Dirk Nowitzki has a injury on his non-shooting hand: Will play game-2 of NBA Finals
As if losing the first game of the NBA finals against the Miami Heat was not enough for the Dallas Mavericks fans, now they have to deal with an injury on Dirk Nowitzki’s left index finger.
In the fourth quarter, the Mavericks power forward Nowitzki tried to strip the ball from Chris Bosh, who was aggressively driving towards the rim. In doing so, the 32-year-old sharp-shooter not only committed a foul, but also tore
a hamstring on the middle finger of his non-shooting left hand. At first, Dirk showed disgust towards the officials’ decision and then immediately held his left hand.
The German scoring machine severely sprained his left hand, but kept on braving the pain down the stretch, scoring 10 of his game-high 27 points in the final quarter.
When Nowitzki was asked about the play and his injury after the game, he said, "I thought I stripped him clean and then I looked down and couldn't straighten my finger out anymore.” "So I tore a tendon in there. I have to wear
a splint for probably the rest of the playoffs. But it will be alright."
The good for the Dallas fans is that the subsequent X-ray report showed no signs of any fracture. Nowitzki’s mostly uses his injured hand to guide his shots and this might not have any effect on his jump shot proficiency. However,
he can face some problems in setting up his team mates and because of the injury, dribbling could also become tougher for him. It has also made the task for the Miami defence a bit easy as they can easily ruffle Dirk, just by bumping into him.
The Heat forward LeBron James however said that the Heat will not gain much from Dirk’s injury, "Dirk is right-handed, and the left hand is just a guide hand.” "It would not affect him. He will still be great."
It is quite evident that Dirk’s injury is a minor one but given the odds that are at stake in this series, the Mavericks are not in a condition to deal with even a minor injury to their leading scorer. After a defeat, the responsibilities
on the shoulder of Nowitzki have increased further and even with an injured hand, he has to find out a way to shrug off his post-season worst shooting off the field in game-1.
With a crucial game-2 just hours away, Nowitzki seems prepared to carry the action with a splint on. These sort of injuries normally take about 4-6 weeks to heal properly and in case the injury worsens on Thursday, then the Mavericks
would find themselves in a deep hole.
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