Shoulders to cry on: Love, MKG, Olynyk all exit with shoulder woes
Wednesday was a rough night for shoulders in the NBA, as three players on teams with Eastern Conference playoff aspirations left their games early after suffering shoulder injuries.
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Headlining the injury report: Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love, who left his team’s nationally televised Wednesday meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers favoring his left shoulder — the one he had surgically repaired last spring after dislocating it in the opening round of the playoffs — in the final minute of the first half:
Kevin Love has a shoulder injury that occurred on this play where he was defended by Kobe Bryant pic.twitter.com/zUsDPnR1Ur
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) February 11, 2016
After banging with Kobe Bryant in the post before shooting a jump hook, Love, his left shoulder slumped, almost immediately left the court and headed back to the locker room, with Cavaliers general manager David Griffin following close behind. Shortly thereafter, the team ruled Love out for the game with what they described generally as a left shoulder injury; he finished with eight points on 2-for-9 shooting with six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 20 minutes. Cleveland went on to beat L.A., 120-111, behind big games from Kyrie Irving (35 points, seven assists) and LeBron James (29 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds).
It wasn’t immediately clear how severely Love reinjured his surgically repaired shoulder, but the Cavs are apparently optimistic that whatever caused Love to yell in pain and race to the locker room wasn’t too bad:
League source tells ESPN that upon initial examination, Cavs do not believe Love’s shoulder injury to be major: “Most likely he’ll be fine”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 11, 2016
#Cavs expect Kevin Love (shoulder contusion) to be available for first game out of All-Star break. It’ll be Chicago on Feb. 18 at The Q.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 11, 2016
The Charlotte Hornets and their fans find themselves similarly hoping for the best after watching forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — whose recent return to the lineup less than four months after undergoing surgery on a torn labrum in his right shoulder in preseason was nothing short of remarkable — once again dislocate the shoulder during the third quarter of Charlotte’s visit to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to take on the Indiana Pacers:
Kidd-Gilchrist, a hard-charging two-way player who famously plays with a revved-up motor and throws his body around, suffered the injury after Pacers center Ian Mahinmi fell on him in the chase for a loose ball. He stayed down until Charlotte committed a foul to stop play, and needed to be helped to the locker room, leaving many Hornets fans fearing the worst.
He would not return, leaving the arena to go to an Indianapolis hospital to get his shoulder popped back into place; he finished with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal in 19 minutes of work in a 117-95 blowout of the Pacers that improved the Hornets to 27-26, marking the first time in six years that Charlotte’s over .500 at the All-Star break. Combined with the Detroit Pistons’ loss to the Denver Nuggets, it also moved Steve Clifford’s club into the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Those silver linings, however, come wrapped around the gray cloud of Kidd-Gilchrist’s early exit, and the shadow his looming absence could cast over the Hornets’ post-All-Star-break chances:
The @hornets Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will get an MRI tomorrow in Charlotte regarding his dislocated shoulder. #CHAatIND
— Charlotte Hornets PR (@HornetsPR) February 11, 2016
Kidd-Gilchrist had been tremendous in his first six games since returning, averaging 13.5 points, seven rebounds and 1.2 assists in 31 minutes per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and a shocking 42.9 percent from 3-point land. In keeping with the precedent set over the past couple of seasons, the Hornets have operated at a significantly higher level with MKG on the floor than off it since his return, outscoring opponents by 15.2 points per 100 possessions when he’s playing and getting outscored by 4.3 points-per-100 when he’s been on the bench. He’s stepped right back in as Charlotte’s best defender while also working his tail off to fit in on the offensive end, and it’s been working … and now, again, Clifford and company might have to make do without him.
The Boston Celtics might also have to weather the absence of an important piece of their frontcourt puzzle after the All-Star break, as forward/center Kelly Olynyk — who, you might remember, was the player with whom Love tangled on the play that resulted in his separated shoulder back in the first round of the 2015 playoffs — left the game in the final minute of the second quarter of Boston’s matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers after being landed on by Clippers center DeAndre Jordan:
Olynyk would stay in the game, make his two free throws and play one more defensive possession before coming out for good with 15 seconds left in the first half. He finished with seven points, two rebounds and two assists in 11 minutes.
#NEBHInjuryReport: Kelly Olynyk has been diagnosed with a bruised right shoulder and will not return to tonight’s game.
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 11, 2016
After the game, which Boston won, 139-134, in double-overtime, the Celtics updated Olynyk’s diagnosis in a way that doesn’t sound especially pleasant:
Stevens said Kelly Olynyk had a shoulder subluxation and went to the hospital for X-rays.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 11, 2016
As Jeff Stotts of the injury-focused site In Street Clothes has written, a subluxation is a partial dislocation in which “the displacement is minor and the shoulder joint slips out but naturally returns to its normal position.” That doesn’t sound particularly appealing, but it also doesn’t seem as bad as a complete dislocation; Boston fans will hope that the extended All-Star break will have the 24-year-old Gonzaga product, who’s been playing the best ball of his career for Brad Stevens this season, back an ready to contribute for a Celtics club that sits at 32-23, winners of eight of their last 10 and in third place in the East.
Whatever their prognoses, it seems likely that Olynyk, Love and Kidd-Gilchrist all have an awful lot of rest, ice and treatment in store over the long week off.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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