GH Survives Major Ankle Test in Detroit

[Tereve Nam]

At around the 4:50 mark of the 2nd QTR, Gordon turns the corner hard going to the hoop and his left ankle gives out and caves inward. Whatever wrap/tape/brace he has on probably saved him from a nasty ankle sprain or possibly worse.

I didnt see it live but noticed on the slo-mo replay (while Scal was talking about Haywards explosiveness going to the hoop). Have not really noticed anyone talking about this play.

You can see Gordon noticeably grimmace as the ankle turns with all his weight on it (at normal speed it just looks like he is reacting to contact) He then does a little hopping and testing of it after the whistle on the play. The next few plays he seems mostly ok but I think it was a close one and a dodged bullet.

My take away is that he still has a ways to go building strength in that leg and the supportive muscles and ligaments around his injured ankle. If he can survive the first half of the season without reinjuring the ankle we may see him at close to full recovery by end of year.

Anyone else notice this? I tried unsuccessfully to post a pic but you can see it clearly on any highlight vids of him for the Detroit game.

I will be watching him even closer in the next game if thats possible.

[Timdawgg]

I rewatched. It looked fine. In looking at the second angle, it didnt look like he turned it. I think a lot of us are all in the same boat where we cringe at every little thing Hayward does. It is hard for us to watch him still without fear...imagine how he feels...LOL..I do hope I can stop worring about him soon as it keeps me to on edge during the games..

[bdm860]

You can see the play in question here, with the drive happening at about the 40 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQveOywaGo#t=39s


I can see your theory, but at the same time that all seems like normal reactions to me.  The "ankle giving out" happens at the same time he's changing direction, so it might just be changing directions and not the ankle.  The grimace and the contact happen at the same time as well, so it's tough to say it's one or the other.  And I feel like the little hop at the end, again I feel like that could be a normal action after an And-1 play, whether it's emotion, adrenaline, momentum, etc., a lesser degree of what you see in this play.

Not saying your wrong, but I've watched this about 20x's now (at various slow motion speeds too), and still not sure.

[fairweatherfan]

You can see the play in question here, with the drive happening at about the 40 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQveOywaGo#t=39s


I can see your theory, but at the same time that all seems like normal reactions to me.  The "ankle giving out" happens at the same time he's changing direction, so it might just be changing directions and not the ankle.  The grimace and the contact happen at the same time as well, so it's tough to say it's one or the other.  And I feel like the little hop at the end, again I feel like that could be a normal action after an And-1 play, whether it's emotion, adrenaline, momentum, etc., a lesser degree of what you see in this play.

Not saying your wrong, but I've watched this about 20x's now (at various slow motion speeds too), and still not sure.

The ankle doesn't roll - his toe/ball of foot area stays down - but it does torque somewhat which could've hurt quite a bit, or at least felt very odd with the old injury.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

It was an awkward play, but I didn't see anything.

[Tereve Nam]

Both in the live view from off court and in the slomo replay I see his ankle buckle. I agree with DWCHamps a good word to describe it was that it looked awkward. I also have no idea how loose Haywards ankles are to begin with.

I think its normal that he still has some weakness in his ankle and leg at this point. Im sure it is contributing to his lack of explosiveness for now but will be fine by end of season.

I took the result of the play as a postive that he held up ok with that kind of torque on the ankle.

[Big333223]

You can see the play in question here, with the drive happening at about the 40 second mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJQveOywaGo#t=39s


I can see your theory, but at the same time that all seems like normal reactions to me.  The "ankle giving out" happens at the same time he's changing direction, so it might just be changing directions and not the ankle.  The grimace and the contact happen at the same time as well, so it's tough to say it's one or the other.  And I feel like the little hop at the end, again I feel like that could be a normal action after an And-1 play, whether it's emotion, adrenaline, momentum, etc., a lesser degree of what you see in this play.

Not saying your wrong, but I've watched this about 20x's now (at various slow motion speeds too), and still not sure.

The ankle doesn't roll - his toe/ball of foot area stays down - but it does torque somewhat which could've hurt quite a bit, or at least felt very odd with the old injury.

That's also what I'm seeing in the clip.

Anyway, Gordon isn't going to feel 100% confident until he rolls his ankle a couple of times the way all basketball players do from time to time and he's able to play through it because that's how an ankle roll works. He needs to go through those little tests to know, fully and subconsciously, his leg isn't going to break every time.