playing form upon his comeback. He might not put up the 18.0 PPG, 14.0 RPG, 2.3 APG he was averaging pre-injury, but as a renowned man of hustle, he’ll be definitely snagging rebounds at his usual pace.
Just having Roy on their roster might have been enough to cause the injury plague in Minnesota. (I kid, I kid). Roy told reporters just this past weekend, that he’s making great progress in what seems like a perpetual recovery from knee injuries.
Although, he expressed optimism that he would be back to playing in games in a week or two, it’s very doubtful that that will be the case. Just in December, he was contemplating going back into an early retirement again.
Poor Roy.
Lakerland drama is a 24hr enterprise. Whenever Pau Gasol is suited up, even when dropping coveted 20-and-10s, he gets compared to Brawny towels and becomes Kobe’s verbal punching bag. When injured, however, Lakerland can’t count down the minutes fast enough for his return.
That return seems to be around the corner, as he’ll be seeking medical clearance to participate in running drills tomorrow. That’s a great sign for Lakers fans as they’ll need the ultra-talented Spaniard to make one final push to the playoffs. Suffering a tear in his plantar fascia, he was expected to miss 6-8 weeks from a Feb. 5 countdown. So he might still be 2-4 weeks away from a Lakers lineup. His 13.4 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.6 APG, and 1.3 BLKPG are missed.
