Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki frustrated at the slow pace of his rehab – NBA Update
Dirk Nowitzki underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Oct.19 and three weeks on, the 11 time All Star power forward has revealed that the recovery process is not at a pace, he had earlier expected.
"When it originally hurt, three to six weeks, in my mind, I'm thinking in two weeks, I'm back," said Nowitzki during the Mavs' television broadcast Monday night. "But unfortunately, this is not how it happens. It's my first knee
surgery of my career and unfortunately this stuff takes a little longer than we expected.”
Nowitzki has suffered from a lot of ankle sprains in his career, but this his first surgery and the long wait of rehab is apparently taking a mental toll. The German sharp shooter has been doing very light conditioning with the
trainers so far and admitted that watching his team play from the sidelines was getting frustrating by the day.
"Gotta admit, I'm really already getting tired of rehab these three weeks," Nowitzki said. "It's been three weeks. Obviously, that's a long time for me watching. So I'm really getting tired and bored of it. But at this point, gotta
stay patient and do what the doctors and trainers tell me, just keep rehabbing and see how much longer it is."
Ever since winning the title in 2011, the Mavs have gone through a major shakeup, which saw all the players from the championship winning team, except Dirk and Shawn Marion, depart to other franchises. The Mavs exited from the
round of playoffs last season and this off-season, after failed bids for Deron Williams and Dwight Howard, they hurriedly managed to put together a decent enough team, one which was supposed to feed off from Nowitzki. The forward, who has never missed nine
games in a row during his entire career, has however been rehabbing and to make the matters worse, his front court partner Chris Kaman and winger Shawn Marion have also been unfit lately.
The Mavericks still kicked off the season in style though. They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on the opening night, and then raced to a 4-1 record, before succumbing to two recent losses against the Charlotte Bobcats and Minnesota
Timberwolves. All they need now is for Nowitzki to return back and provide the offensive punch and size; they are so badly missing in his absence.
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