Pietrus parked with hammy, groin pains
By Geoff Lepper, STAFF WRITER
Article Created: 03/31/2008 02:32:58 AM PDT
OAKLAND - Mickael Pietrus' month of great play after the Feb.21 trade deadline passed is beginning to be overshadowed by his continued absence with a strained right groin and hamstring.
Pietrus did not suit up Sunday, making this five games in a row that he has missed, and it's unlikely that he'll be back any earlier than Friday in Memphis.
But less than 24 hours after captain Stephen Jackson said that he hoped his teammate "sucks it up and comes back and thinks about the team and fights through the injury for us" - making it sound as though it were merely a matter of Pietrus' pain tolerance - the Warriors made the highly unusual step, for them, of releasing oodles of data regarding the injury.
According to the club, Pietrus was examined Sunday by team physician John Belzer, and while the groin is progressing nicely, the hamstring "still has inadequate flexibility or strength to begin running" and that to do so at this time, "he increases the risk of re-injuring himself."
Pietrus will travel on the Warriors' upcoming four-game road trip but is considered doubtful for Golden State's games in San Antonio on Tuesday and Dallas on Wednesday.
"Well, we've done a good job of playing through injuries all year," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "There's some of them that you just can't play through, and the groin is a tough one, and that's an individual thing. I have no complaints about that. If somebody's injured, they're injured."
The Warriors did receive some good news Sunday on the injury front: X-rays taken of forward Al Harrington's right thumb - which got banged against the rim Saturday as Harrington blocked a shot from Denver's Kenyon Martin - were negative, and Harrington played with his thumb heavily bandaged.
Nevertheless, the Warriors still went only seven deep for the most part, and rookie forward Brandan Wright - despite Nelson claiming he would be a good matchup against the Mavericks - was nowhere to be found.
Wouldn't it have been better, Nelson was asked, if you had brought Wright along over the course of the season so that he could contribute now? "The organization, the team and me all wanted to make the playoffs," Nelson said. "And to do that, to be where we are today, we had to do it the way we did it."
Wouldn't it have been better, Nelson was asked, if you had brought Wright along over the course of the seasonso that he could contribute now? "The organization, the team and me all wanted to make the playoffs," Nelson said. "And to do that, to be wherewe are today, we had to do it the way we did it."
