標籤: calf

Detroit Pistons forward/center Isaiah Stewart recently suffered a Grade 1 left calf strain and will miss some time, the team announced Tuesday morning. Stewart is undergoing treatment and will miss at least the Pistons’ next four games.

Preparations are on to re-evaluate them in a week.

This means the Pistons will be without their defensive tackles on Tuesday and Thursday against the Washington Wizards, on Friday at home against the Golden State Warriors and on Monday, February 23 at home against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The good news for the Pistons is that it is not a significant injury, and Stewart should be able to return after resting and receiving treatment for a week or two, assuming he doesn’t suffer any setbacks in his recovery. Stewart is also the only key Pistons player to place himself on the injury report, leaving the team with options to replace his production.

However, the Pistons only have a 3.5-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference.

The race for the top spot in the East has suddenly become a major topic of discussion, with the Celtics adding back Jayson Tatum and winning seven of their last 10 games. On the other end, the Pistons have struggled recently, going just 3-5 in their last eight games, including a 119-108 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.

With back-to-back games against the tanking Wizards, Detroit has a clear path to two wins in a row to try to steady the ship.

Unfortunately for the Pistons, this is an injury that has been bothering Stewart for quite some time. The big man has battled a calf issue all season, and head coach JB Bickerstaff recently alluded to it following his team’s loss on Sunday.

Bickerstaff said of Stewart, “It’s something he’s dealing with. It’s getting worse.” “He gutted it out in the last game and I think you could see he was favoring it late… It’s something we’ll take our time with.”

Although Detroit announced that Stewart will be reevaluated in a week, it is fair to assume they will keep him out longer to ensure he is 100 percent before the playoffs and the end of the regular season. After all, he is instrumental in the team’s defensive identity.

Without Stewart, Paul Reed, Ron Holland II, and Javonte Green will all have increased roles off the bench. Reed has now moved into the role of backup big man behind Jalen Duren in Stewart’s absence.

In 55 games this season, Stewart has averaged 10.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, while shooting 54.1 percent from the floor. Only he and Wizards big man Alex Sarr have recorded at least 90 blocks this season while playing less than 1,300 minutes.

The Golden State Warriors entered Friday night shorthanded in the frontcourt against the Minnesota Timberwolves with Draymond Green ruled out less than an hour before tip-off. Another unfortunate injury incident occurred for the Warriors during the game, with Al Horford connecting with Green after only five minutes of play.

According to NBA insider Brett Siegel for ClutchPoints, Horford will miss the remainder of the Warriors’ Friday night contest against the Timberwolves due to suffering from tightness in his right calf. Against an over-sized Timberwolves team, Horford’s defensive tenacity and ability to space the floor could have come in handy, but now, the Dubs will have to rely on their other options to hold down the fort.

The good news is that the Warriors have Kristaps Porzingis active on Friday night, and they also have the more than capable hands of Quinton Post to back up Porzingis. That should at least soften the blow of Horford’s absence.

Before exiting the game, Horford scored three points on 1-3 shooting from the field (all from beyond the arc) and he grabbed a single rebound.

Warriors are facing nightmare of injuries one after another

The Warriors have fallen to ninth place in the Western Conference with a 32-33 record, and are in danger of falling even further with the Portland Trail Blazers right behind them. Injury problems have made their lives miserable, with several key players suffering injuries serious enough to rule them out.

The most serious absence for them has been Stephen Curry, who is dealing with a knee injury. Jimmy Butler is out for the foreseeable future with a torn ACL. Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton missed a few games here and there due to injury management. Moses Moody is out. Kristaps Porzingis is battling a chronic illness. And now, Horford is on the sidelines, too.

Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has not played in more than five weeks, is set to return from his calf injury on Monday night against the Boston Celtics, as first reported by ESPN. He will face a minutes restriction in his first game in more than a month.

As of 1:30 pm ET on Monday, the Bucks have listed Giannis as questionable for Monday night’s game.

Antetokounmpo has not played since Jan. 23, when the Bucks lost 102-100 to the Denver Nuggets. Earlier in the game, Giannis suffered a worrisome right calf strain that sidelined him during the All-Star break and an eventful trade deadline where the two-time MVP was brought up in trade conversations around the league.

Although several teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat, held direct talks with the Bucks about a trade for Giannis before the February 5 trade deadline, Milwaukee was never serious in its intent to trade the multi-time All-Star, league sources told ClutchPoints.

The teams that were showing heavy interest in Antetokounmpo never once felt that Giannis being traded in the middle of the season was a real possibility, and the Bucks informed him of this hours before the trade deadline.

Without Giannis, the Bucks have actually had quite a bit of success, winning eight of their last 15 games and moving within three games of the Charlotte Hornets for the 10-seed in the Eastern Conference standings. Cam Thomas, Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. have been great playing off each other in the Bucks’ backcourt.

The Bucks are still attempting to make the playoffs this season, and Giannis has made it clear to the organization that he has no intentions of sitting out the remainder of the year. This is why the organization is not following in the footsteps of those finishing at the bottom of the league standings and conceding the season.

With Antetokounmpo returning to the lineup on Monday night against Boston, the Bucks will look to keep their momentum in a positive direction. After their game against the Celtics, who are playing their second game in as many nights, Milwaukee will enter a number of games against some teams with losing records and other teams battling major injury concerns.

There’s potentially a way to find success and move up in the standings, which is why the Bucks and Antetokounmpo are still fighting entering March.

In 30 games this season, Giannis is averaging 28.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game, while shooting 64.5 percent from the floor. Missing more than 17 games this season resulted in him being ineligible for season-ending awards and honors, meaning Antetokounmpo’s streak of seven consecutive All-NBA first-team selections and nine straight All-NBA selections overall has ended.