It was like some kind of Rocky movie training montage gone bad. And without the John Cafferty “Heart on Fire” soundtrack.
Kevin Love broke his hand doing knuckle pushups, according to the Timberwolves (as reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press, among others). He was working out with a trainer at his condominium complex before coming to the team’s practice facility that day.
Knuckle pushups. That’s what may have cost the Timberwolves their shot at the playoffs.
The good news is the timeframe for Love’s return to the court may be a little sooner than first anticipated, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports and NBC Sports Network.After meeting with doctor in N.Y., there appears real chance Kevin Love could return within 5 to 6 weeks from broken hand, source tells Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) October 18, 2012
More importantly, there doesn’t need to be surgery on his shooting hand.
That timeline still has Love returning around Thanksgiving and missing a dozen games or more. The Timberwolves will be without Ricky Rubio for those games as well and will be relying on Derrick Williams, Andrei Kirilenko and the point guard stylings of Luke Ridnour to keep them afloat until the stars return. Brandon Roy circa 2009 would certainly help.
In a deep Western Conference, is that going to be enough?