Ibaka still threatening return

[T Park]

I read what he said but it doesn't make sense. Ibaka was clearly limping and pointing to his calf. I had a calf strain recently and I know that limping automatically qualifies as at least a grade 2 strain. To be limping even with all the adrenaline of playing in an elimination game means it was pretty severe. A grade 2 sprain takes around 6-8 weeks to heal properly and is very prone to re-injury if you don't take it slowly. Believe me, I know.

If Ibaka is indeed thinking of playing, he'll be a s of himself and be at high risk for re-injury. Basketball is really tough on the calves with all the jumping and cutting.

The only thing I can think might have happened is that the injury was simply a large contusion and not a strain at all. If that's the case even after an MRI then it doesn't say much about the quality of their medical staff. Maybe it was a ploy all along to try and make the best of a bad situation.

Reports are he's still very sore and he's just walking and doing light drills. So who knows

[ontheraise]

so 3 solution there ,
1 those pussy are so deseperate that they are ready to risk a major re-injury ,you can't recover that fast from calf injury one of the worst muscular injury you could have
2 thunder docs are the best in the world and should realease their method to treat such injury, must be revolutionary
3 those es were lying from the begin, ting their pants to play spurs


anyway spurs need to sweep those y and if he plays spurs should go hard on him he'll be out for good after first quarter.

[mudyez]

Don't know about the rules, but could they have updated his status for game 3 later (say today)?

Just asking coz...

If he is not playing, might as well give the Spurs one or two more days to gameplan for him.

If he is playing, I'm waiting until the very last second to update his status.

[EVAY]

The only thing I can think might have happened is that the injury was simply a large contusion and not a strain at all. If that's the case even after an MRI then it doesn't say much about the quality of their medical staff. Maybe it was a ploy all along to try and make the best of a bad situation.

That is EXACTLY what I think they are now implying. I read on one of the Thunder's forums that lots of Thunder Fans are now saying "What's going on" (although their saying it with an Oklahoma twang and it's more like 'WTF'?) regarding the medical staff because they have been so wrong about so many injuries to the team members over so many seasons that something is clearly off-base.

What I think is that Presti just throws the medical staff under the bus to protect him and the team from any possible difficulties with not properly reporting injuries (to avoid fines about impacting betting, etc.). When this very first happened they said it was a contusion. It was not until late the next day or so that they came up with the grade 2 strain.

I believe that it always was a bad bruise and that he is not in danger of re-injuring himself, and that he will play well for at least the first half in tomorrow night's game. If it is in fact a grade 2 strain (which they really seem to be backing off of now) then he may play well for one game (like Parker in Game 4 of last year's Finals), but then be unable to be effective in the remaining games which are every-other day games with much less repair time. If it is just a very bad bruise then they can control his pain and he will be effective from the get-go for the remainder of the series.

[Oh, Gee!!]

I think its gonna be like a weekend at bernie's scenario. He's dead or had his leg amputated and to save face they're gonna run Ybocka on the floor tied to a couple of ball boys to move him up and down the court.

[Rummpd]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playo...not-surprising


Not likely to return for CF per this doctor [excellent article on the injury] Given the reported grade 2 plantaris injury and Ibaka's lessening in swelling, he does have a slight chance to play if the Thunder were to advance to the NBA Finals, though I still think reports of a possible return to the conference finals remain optimistic at best.

[EVAY]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playo...not-surprising


Not likely to return for CF per this doctor [excellent article on the injury] Given the reported grade 2 plantaris injury and Ibaka's lessening in swelling, he does have a slight chance to play if the Thunder were to advance to the NBA Finals, though I still think reports of a possible return to the conference finals remain optimistic at best.

Can't read the article because I'm not a SI 'insider'. But I think the critical part is "given the …Grade 2 Plantaris injury". I think that they are backing off of that diagnosis, based on what Presti said yesterday, implying that the original diagnosis was in error because there was too much blood for them to see it properly. I think they are going back to the 'bruise' diagnosis, which does not imply any danger of worsening injury, and which means that as long as he (they) can control the pain level, he will play and be effective.

[Capster]

If Serge does suit up for Game 3, or even the rest of the series, that doesn’t mean he is going to be the Ibaka we are expecting to see, or the Ibaka that the OKC Thunder need to get back to the NBA Finals.

So....possibly Ibaka is back. Y'all just gonna have to wait and see. Seriously.....who cares....he will be gimpy!!!LOL!

[exstatic]

Can't read the article because I'm not a SI 'insider'. But I think the critical part is "given the …Grade 2 Plantaris injury". I think that they are backing off of that diagnosis, based on what Presti said yesterday, implying that the original diagnosis was in error because there was too much blood for them to see it properly. I think they are going back to the 'bruise' diagnosis, which does not imply any danger of worsening injury, and which means that as long as he (they) can control the pain level, he will play and be effective.

We'll know Sunday which was a lie. If he does NOT play, they're blowing smoke now to try to sell tickets. If he DOES play, they were lying about the initial extent of the injury.

[Mel_13]

We'll know Sunday which was a lie. If he does NOT play, they're blowing smoke now to try to sell tickets. If he DOES play, they were lying about the initial extent of the injury.

It's not to sell tickets. These games were already sellouts.

[Man In Black]

Straight up gamesmanship on OKC's part. Threaten that he comes back forces the Spurs to think about it(they already have that contingency if he comes back), and hope it inspires their own team to play much better.

Spurs in 5. Spurs lose game 4 INTENTIONALLY so that way, the Spurs don't have too much rust until the Finals.

[spurs10]

It's not to sell tickets. These games were already sellouts.

Exactly. They don't call it Loud City for nothing. Hopefully our play can shut them.

Speaking of which, I wanted to thank Mel_13 for your advice about the pros and cons of spurs.com/Ticketmaster and stubhub.com way back when. Although, I've gotten some great deals at stubhub in the regular season, the sales folks at the AT&T Center have been very helpful and they seem to be more affordable in the playoffs.

[Man In Black]

Imho, it's not that it was in error, it's more that after some time, a follow up scan shows some improvement. It's not impossible for swelling to reduce especially after a week. But when it's grade 2, that means a minimum of 2 weeks but could be up to 6 weeks, if he's a slow healer. The Plantaris muscle is no joke, for Ibaka to explode, he needs this to be healed, if it's not, he's hobbled and then it comes down to, is a hobbled Ibaka better than a healthy Adams, Collison, or Perkins?

[SpurPadre]

It's the return of crippled bigs weekend, it seems. Now, Greg "I'm a front-running " Oden is apparently going to play for the Heat tonight.

[BillMc]

It's the return of crippled bigs weekend, it seems. Now, Greg "I'm a front-running " Oden is apparently going to play for the Heat tonight.

That's good news for the Pacers. Hibbert looked like Hakeem against Oden last time.

[dg7md]

I don't think he'll play, but if the Thunder find a way to make this a series and tie it up, then maybe he'd play for game 6 and/or 7. If we win Sunday and he doesn't play then I doubt he even gets in warmup gear for any game.

[Horry Hipcheck]

Even if he makes a miraculous return and can put in 20 minutes a game, the Thunder in their current state aren't beating the Spurs 4 times in 5 tries. Not if the Spurs keep playing as ferociously as they have been. He'd put KD to shame if he turned the series around single-handedly. We're not going to see any more 20 or 30 point blowouts, but OKC isn't winning 4 out of 5. 2012 might as well have been a century ago.

[TwoHandJam]

What I think is that Presti just throws the medical staff under the bus to protect him and the team from any possible difficulties with not properly reporting injuries (to avoid fines about impacting betting, etc.). When this very first happened they said it was a contusion. It was not until late the next day or so that they came up with the grade 2 strain.

Yes, that's true. I remember that initial diagnosis. It was probably just a very bad bruise all along but they decided to make up this bogus "grade 2 strain" report to try and catch us off guard when he returned early instead of not at all. Weak.

I always felt we'd beat them with or without him and I still stand by that.

[Mel_13]

Exactly. They don't call it Loud City for nothing. Hopefully our play can shut them.

Speaking of which, I wanted to thank Mel_13 for your advice about the pros and cons of spurs.com/Ticketmaster and stubhub.com way back when. Although, I've gotten some great deals at stubhub in the regular season, the sales folks at the AT&T Center have been very helpful and they seem to be more affordable in the playoffs.

[DMC]

Thunder know they are done if Ibaka is injured. Whether he can play or not, they'd be stupid to risk a more significant injury. They are in the conference finals, they made money. Why shoot yourself in the foot chasing something you won't get even Ibaka can return early? They aren't beating the Heat with a less than 100% Ibaka.

I don't know what the team knows, however if they are being told he might return, and he doesn't, that could be an emotional letdown that the Spurs can take advantage of early in the game. If he does, he's going to be hobbled a bit and people will go right at him.

[Biernutz]

Ibaka has not been on the practice floor since the injury. If he plays on Sunday he will go in cold.
I would bet they will check him in the warmup before the game for a go or no-go for game 3. They
wont use him if he can't run the court.

[dg7md]

Ibaka has not been on the practice floor since the injury. If he plays on Sunday he will go in cold.
I would bet they will check him in the warmup before the game for a go or no-go for game 3. They
wont use him if he can't run the court.

If it's true that he hasn't been practicing the last few days then there is basically no chance at all of him playing tomorrow.

[z0sa]

The Ibaka press is just that. Recognize propaganda when you see it.

[wildbill2u]

Ibaka is a physical presence around the basket who relies on his athleticism, not practice with the team although conditioning might be a minor concern. If he can play at all, due to a misdiagnosis or extremely fast recovery ability, he will probably get some minutes to see how it goes. He runs the risk of a re-injury.

The Spurs must figure out how to take advantage of his injury. If he is not as mobile, then you have to try and run him to death, depending on who he is guarding or if they play a zone to protect him.

[UZER]

This is a complete diversion from Durant being bent over and spanked by the spurs, and the Westbrook on court feud.

If they hadn't done this, they would've had to answer questions about that for 3 days straight.