Built Ford Tough Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 In tonight's game against the Utah Jazz, Andrea Bargnani ended up leaving the game with about 20 seconds left in regulation. He obviously re-injured his calf that had made him miss the 6 games prior to the Suns game. He limped over to the bench, was in obvious pain and sat out the rest of regulation and both overtime periods. He had his calf all wrapped up and did not move from his seat on the bench for a good 25-30 minutes that it took to play the two overtime periods. And to be perfectly honest, I am not surprised at all. He played around 42 minutes last night in Phoenix and then they rode him for another 35 or so tonight in Utah. I understand that both games were close and the Raptors needed him on the court, but what exactly is Casey thinking playing a guy coming off of missing the past 6 games near 80 minutes in less than a 24 hour span? Just horrible management from a coach, one that, at least in my opinion, directly led to an injury and what could possibly keep him out of the lineup for another 2 weeks. I may be wrong and it was nothing, just him cramping up, but I highly doubt it given he was just coming back from an injury, the way his leg was wrapped up and the look on his face. I'm guessing he is going to be out for a while given his reaction. Dude looked absolutely crushed as well. http://i.imgur.com/90pBJ.png I guess the silver lining is that the Raptors are going to lose a lot of games in his absence which should help in the long run with their draft pick. With him in the lineup it looked very likely that the Raptors may hover around .500 but without him they weren't even close to winning games. It still sucks to see him go down with what looks to be a fairly significant injury when he was playing so well this year. EDIT: Here are some updates that I posted below. Figured I'd have them in the first post. Eric__Smith Eric SmithBargnani walking very gingerly in the #Raptors locker room. Barely putting weight down on the calf. Utah docs consulted TOR trainers too Eric__Smith Eric Smith Bargnani says he's going to get an MRI & he'll be "out for a while" ... Again saying the calf is "much worse" #Raptors #SmithAndJones #SN590 Eric__Smith Eric Smith Bargnani leaving the arena on crutches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Eric__Smith Eric SmithBargnani walking very gingerly in the #Raptors locker room. Barely putting weight down on the calf. Utah docs consulted TOR trainers too Eric__Smith Eric Smith Bargnani says he's going to get an MRI & he'll be "out for a while" ... Again saying the calf is "much worse" #Raptors #SmithAndJones #SN590 Way to go, coach. Was winning two games really worth losing Bargnani for an extended period of time? Anybody could see that playing a guy 80 minutes fresh off of a calf injury was a terrible idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shark Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Stupid decision by the coaching staff to play him that many minutes on a back to back when he's just coming off an injury - but Andrea has to take part of the blame, do you really think he wanted to come out of those close games? Definitely not. Whatever, getting a better draft pick is most important for the Raps in the long run. I can see why they wanted to get some wins after a long losing streak, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunkinDerozan Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 GOD DAMNIT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 This sucks, but long term it is for the best. We need Bargs to be this player next year, not this year. Casey needs to stop playing him so much, I understand he wants to win, but jesus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pound the Rock Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Dwayne Casey is a genius, we had the potential to win too many games with Bargnani in the lineup But really, I don't much blame Casey as I recall Bargnani saying in an interview that he waited an EXTENDED time before returning to the lineup to ensure that he was 110%. That being said, Casey was right to play him as he would any other player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 This sucks, but long term it is for the best. We need Bargs to be this player next year, not this year. Casey needs to stop playing him so much, I understand he wants to win, but jesus. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you despite my rant in the first post. As much as it sucks to say, this is probably for the best since he legitimately looked like he would carry this team to a near .500 record. They are 6-7 with him in the lineup and would've beaten the Kings had he not gotten injured in that game (were up when he got hurt and couldn't score worth a damn after he left and still almost won; he also got hurt earlier in the game and tried to play through it which hurt his performance). The Raptors have also had a fairly difficult schedule to start the season so when it eased up a bit, you got the sense that they could put a winning streak together. I was just dreading how I will be back to watching the Raptors struggle to score 85 points again. It was some ugly, ugly basketball when Bargs was out. Stupid decision by the coaching staff to play him that many minutes on a back to back when he's just coming off an injury - but Andrea has to take part of the blame, do you really think he wanted to come out of those close games? Definitely not. I'm not saying pull him out of the game when it is close. You just have to do a better job of monitoring his minutes earlier in the game. The whole play him for 10 minutes, rest him for 1 minute, play him for 10 minutes, rest him for a minute thing was stupid. Anybody could see that he was just asking to re-injure himself considering how calf injuries tend to linger if you don't get proper rest. Manage his minutes earlier in the game and it might have been different. It also isn't up to the player in this situation, a coach needs to do what is best for the team. No player is going to want to come out in a close game, especially one like Bargnani. There is no official update as of yet, but according to Chisholm (TSN), he thinks that Bargs is likely to miss all of Feburary and perhaps more. That sounds about right to me considering by all accounts this is worse than his previous injury which caused him to miss around 2 weeks. At the very least, he will be out for 2-3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Stupid decision by the coaching staff to play him that many minutes on a back to back when he's just coming off an injury - but Andrea has to take part of the blame, do you really think he wanted to come out of those close games? Definitely not. You look at that mindset as a negative? That's EXACTLY the kind of competitive mentality you want from your best player. He is not the coach and it's not his responsibility to decide the minutes anyone one the team gets. That's on the coach. Bargnani's job is to go out there when his number is called and do whatever he can to win. Stupid, stupid decision by Casey. IMHO, I wouldn't have even played him against Utah, let alone for nearly 40 minutes after he had played 40 minutes the night before. For rebuilding teams, the keys are to develop the young guys and keep your top talent healthy. Forget the bigger picture of either being a high lottery pick or possibly a low playoff seed. You need to keep the long term health of your franchise player a top priority, and by playing that player 40MPG on a back-to-back after he just missed 6 games due to injury is a coaching choice that could have really hurt this franchise's future. Absolutely retarded. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Dwane Casey was on Prime Time Sports earlier today and judging from the way he talked about Bargnani, it doesn't sound like he will be out for that long. Said he is feeling much better today, moving around better and stuff like that. Of course, who really knows. Casey said Bargs would only miss a few days originally and he ended up missing 2 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DunkinDerozan Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Dwane Casey was on Prime Time Sports earlier today and judging from the way he talked about Bargnani, it doesn't sound like he will be out for that long. Said he is feeling much better today, moving around better and stuff like that. Of course, who really knows. Casey said Bargs would only miss a few days originally and he ended up missing 2 weeks. I'm assuming he'll take extra precaution this time around, so he might be longer then that. Or he might make a return but work his way in off the bench or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Built Ford Tough Posted January 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 On my lunch break and have to go back to work soon, but here is a quick update: RaptorsPR RaptorsPR #Raptors MRI taken in Denver showed no structural damage to @AndreaBargnani's left calf. No timetable set for his return. And from Matt Devlin: Bargnani update, tests done Thursday in Denver revealed no significant damage to the calf. Bargnani will be treated symptomatically & is expected to be sidelined for an indefinite period of time. So sounds like it wasn't as bad as initially thought, but still enough to keep him out for at least a few weeks. I'll stand by the whole missing most, if not all, of Feburary, but that is just me guessing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 The one thing that I was hoping for Andrea was maybe a last place pick for the all-star team. The way he has been playing this year, he deserves it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Swish* Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Bargnani is our MVP and has improved on his defense and aggressiveness.... he shows a lot of energy this season and is a true leader for us apart from the boards. In any case, he's injured now and it's some good news because we'll be closer to that #1 pick by losing EVERY SINGLE GAME! Welcome home Harrison Barnes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChosenOne Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 Damn he was having a career season as well. Bigs are falling this season like flies. First Brook Lopez then Al Horford and Zach Randolph and now Andrea Bargnani. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptorgaetano Posted February 8, 2012 Report Share Posted February 8, 2012 Don't expect Bargnani anytime soon Don’t expect Andrea Bargnani to come riding to the Raptors rescue just yet. While the team’s leading scorer appears to be getting around these days without much problem, getting around and running up and down a court and landing on that strained left calf is still something he hasn’t tried. Bargnani is travelling with the team, a change from last season when the injured players stayed behind while the team went on the road. Asked after the loss in Washington how he was progressing, Bargnani said the calf is getting better but cautioned he has not run on it yet. He is staying busy in the weight room but joining workouts is still days away. While he doesn’t enjoy watching his teammates and not being able to help out, he said he would much prefer to be with them and part of the team than back in Toronto working out by himself. The Raptors are just 2-11 in the 13 games he has missed. The team lost all six games before Bargnani returned following his first six-game absence. They won the next two with him in the lineup and are 2-5 since he re-injured his leg in that win over Utah two weeks ago. During his first absence the Raptors averaged just 81 points a night. In the seven games since he went out the second time, Toronto is averaging 88.4 points a night. The biggest contributors to the difference are Jerryd Bayless and Linas Kleiza. Bayless, who has made five starts in the past seven games is averaging 16.1 points a game over those seven games. Kleiza, who has started just one game in the past seven, has been a boost with the second unit averaging 11.3 points a night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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