Early April Injury Update

Juwan Howard

The 6-9 Houston Rockets forward announced this Thursday that he will miss the rest of the season due to a viral infection in his heart. This season Howard has posted 9.6 points, and 5.7 rebounds a game which is much lower than his career averages of 17.2 points and 7.3 rebounds a game.

“This condition caused some irregularities to my heart rhythm, which have subsequently subsided and returned to normal,” Howard said. “However, this will prevent me from participating in conditioning workouts and games for the next few months. On the advice of my doctors, I will take a conservative approach for resuming my regular training regimen in order to ensure a full recovery so that I can be ready for the start of next season. My physicians have reassured me that there should be no long-term consequences.

Grant Hill

A sight that the Magic fans have been well acquainted with for years dawned it’s ugly head again, their seven-time all star (the seventh being this season where he was named a started on the Eastern conference team); Grant Hill was placed on the injured list. Grant Hill has averaged 19.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while starting 67 games for the Magic, and was starting to look l like his old self. His bruised left shin placed him on the IL along with 3 other Magic players; Doug Christie, Andrew DeClercq and Hedo Turkoglu. An exception was made by the NBA to let the Magic have 4 players on their injured list.

Al Harrington

Atlanta Hawks forward Al Harrington was placed on the injured list after being diagnosed with right knee tendonitis. Al Harrington currently leads the Hawks in both points per game and rebounds per game with 17.5, and 7.0 respectively. He is expected to miss the next five games for sure but might miss the rest of the season since there are only 8 regular season games left for the Hawks.

Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson missed Saturday’s game against the Wizards with an injured right thumb. The 6-0 76ers guard originally chipped his thumb against the Lakers on March 15th, and then injured the other thumb while dishing out 16 assists at a 103-98 win over Cleveland this Friday. While this may keep many players out for a week or so, Allen Iverson is known for his resiliency and is expected to be back on Wednesday against their division rivals; the Boston Celtics.

Rasho Nesterovic

Rasho Nesterovic; the Spurs’ starting centre was placed on the injured list this Sunday with a spirant left ankle. He started 70 games this season for the Spurs averaging 5.9 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Zydrunas Ilgauskas; the Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star center has been sidelined with a dislocated right ring finger. Ilgauskas has started all 73 games for the Cavaliers and averaged 17.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. He is expected to miss a few games, but will be back before the end of the season.