How long will Pekovic be out for... more importantly... what does it mean?

[AbeVigodaLive]

Pekovic won't play tonight. He might not play Friday in an important tilt vs. Memphis who has its DPOY center back and is rolling.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/242328111.html

Everybody here knows how Pekovic has missed games in the past to nagging injuries. And, many have probably noticed how his production has waned in the past when playing through nagging injuries.

The Wolves have been pretty healthy this season, all things considered. It will be interesting to see how they handle this blip... because the guy was rolling (literally, seeing him carve out his space rolling to the hoop has been impressive).

[bleedspeed]

Shut him down until after the all-star break.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

This one frustrates me a lot. I have battled Achilles pain most of my athletic life, and am proud to say I have never missed a minute of action because of it...although there were certainly times I thought about it. I also have known a lot of other guys who have had the same experience. It's my non-expert opinion that there are really only two Achilles conditions: torn and out for 9 months, or various degrees of pain and play through it. Pek himself said that he has been battling this for several games. Has anyone seen a decrease in his effectiveness on the court? No? I haven't either. Pek's tolerance for pain bothers me. There's no way to measure it, but I would guess that Love, Rubio and Barea had similar levels of pain against Portland, but they played through it.

As many of us have written, we are in a critical stretch of games that may decide whether we are a playoff contender or not. We can beat the Pelicans without him, but it will be more challenging. Pek need to tough it out and play until the All Star break.

I'm guessing this won't be a popular take. But before you refute, think about Pek's level of play the past few games while he has been hurting.

There's a difference between pain and injury.

[shahidi124 [enjin:6591729]]

Does an agitated Achilles have a higher propensity for tearing, or are they independent? If this is one of those injuries that if pushed too far will lead to a tear, then yes, he needs to sit out. If it's just soreness and the pain is not excruciating, then he should probably play.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

That's a very good question, shahidi, and I agree with you. But, unencumbered by any medical training at all, my guess would be that Achilles soreness is independent of Achilles tears. Similar to serious knee injuries, Achilles tears seem to come from a specific action that makes the joint or tendon act in a way it is not designed to.

None of us can know what Pek is feeling, and how his level of pain compares to Love's, Ricky's and JJ's. What we do know is that different athletes have different beliefs about the level of pain they can tolerate. Pek's history with what often appear to be nuisance minor injuries leads me to believe that he is on the extreme end of this spectrum.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Well, at minimum this should give us a preview of what a team with a more defensive-oriented Center looks like vs. a team with Pek in the middle. Will the additional defensive presence of Turiaf/Dieng outweigh the offensive hit we take by not having Pek?

But yeah, let's hope this isn't serious and he just needs a few days of rest and treatment. I don't want this experiment to last long!

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

No problems here. We'll just go back to what we do well...shoot 3 pointers!!

/too sarcastic?

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

No worries. More shots for Corey. :thumb: :dizzy:

[ace [enjin:6598567]]

Well Abe, Love, Ricky, and Martin are also not playing tonight. I don't think there's any way we come up with a win.

An interesting note. In the 4th quarter on Saturday, Pek got subbed out and they kept the camera on him as he went to the bench. He sat down with a huge grimace, and the player beside him (I think Dante) leaned over and asked if he was alright. Pek looked over and said, "Ah it's just my (something)" while grabbing his ankle. I was kind of worried then, but there were no reports about it so I figured he was OK. Obviously his achilles was not OK and he's been dealing with it for awhile.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Where did you see that Love, Ricky and Martin aren't playing?