On February 3, Beijing time, the Lakers hosted the Blazers, LeBron James once again truce due to injury, and the Lakers' hard days continued.
It was james' fourth consecutive missed game because of swollen left knee, and in the previous three games, they had all lost. Pre-game ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin reported that James would not come back until the swelling had completely subsided. The Lakers believe there is a risk of further injury if James comes into the game with swelling.
The Athletic reporter Shams Charania also said: James may continue to miss a few games, and now he and the Lakers want to proceed cautiously.
The Lakers have struggled this season, struggling to survive until a comeback, and James's body has lit up a red light. How serious was the injury? What does it mean for the Lakers and 37-year-old James?
What exactly did Emperor Zhan suffer?
James, who was injured abruptly before the start of the away game against the 76ers on Jan. 28, tried to warm up before the game, but quickly decided not to play. After the game, Lakers coach Frank Vogel talked about James' injury, saying that he was not injured because of an accident during the game, but felt discomfort in his left knee after waking up early that day, and then found swelling.
For James's injury, the Lakers did not take it too seriously at first, Vogel called his status a "daily observation" and said that there was no need for further examination. But in the next few days, the swelling never subsided, so James ended his "road trip" early and returned to Los Angeles for treatment.
The Lakers then arranged an MRI for James, and the results were somewhat comforting: James's left knee did not find structural problems, but just ordinary swelling. This shows that James did not suffer bone or ligament damage, which is a blessing in disguise.
Dr. Michael S. George of the KSF Orthopaedic Center in Houston was invited by Sporting News to analyze James' injury:
"There are many reasons that can lead to knee swelling, from muscle tension to ligament sprains to arthritis, but if MRI really doesn't show any structural damage, then the swelling could be the result of a long NBA season that has caused pressure accumulation on the knee." Normal knee function depends on the strength, flexibility, and balance of the surrounding muscles, especially the quadriceps and hamstrings. When these muscles become tense or tired, they can lead to structural imbalances, further pain and swelling. ”
"Overwork" seems like a reasonable explanation for James's injury. This season, after nearly six weeks out of the game with a knee injury from Thick Brow, Westbrook's disappointing performance, the 37-year-old James averaged 36.6 minutes per game, the highest record since joining the Lakers. Prior to this injury, James had scored 25+ in 18 consecutive games, his longest personal record since the 2007-08 season.
Vogel expressed concern about James's "heavy burden" in an interview in January, when he said: "This is something I think about every day, and we have been paying attention to the pressure he is under, constantly communicating with him and the medical team." ”
James himself seems to be unimpressed: "I don't get bothered by issues like usage and heavy load, and that's a reflection of my entire career, from the time I took over a team at the age of 18. So, this kind of pressure or burden is something that I have long been accustomed to and have been accustomed to for 20 years. ”
If it's just an ordinary strain, then James' injury really doesn't have to worry too much. According to Dr. George, if there is no structural injury, the swelling of the knee due to fatigue can be relieved by strengthening training with rest, stretching and strength. Knee swelling is very common among athletes, and James is expected to return soon. Of course, even after the swelling and pain disappears, you must continue to pay attention to rest and stretch often, otherwise it is easy to recur.
But some people have expressed some concerns about james's knee swelling continues to go on, sports injury analyst Dr. Evan Jeffries through the review of the previous Lakers and Nets game video, found that James's left knee behind the suspected mobile "lump", judging that it may be cyst or bursitis.
Although this speculation is currently unsubstantiated by any official information, according to Dr. Jeffries, if it is bursitis, it may take a few days to a week or two to treat and recover, while if it is a cyst, it may take several weeks to completely resolve.
What does this injury mean?
To be sure, whether it was an ordinary swelling or a cyst, James' injury was not serious enough to jeopardize the season, let alone the entire career. However, as a 37-year-old veteran, even if it is just an ordinary strain, it deserves high attention.
James is one of the best players the NBA has ever done in terms of maintaining his body and staying in constant condition, but in the face of the laws of nature, everyone is equal. In the past few years, injuries have begun to appear frequently on James, who was once "king kong not bad".
In his first season with the Lakers, James missed 17 consecutive games due to a groin injury, which directly led to the Lakers missing the playoffs. The following 2019-20 season, James won the championship with Thick Brow, which was the only basically healthy season of his Lakers career so far.
Last season, James suffered a serious sprained ankle injury, until the comeback after the state is still affected, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round, in addition to the thick eyebrow injury, James did not recover to the best condition, is also a key reason. In that series with the Suns, James averaged just 23.3 points per game, a career-low.
Just over the halfway point of the season, James has suffered a number of different injuries to the ankle, abdomen and knee, the same strain, when he was young, he may only need to take a break or two to recover, and now it will take several times.
And as McMenamin reported, if James comes on the court with an injury, it could cause further serious problems, and neither the Lakers nor himself obviously want that to happen.
James is 37 years old, but he's clearly not yet seriously considering retiring. In fact, for the rest of his career, there are at least three major goals waiting for him to complete, including surpassing Tiangou to crown the all-time scoring champion, waiting for Brownie to enter the league to fulfill his long-cherished wish of playing father and son, and winning at least one more championship.
Of the three goals, the all-time scoring champion should be the easiest to achieve, as long as there are no major injuries, and James should be able to successfully complete the task before the current contract expires next summer. But to play father and son, James will have to play at least until the 2023-24 season. As for the championship, it is more necessary for him to be able to maintain a healthy and lasting good state.
For the Lakers, James's health is the key to determining the fate of the entire team. Not counting today's game, James has missed 15 games this season, during which the Lakers won 5 and lost 10. According to one team insider: As long as James is not there, the Lakers will completely sink.
So, although he has fallen out of the top eight in the West after losing to the Hawks last game, the pressure on the record is great, and the Lakers will wait for James to be fully healthy before letting him come back.
Zhan Huang has a strange trick to treat injuries?
According to McMenamin, "I learned from a source close to LeBron that they were working on all treatment options, except for the possibility of platelet-rich plasma treatment that had been ruled out. ”
Platelet-rich plasma therapy is common in today's NBA, including Stephen Curry, Kristaps Porzingis, and James teammate Dwight Howard, who have all used the treatment to speed up injury recovery.
Platelet-rich plasma therapy is a plasma rich in high concentrations of platelets obtained by centrifugation of whole blood from animals or people, injected into athletes, and uses a large number of growth factors to promote the repair and regeneration of various tissues. Therefore, the therapy can work wonders when swelling due to bone or ligament damage appears. However, James's MRI results ruled out structural damage, so platelet-rich plasma treatment was no longer symptomatic.
As for the possibility of the cyst mentioned by Dr. Jeffries, it is difficult to judge the specific situation. Judging from the location of the "lump" in the video, if there is a cyst, it should be a popliteal cyst - this is usually a problem with the cartilage or meniscus in the knee joint, and the joint cavity is inflamed with synovial membranes, resulting in a fluid effusion. But cysts like these are easy to find on MRI examinations, and in the Lakers' previous MRI reports, there was no mention of this.
Even if James did have a cyst in his left knee, surgery was not necessarily needed. Whether a popliteal cyst requires surgery does not depend on the size of the cyst, but mainly depends on whether it induces symptoms, such as the patient has obvious knee flexion restrictions, and accompanied by pain, which has a significant impact on the action, and surgery will be considered to remove it.
Regardless of James' specific injury, one thing is certain, he will receive the most appropriate treatment. James himself has a lot of experience in how to take care of his body, and he said in an interview in an early year: "All the injuries I have experienced are caused by excessive physical use. "So he's experienced in how to rest, take care of, take care of his body.
In order to relieve fatigue and treat sports injuries, James has tried various "miracle tricks", including cupping, doing yoga, using liquid nitrogen freezer, etc. What's more, James has a million-dollar-dollar private medical team led by Biologist Downey Lemon, a biologist with 15 years of service in the U.S. Navy SEALs. This time James's knee joint problem, the Lakers have been in communication with the medical team, hoping to find the most favorable solution.
All in all, James' injury is not too worrying, but for a 37-year-old veteran, it cannot be taken lightly. He and his team, including the entire Lakers' medical team, will definitely arrange the best treatment plan for them according to the actual situation, so that the superstar can return to the game as soon as possible.
As fans, we also sincerely hope that all players can stay away from injuries, play healthy and give their best performances.