20 August 2011
Welcome Back, LJ!
After Lauren Jackson's surgery in late June, they said she would be out for 8-12 weeks. As Richard Cohen wrote yesterday:
"Lauren Jackson was medically cleared today to return to action for the Seattle Storm. Brian Agler is being coy on whether she’ll actually play in tomorrow’s game against New York, but given that this is LJ it’d hardly be a surprise to see her out there. She must be absolutely itching to play by now. For those interested in the maths, this is a little earlier than even the most optimistic end of the timescale offered when Jackson had surgery on her hip. The statement back then said 8-12 weeks, and we’ve barely reached seven. Good news for the Storm; bad news for the rest of the Western Conference."
He continued, "Jackson wasn’t playing all that well before her surgery, but presumably that was at least in part because she was fighting through pain. There might well be a period of recovery time while she works her way back to full fitness, but the Storm should benefit from her presence immediately. If nothing else, she adds someone with true size to their diminutive front line, and an elite interior defender even if her shot takes its time coming back. It’ll be interesting to see how fit she is and how long it takes for her to reacclimate."
The answer? About fifteen seconds. That's when she put up a shot on a feed from Sue Bird, got fouled, and made both of her free throws. Forty seconds later she sunk a three-pointer. A minute later she got a block, and two seconds later she grabbed a rebound. Twenty seconds later she grabbed another rebound. She came out of the game a minute later with five points (1-1 from the three-point line, 2-2 from the free throw line), two rebounds, and one block. Welcome back, LJ!!
She only played 22 minutes, but she was the game-leading scorer with 20 points, 7 rebounds, a steal, and a block. She fouled out of the game, unfortunately, but still -- wow!
Tanisha Wright just got back into town this morning, so Katie Smith started again. Swin Cash is still struggling a bit. Sue Bird was her normal self.
The Storm won -- barely -- with a great first quarter, and crappy to mediocre second, third, and fourth quarters. Came through in the end, though!
Did I mention it's good to have Lauren Jackson back?
"Lauren Jackson was medically cleared today to return to action for the Seattle Storm. Brian Agler is being coy on whether she’ll actually play in tomorrow’s game against New York, but given that this is LJ it’d hardly be a surprise to see her out there. She must be absolutely itching to play by now. For those interested in the maths, this is a little earlier than even the most optimistic end of the timescale offered when Jackson had surgery on her hip. The statement back then said 8-12 weeks, and we’ve barely reached seven. Good news for the Storm; bad news for the rest of the Western Conference."
He continued, "Jackson wasn’t playing all that well before her surgery, but presumably that was at least in part because she was fighting through pain. There might well be a period of recovery time while she works her way back to full fitness, but the Storm should benefit from her presence immediately. If nothing else, she adds someone with true size to their diminutive front line, and an elite interior defender even if her shot takes its time coming back. It’ll be interesting to see how fit she is and how long it takes for her to reacclimate."
The answer? About fifteen seconds. That's when she put up a shot on a feed from Sue Bird, got fouled, and made both of her free throws. Forty seconds later she sunk a three-pointer. A minute later she got a block, and two seconds later she grabbed a rebound. Twenty seconds later she grabbed another rebound. She came out of the game a minute later with five points (1-1 from the three-point line, 2-2 from the free throw line), two rebounds, and one block. Welcome back, LJ!!
She only played 22 minutes, but she was the game-leading scorer with 20 points, 7 rebounds, a steal, and a block. She fouled out of the game, unfortunately, but still -- wow!
Tanisha Wright just got back into town this morning, so Katie Smith started again. Swin Cash is still struggling a bit. Sue Bird was her normal self.
The Storm won -- barely -- with a great first quarter, and crappy to mediocre second, third, and fourth quarters. Came through in the end, though!
Did I mention it's good to have Lauren Jackson back?
Labels: Seattle Storm
# posted by mamurd @ 10:00 PM 
