他们没有恐慌。他们没有过早地投降。没有证据表明抽签俱乐部常会出现的“伪装”行为。但当一波让人震惊的伤病和疾病来袭，几乎将全队淹没，并带走马刺争夺 NBA 总冠军的一切希望时，他们这个赛季就没有多大的希望了。
-本赛季，共有 11 名马刺队球员因伤病和其他问题错过了 319 场比赛，问题从机械性的腰部劳损到脚趾关节炎，从喉部脓肿到股四头肌撕裂，以及一系列常见的肌腱拉伤和脚踝扭伤。
-不久之后，大卫·罗宾逊紧随其后，在对阵休斯顿的季前赛中突然倒地，表现出令人担忧的背部僵硬和疼痛症状。罗宾逊两个月后复出，打了六场比赛，但在 12 月份脚趾骨折。他于 12 月 27 日接受了手术，此后一直没有参加比赛。
-查尔斯·史密斯带着满腔的希望和充满激情的态度来到了训练营。史密斯在因右膝骨关节炎缺席之前，只打了四场常规赛。他现在已经复出，但这种使人衰弱、骨磨骨的疾病仍然威胁着他的职业生涯。
“我们今年夏天的重点将放在全身力量和背部稳定性上。这段时间将产生巨大差异。我知道大卫喜欢锻炼，我完全希望他做所有必要的事情，让他恢复到原来的状态。他现在已经很少出现疼痛和僵硬。”
罗宾逊说：“我将继续执行我现在制定的背部整体计划”。“其中包含许多仰卧起坐类型的活动、躯干稳定性练习以及使用大球（一种通常用于背部康复的大球）。每天需要 45 分钟到一个小时。”
“直接的目标是加强股四头肌，防止其在手术后萎缩，”艾利奥特说。“然后我进行了活动范围练习、骑自行车、伸展运动。我做了很多平衡木技巧，非常类似于你在奥运会期间看到的体操运动员所做的平衡木，只是这个动作只有几英寸的高度。
“我将一直这样做，直到被允许恢复篮球训练。当我恢复跑步和跳跃后，我只确保内侧股四头肌——他们称之为小泪滴腺——保持强壮。我只会做一些针对它的练习，接受一些治疗。”
史密斯说：“现在，我的双腿力量都差不多，一个 80%，另一个 82%。”“我想达到 90%。但主要的康复已经结束了。强健的双腿是缓解关节压力的关键。我可能会每天进行一次长时间的训练、治疗和力量训练，外加傍晚的投篮训练。”
他说：“上个夏天我太兴奋了”。“希尔在上赛季末把我从阵容中剔除，因为我的右膝盖无法坚持，我的背部侧边撕裂了。我必须在夏天处理这些区域，我没有时间专注于关节的恢复。我在本赛季康复期间进行了完全不同的锻炼。”
史密斯说：“就比赛而言，我的合同还有三年，我希望能继续在圣安东尼奥打下去。”“是的，我读过并听说有猜测称，马刺队希望我退役，以便他们可以在我的薪水上得到一些医疗补助。但他们从未对我提起过。如果他们真的提出来，我不会当着他们的面反驳。”
点击查看原文：On the Mend - Spurs feel good about chances of injured stars returning to form
On the Mend - Spurs feel good about chances of injured stars returning to form
They didn’t panic. They didn’t throw in the towel early. And there’s no evidence of a ``tank job’’ often seen from lottery-bound teams. But the Spurs didn’t have much hope this season when an astounding wave of injuries and illnesses all but submerged the team and washed away any hopes of a run at an NBA title.
The facts:
-Eleven Spurs have missed 319 games because of injuries and other problems, ranging from a mechanical back strain to turf toe to a throat abscess to a torn quadriceps to the usual run of hamstring pulls and ankle turns.
The epidemic became bizarre enough to include Monty Williams missing two games when there was a fire at his family’s home.
-The injuries helped lead to the Dec. 10 firing of Bob Hill as coach.
The continuing plague has forced the Spurs to use 23 different starting lineups this season.
-Chuck Person went first, sentenced to back surgery to repair herniated discs and season-long rehab. He has missed the entire season.
-David Robinson followed soon after, showing worrisome stiffness and pain in his back before collapsing in a preseason game against Houston. Robinson came back from that two months later, played six games, but broke his toe in December. He underwent surgery Dec. 27 and hasn’t played since.
-Charles Smith came to training camp with high hopes and a sparkling attitude. Smith managed to get through four regular-season games before he was sidelined with osteoarthritis of the right knee. He is back now, but the debilitating, bone-rubbing-on-bone ailment still threatens his career.
-Sean Elliott lasted a while, but his play suffered as the pain in his quadriceps increased. He went out for good when he submitted to surgery Feb. 18.
Fans and players alike will spend the summer wondering when and if these players will return to form.
The prognosis sounds excellent for Robinson and Elliott. But there are question marks surrounding Person, and it seems iffy at best for Smith, who also may be talking with the team this summer about a buyout of his contract.
Let’s put these fellows back on the examining table, one by one.
David Robinson
I feel very good about next year,'' Robinson said. The back feels a lot stronger and my toe should be well-healed. I’ll have the whole summer to work and get ready.‘’
Mike Brungardt, the Spurs’ strength and conditioning coach, also is optimistic.
David's back is not quite where we want it to be, but he's made great strides,'' Brungardt said. The back needs more strengthening and he’ll have the time this summer to accomplish that.
``Our focus this summer will be overall body strength and the stabilization of his back. The time period will make the big difference. I know David likes to work out and I fully anticipate him to do everything that’s required to put him back to where he was. Already, he has a lot fewer bouts with soreness and stiffness.‘’
Robinson suffered a sprain of his lower lumbar region. His rehabilitation regimen will consist of a wide variety of weight training and stretching exercises.
``David will have functional exercises, teaching him new habits on such things as just reaching down and picking up a ball,‘’ Brungardt said.
Still, the fundamental questions won’t be answered until Robinson has played a long stretch of games and been hammered by the likes of Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone.
He already is into the day-to-day matters. He bought a recliner and may go back for another one. And he concentrates on his posture and anything that could be bad for his back.
I'll maintain the overall back program I have now,'' Robinson said. It involves a lot of sit-up type activities, the trunk- stabilization exercises, working with the big ball (an oversized ball used commonly used for back rehab). That takes from 45 minutes to an hour every day.‘’
Said Dr. David Schmidt, the Spurs’ team physician: ``We believe that David will be back as well as we anticipated. His strength already is looking good. His toe will be completely healed.‘’
Sean Elliott
Elliott has been engaged in 2 -hour daily rehab since about a week after his surgery.
The immediate goal was to strengthen the quadriceps muscle, keep it from atrophying after the surgery,'' Elliott said. Then I went into the range-of-motion exercises, bike riding, stretching. I did a lot of balance-beam stuff, pretty similar to the beam you see the gymnasts on during the Olympics, only this one was only a few inches off the floor.
``I’ll do all this stuff until I’m cleared to come back to basketball stuff. Once I’m back to running and jumping, I just have to make sure the inside quad muscle - the little teardrop they call it - stays strong. I’ll just do some exercises for that, get some therapy.‘’
Elliott said his situation might have been handled differently if the Spurs were in the running for the playoffs earlier in the season.
They discovered the little tear in the quadriceps in January,'' he said. I think if we had been considered a playoff team, they would have operated right away and I would have been back for the postseason.‘’
Schmidt gave Elliott a double thumbs up.
``He will be back completely unrestricted,‘’ Schmidt said.
Charles Smith
Smith spent the entire past off-season working on his knee, and he’ll do the same this summer.
He started a special rehab program in December, working out twice a day.
Primarily, I had to deal with the proper alignment of my body and the strengthening, reconditioning and re-educating of the knee joint and muscles,'' Smith said. I did stretching exercises, worked with weights, did a lot of running in the pool, where there would be no weight bearing involved.‘’
The results have been positive.
Right now, I have both legs about the same strength, about 80 percent for one, 82 percent for the other,'' Smith said. I want to get to 90 percent. But the main rehab is over. Strong legs are the key as far as relieving the pressure on the joint. I’ll probably have one long session a day, therapy and strengthening, plus some shooting in the evening.‘’
Schmidt isn’t making any bold prognostications.
It's difficult to predict,'' he said. Some players can play with a very bad knee. Mike Mitchell is a prime example. Some players cannot.‘’
But he is pleased with how his patient is handling the recent playing time.
So far, Charles has tolerated the minutes he's getting,'' Schmidt said. We just hope he does well.‘’
Smith isn’t deterred by the fact that he rehabbed last summer and the knee still caved in once basketball action began.
I was so jacked up last summer,'' he said. Hill took me out of the lineup at the end of last season because my right knee wasn’t holding up and the side of my back was torn up. I had to work on those areas over the summer and I didn’t have the time to focus on reconditioning the joint. I had completely different workouts during my rehab this season.‘’
Smith still hopes to line up next to Robinson next season.
As far as playing is concerned, I have three years left on my contract and I expect to play it out in San Antonio,'' Smith said. Yes, I’ve read and heard the speculation that the Spurs would like me to retire so they could get some medical relief on my salary. But they’ve never said anything to me. If they do bring it up, I wouldn’t throw it back into their face.‘’
Chuck Person
Person’s status probably won’t be determined until training camp in October.
Chuck's prognosis is questionable,'' Schmidt said. We haven’t been able to get him into the lineup, so the jury is still out. A lot of players have come back after back surgery, but not all of them.‘’
Person, too, has gone through a rigid rehab program.
I do a lot of work on that (oversized) ball,'' he said. The main objective is trunk stabilization and strengthening the quadriceps and stomach muscles. I have to create more strength to take the pressure off the back when I’m making my moves on the court.
``I’m coming along fine. I’ve got my weight down to about 245 and I hope to get it down to about 237 for training camp. Right now, I feel like I’m back to where I was a couple of years ago.‘’
Strength and conditioning coach Brungardt likes what he sees so far.
Chuck has made tremendous gains,'' he said. We’ve been cautious because it’s a serious situation. But we’re on target to get him on the floor in training camp.‘’
The prognosis
Brungardt may have felt like he was living in a bomb shelter this season, but the rash of injuries will not alter his basic philosophies and the team’s conditioning programs.
We see no reason to panic,'' he said. I’m afraid that this was just our year. We went two seasons without any real loss of time from injuries. We evaluate our program after each season and make changes here and there where needed.
``For instance, in Sean’s case, we’ll probably keep him from working too much with the weights. We’ll try to get better balance on his legs (muscle power on both sides of each leg), but we won’t be looking for dramatic strength increases.‘’
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Oh, the pain
Spurs’ missed games due to injury during the David Robinson era:
Season Games missed Record
1989-90 28 56-26
1990-91 110 55-27
1991-92 106 47-35
1992-93 160 49-33
1993-94 86 55-27
1994-95 159 62-20
1995-96 96 59-23
1996-97 319 20-56
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Injury list at a glance
Games Player missed Reason
Chuck Person 76 Back surgery Oct. 29
Charles Smith 60 Osteoarthritis (right knee), unexcused absence*
David Robinson 70 Lower back strain, fracture (right foot)
Dominque Wilkins 17 Strained patella tendon (right knee), strained right hamstring, sprained left ankle
Will Perdue 17 Fracture (left thumb), fractured orbit (right eye), strained left hamstring
Vinny Del Negro 10 Tendinitis (left knee), sprained left ankle, bruised right shoulder, throat infection
Sean Elliott 37 Tendinitis, surgery (right quadricep)
Monty Williams 11 Right foot, right wrist sprain, strained left groin, personal reasons**
Carl Herrera 5 Broken nose, patella tendinitis (both knees)
Vernon Maxwell 10 Anemia, suspension***, tendinitis (quadriceps, both knees)
Avery Johnson 6 Surgery (throat)
Total games missed 319
* - Missed game in Sacramento on March 21 (unexcused absence) due to personal reasons.
** - Missed two games in March when his father’s house in Virginia burned.
*** - Suspended for one game in March for conduct ``that did not coincide with the team’s standards.‘’
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Spurs’ starting lineups this season
The Spurs have used 23 different starting lineups this season. Here’s how each combination has fared.
Lineup Games W-L Pct.
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Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Herrera, Anderson 2 0-2 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Smith, Anderson 2 1-1 .500
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Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Wilkins, Anderson 2 0-2 .000
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Johnson, Maxwell, Elliott, Wilkins, Anderson 4 1-3 .250
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Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Wilkins, Perdue 5 0-5 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Maxwell, Wilkins, Perdue 1 0-1 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Herrera, Perdue 3 1-2 .333
-
Johnson, Del Negro, Elliott, Perdue, Robinson 6 3-3 .500
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Johnson, Maxwell, Elliott, Herrera, Perdue 11 5-6 .455
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Johnson, Maxwell, Williams, Herrera, Perdue 6 1-5 .167
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Johnson, Maxwell, Elliott, Herrera, Anderson 3 0-3 .000
-
Johnson, Maxwell, Elliott, Williams, Anderson 1 0-1 .000
-
Johnson, Maxwell, Williams, Herrera, Anderson 2 0-2 .000
-
Johnson, Maxwell, Wilkins, Herrera, Anderson 2 0-2 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Wilkins, Herrera, Anderson 6 1-5 .167
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Johnson, Del Negro, Williams, Herrera, Anderson 8 3-5 .375
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Johnson, Del Negro, Williams, Herrera, Perdue 1 0-1 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Maxwell, Herrera, Anderson 2 2-0 1.000
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Alexander, Del Negro, Williams, Herrera, Anderson 3 1-2 .333
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Alexander, Williams, Wilkins, Herrera, Anderson 1 0-1 .000
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Alexander, Del Negro, Wilkins, Herrera, Anderson 2 0-2 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Williams, Wilkins, Anderson 1 0-1 .000
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Johnson, Del Negro, Williams, Smith, Anderson 2 1-1 .500