Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas Mavericks hoping to return to action soon: NBA Recap
Dirk Nowitzki is hoping to return to action around the mid December mark, after he underwent an arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on 19th October. It generally takes about 3-6 weeks to be back in the shape to play
basketball after such type of surgery and the former MVP will be disappointed with the current recovery speed of his knee.
The 11-time All-Star admitted that he has been a bit frustrated that he has been on the bad end of the recovery timetable.
“I guess after every surgery you have some ups and downs," said Nowitzki, a 15-year veteran who had never undergone knee surgery. "You have some good days and you do a little more and you have a couple bad days.
“There were tons of bad days there a couple weeks ago. But it's getting better, and that's why we increased the workload starting yesterday."
The Dallas Mavericks superstar, who also holds the record for playing the highest number of games for the Mavs, is slowly getting back into shape and has started running on the elliptical machine and pool treadmill. He has also
started doing exercises to help build muscle strength around the knee. But it will still take him a couple of weeks minimum to head back in the court, and a lot more to gain match fitness required to play in the NBA.
After leading the Mavericks to 12 consecutive playoffs, it’s difficult for him to sit on the bench and see his team lose - the Mavs have dropped 5 out of their last seven games after a decent start. Dallas were banking on him to
carry them this season and his injury early on is causing a lot of problems for them.
However despite the struggles of his team, Nowitzki does not want to rush things in fear of aggravating the knee problem. The last time he rushed getting back on the court after a sprained knee, the German struggled for a while,
nearly two years ago.
"I'm not going to do that this year," said Nowitzki who has been one of the most consistent players around and has never missed more than 9 games in a season before. I need to make sure everything's right before I come back. I
can't rush. I'm hoping maybe after these two years to play a couple more years. So it would be the wrong thing now to push it and come back too early and maybe make something worse for the long term.”
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