How long do these things take to heal and what part of the knee is it actually?
ACL is the worst with MCL being? Or is it the opposite?
MCL injuries are usually manageable, and depending on your pain tolerance it's possible to continue to play on a partially torn or completely torn MCL, mainly because athletes tend to build the kind of muscle mass that compensates for what the MCL does for knee stability.
Perk apparently has a strain of his MCL, which is another way of saying he's got a minor knee sprain. If you remember back to the 2008 Finals, this is the kind of injury that temporarily felled Paul Pierce in game 1. In isolation, this is not a serious injury at all.
But the danger for Perk isn't the MCL strain. The danger is how that strain compromises his running and jumping motion, and how that compromised movement puts added strain on his other, recently surgically repaired knee, especially so soon into his comeback. If you remember back to Leon Powe, his ACL tear in the 2009 playoffs came two games after he returned to the court following a knee sprain in the opposite knee. So, while his knee sprain was somewhat healed, it was the overcompensation that he put on his opposite knee that caused the catastrophic injury scenario. Powe came back too soon, and it cost him. We absolutely cannot allow that to happen to Perk--he's way too important. I'd sit him down a month if necessary. You don't play around with opposite leg injuries when you're coming back from an ACL/MCL tear.
The Cs will need to be very cautious with this injury. Knee bruises and MCL strains are minor in and off themselves, but put them on a player coming back from a MCL/ACL tear on the other knee and it opens up that player to all kinds of overcompensation injuries, the exact kind of injuries that often derail otherwise successful comeback attempts. I'd sit down Perk until he was pain-free and 100% healthy.
The Cs have been pretty flippant in the way they brought back Perk and ignored his minutes limitations from almost Day 1. That said, this injury occurred because Curry kneed him in the knee, so I don't think it's related to his overuse. Of course, going forward they need to extra-cautious about overusing Perk, especially in the regular season.
Its a fine line though where do you draw it, what do we put him on the shelf with little play time, and in the playoffs have him rusty and out of game shape, no lift etc? thats not going to get it done
Sure, it's a fine line, but it's one that must be drawn and the Cs would be wise to error on the side of caution no matter where that line is drawn.
Perk looked pretty good in his very first game back, mainly because he had worked out like a maniac and maintained his weight and wind to the point that playing basketball wasn't a huge shock to his system. I'd assume a similar progression this time around. I don't care about lift, or rust--I only care that Perk get back on the court for when the games count. We don't need Perk playing career-best basketball--we just need Perk on the court and contributing to the level he has shown so far in this comeback. And given the risk of overcompensation that comes following any major knee surgery, the Cs need to put Perk's health first and foremost. The last thing we need is a repeat of the Powe situation.
Topic: Perk out for the remainder of the road trip (Read 12094 times)