Dirk Nowitzki believes his knee is 100 percent now; Still struggling with conditioning – NBA Update
The Dallas Mavericks received a big boost this Sunday when their star power forward made a return to the court in the game against San Antonio Spurs. Although the Mavs were blown away that night, Nowitzki return was still a positive.
The German sharpshooter underwent a knee surgery in the summer and was expected to be back within six month. The recovery period however did not turn out according to plan, and Nowitzki’s return even on Sunday came as a big surprise.
The power forward played for 20 minutes on Sunday, and had 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting to go along with 6 rebounds. However, it was quite evident that Nowitzki was not moving freely.
Talking to reporters after Thursday morning's shootaround in Oklahoma City, the 7 foot German revealed that although his knee is 100 percent, it is his under conditioned legs which need to come in shape for him to play major minutes
without discomfort.
"My wind actually felt fine for the first game back after two months," Nowitzki said. "But my legs were a little heavy. There was just a little pep missing. I can't really move around or get up out there. So I think we're going
to monitor my minutes until I start feeling better and moving better out there. But for the first time in two months, it actually was decent.”
"Up and down running, I was fine the last couple weeks, but the showing on defense, the pushback, the jumping, the rebounding, I'm still having a little trouble with. Not knee wise, but just the muscles are not firing that quick
as they should."
The nature of Nowitzki’s injury and the consequent rehabilitation was such that the forward was unable to indulge in running and heavy exercise on his legs. This very factor is now stranding in the way of his smooth transition,
which is becoming ever so important for the Mavs. After the loss against Oklahoma City Thunder tonight, the team has now lost seven of its last 8 games, with four of those losses coming against championship contenders, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, San Antonio
Spurs and Thunder.
If the 12-17 Mavericks are to overcome this skid, they need big minutes from Nowitzki.
That however is just not looking likely to happen soon enough.
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