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Here is the interview :
A friend from France has called me today to tell me that the French newspaper l'Equipe has published an interview of TP today, TP is talking about his injury, the French national team and the Spurs situation.
Globally he is very upset by his injury, it will be 4 weeks minimum and he thinks that it could be longer. He seems not to be very optimistic.
I'll check the French sites to see if I find the interview.
Here is the interview :
SON TÉLÉPHONE a fait silence pendant
deux jours. Tony Parker n’avait
pas le cœur à parler. Victime d’une
grosse entorse d’une cheville vendredi
soir contre Miami, le meneur français a
touché le fond après avoir tutoyé les
anges deux jours plus tôt. Et peu
importe la force de son mental, il y a
des jours où rien ne va plus : au surlendemain
d’un match à 55 points, quatre
semaines de rééducation ! Tel peut
être le résumé cinglant de la vie d’un
sportif de haut niveau…
« Ça fait mal, mais ça fait partie de la
vie d’un sportif pro. Et l’entorse est la
blessure la plus récurrente, nous expliquait-
il hier d’une voix lourde. Ça
arrive. Ce n’est pas de chance vu mon
début de saison, mais c’est ainsi. »
Aucun athlète ne supporte d’être blessé.
En plus de nuire à leur carrière, la
blessure met à mal leurs ego d’increvables
supermen, chez Parker plus
encore que chez les autres. Surtout
quand cela arrive ainsi, sans même
« l’aide » sournoise d’un pied ennemi
ou d’un bras malveillant.
La scène est passée en boucle sur les
chaînes de télévisison américaines,
montrant la cheville du meneur des
Spurs tourner sans le moindre contact
au départ d’une pénétration. « J’ai
tout de suite compris à quel point
c’était sérieux, reprend-t-il. C’est la
même cheville qui m’avait déjà fait
rater trois semaines avec l’équipe de
France l’an dernier. Si cela m’était arrivé
après cinquante matches dans la
saison, j’auraispu comprendre mais là,
dans le premier quart-temps du cinquième
match... »
« TP » n’en dit guère plus. Avant cette
rencontre face àMiami, il marchait sur
un nuage, heureux de sa superbe
forme, de son re très provisoire de
meilleur marqueur NBA (33,3 pts de
moyenne après quatre matches) et de
faire la une de L’Équipe, tel un gamin
jamais rassasié. Le coup de froid est
venu trop vite. « Je ne jouerai pas pendant
un mois, voire plus », précisait-il.
L’entraînement de lundi, il l’a vécu sur
la touche, avec sa botte de protection
et ses béquilles. Et un regard bien
inquiet vers le présent de ces Spurs par
trop boiteux et vieillissants pour ambitionner
quoi que ce soit dans la jungle
de la Conférence Ouest : « Ça va être
dur, c’est clair. Je ne sais pas comment
on va s’en sortir pour le moment…
George Hill va être lancé dans le grand
bain. On verra bien. »
Cet état d’esprit reflétait bien la
panade dans laquelle les Spurs ont
glissé avec la blessure de Manu Ginobili,
dont la rééducation se passe bien
et dont le retour pourrait maintenant
épouser celui de « TP ». Mais
RC Buford, le manager texan, a déjà
prévenu que les événements ne changeraient
rien : pas question de brûler
les étapes du retour au jeu.
11 matches en 18 jours
Bruce Bowen, lui, en appelait à « une
foi sans réserve dans le système »,
mais vu la pauvreté du banc et la transparence
dudit Bowen et de son compère
Michael Finley, San Antonio (1-4)
fait bien grise mine. Et le calendrier ne
rassure personne car le mois de
novembre, s’il ne compte pas de nombreux
adversaires de qualité (deux rendez-
vous avec Houston, plus Utah), est
riche en quan é avec onze matches
dans les dix-huit prochains jours, dont
trois « back to back » (rencontres
enchaînés en vingt-quatre heures…).
Retrouver les Spurs enlisés au fond du
classement avec un décompte de cinq
victoires et onze défaites au début
décembre est donc aujourd’hui une
hypothèse tout à fait crédible. Ce scénario
très préoccupant retient toute
l’attention de Parker, loin, bien loin du
dernier tirage au sort de qualification
pour l’Euro 2009. Sur le sujet, il fait
court : « On savait qu’on allait devoir
jouer l’Italie de toute façon. Ce n’est
pas évident, mais j’y penserai plus
. Pour l’heure, j’ai d’autres soucis
», conclut-il.
Inutile d’insister, « TP » n’a pas le
moral. Mais cette dernière blessure ne
va rien arranger pour l’équipe de
France. Et cette réflexion de l’intéressé,
émise deux semaines plus tôt,
pourrait bien venir hanter les nuits du
futur entraîneur des Tricolores :
« Comment convaincre les dirigeants
de me laisser aller jouer le tournoi de
rattrapage pour l’Euro ? Je ne sais
pas… ça va être difficile, soulignait-il
alors. Et je ne peux parler que pour
moi, car cela sera difficile pour chaque
joueur de NBA. Car aller dire à ton
"GM" que tu veux jouer en équipe de
France quand tu n’es pas un joueur
majeur est tout, sauf simple ! »
Surtout si les blessures deviennent une
habitude…
OLIVIER PHEULPIN
I split these posts out from the another thread. Hopefully we can get a translation.
From Babelfish, it appears as if Parker is pretty pessimistic and thinks it'll be longer than a month that he's out of action
He says :
- he is upset.
- "I will not play one month, maybe even more..."
- It wil be hard to convince Pop next summer to play with the french NT
Thanks. And good find on the article
I'm guessing this is really a six-week injury, especially because it's a reoccurring injury. The bad part is that even when he does return, he's going to be an health risk for at least the rest of the regular season. If he gets hurt again, he could be looking at offseason surgery.
i think if tp really wants to continue playing in the summer...the spurs really don't have a choice but to let him...he's the future of this franchise and we don't need to go around alienating him with the organization
bad timing on the injury, but we'll make our run
Thanks eric to have found the interview.
Indeed TP has a real pessimist at ude in this interview
yea when we saw him on cruthces i knew it would be longer than 4 weeks. Im honestly thinking close to 2 months. I dont think well see Parker till January-Febuary.
Even when he does come back, i dont see that MVP level he was playing in the beginning of the season.
My french sucks.
3rd injury to same ankle in 2008. To add to Tony's pessimism, the ligaments may be chronically weakened and stretched, unable to assure usual stability to the joint, especially necessary for any bball player. I don't know if a full off-season's rest will allow them to tighten up, if the concept even exists. It's up to Pop to create a silver lining on this very black cloud by giving the young guys tons of minutes. Even if Tony comes back in Jan, Pop should economize his minutes to keep him rested in case the Spurs make the playoffs.
translation:
He says that it's an usual injury in basketball but it's very hard to have this injury considering the shape and level he was playing.
He quickly understood it was serious. It was the same ankle that he hurted last year. After 50 games, he could have understood but after only 4 games, it's hard.
He said he won't play for a month or more.
He thinks it will be hard for the spurs without him and manu. He hope Hill will do fine.
Thats the kind of information Im talking about...Thanks for the heads up from france.
what is hard for him, and for the spurs, is that i really think he was clearly playing the best basketball of his life. Without any doubt.
after having seen him with france and the first 4 games with the spurs, he has never been so good, clutch, comfortable with his shoot.
of course, it's not a really serious injury and if it was his real new level, he should be able to get back to it when he returns.
If it was just a really good streak of games going on (i mean better than his usual production), the spurs still lost the benefit of it.
ok I am giving it a try:
1st paragraph:
His phone was silent for 2 days. Tony Parker was not in the mood to talk. Victim of a bad sprain ankle Friday night against Miami, the French PG touched bottom after playing with the angels 2 days earlier (ok this was hard to translate). And no matter the strength of his mind some days nothing go well: the day after a 55pts game, 4 weeks of rehabilitation!. This is the harsh summary of the life of a pro athlete.
“It hurts, but it is part of a pro’s life. And the sprain is the most recurring injury”, Parker explained yesterday with a sad voice. “It happens. It’s bad luck considering the start of my season but it is what it is”
More than hurting their careers, injuries are hard on these supermen’s egos, and for Parker, more than for others.
Moreover when it happens like this, without the evil help of a opponent’s foot or arm.
The incident was shown in cycle on US TVs showing the PG’s ankle twisting without any contact when starting a penetratin. .” At once I understood how serious it was. It is the same ankle that had already made me miss 3 weeks with the NT last year. If it had happened after 50 games into the season I would understand but at the beginning of the 5th game of the season….”
poor tony. i agree with the sentiment that, regardless how his recovery or the spurs playoff chances go, he should take it very easy. the fact that its the same ankle is very discouraging.
spurs fans have to accept two things right now:
1/ that we've been very lucky with injuries up until now
2/ that a big part of the problem is the FO/coaching staff not having adequate backups for the big 3.
2nd portion:
TP does not say much more. Before the game against Miami he was in heaven, happy of his awesome shape, of his temporary le of best scorer of the NBA and he was on the front page of Lequipe (French Paper) like a full belly kid. Then a cold shower came too fast. “ I won’t be playing for a month maybe more “ Says Parker. He lived Monday’s practice from the sideline with protective boot and crunches. And a worried look at the present state of the Spurs too limping and old to hope for anything in the jungle of the West Conference. “It is going to be hard, that’s for sure, I have no idea how we will get out of this situation. George Hill will be tossed in the fire. We’ll see”
This state of mind reflects well the mess in which the Spurs fell with Manu Ginobili ‘s injury whose rehabilitation is going well and whose return could be at the same time as TP’s. But RC Buford, the GM that the events won’t change anything. No need to rush anybody.
11 games in 18 days Bruce Bowen talks about having “faith in the system”. But given the lack of depth of the bench and the poor plays of Bowen and his teammate Finley, San Antonio (1-4) does not look too good.
And the schedule does not reinsure anybody since November, even if they do not play a lot of quality teams ( 2 games against Houston and Utah) has a lot games, with 11 games in 18 days and 3 back to back. Finding the Spurs at the bottom of the rankings at the beginning of December is a likely possibility. This worrisome scenario is very much in Parker’s mind, far from issues relating the 2009 Euro. “ We knew we would play Italy . It is not easy but I don’t think about that . Right now I have other problems”
If Parker is out for a couple of months that is a tough blow for the Spurs. They should focus on lottery positioning now as there is no way they can win a le with a hobbled Parker and Ginobili.
the end:
No need to insist, TP is depressed. But this last injury is not going to help the French NT. And what TP said 2 weeks ago might very well come back to haunt the next French NT coach. “How am I going to convince the FO to go play in the 2009 Euro I don’t know, it is going to be very difficult” Parker says. “ And I am only talking about my situation, but it is going to be hard for all the NBA players. Go tell your GM that you want to play for the French NT when you are not a starter is not simple. “ Moreover when injuries are recurring….
J’ai
tout de suite compris à quel point
c’était sérieux, reprend-t-il. C’est la
même cheville qui m’avait déjà fait
rater trois semaines avec l’équipe de
France l’an dernier. Si cela m’était arrivé
après cinquante matches dans la
saison, j’auraispu comprendre mais là,
dans le premier quart-temps du cinquième
match...
I immediately felt it was a serious thing. It's the same ankle which caused me to miss three weeks with the french team last year. I would not have minded had this happened after 50 games, but not in the first quarter of the fifth game....
That's the relevant statement.
Awesome job, caribbean_spur.
Thanks
I haven't spoken french for years but this part regarding angels is about Tony hitting a real high (55 points, best ever international scoring in the NBA) and then hitting rock bottom 2 days later with a serious ankle injury.
Great job on a quick translation, would have taken me an hour at least
this is not good news. this sounds like a really bad injury that might prevent Parker from ever being close to 100% this season
caribeban_spur FTW! thanks!
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