Nowitzki's recovery taking longer than expected
Dirk Nowitzki's recovery from athiroscopic knee surgery is taking longer than expected, according to a report from Jeff Caplan of NBA.com.
Nowitzki was originally expected to miss three-to-six weeks of action from his surgery which took place on October 19, but it is now unclear whether or not he will make it back into the lineup under the original timeframe.
“At this point, I’ve got stay patient and do what the doctors and trainers tell me; just keep rehabbing and see how long it is,” Nowitzki told Caplan . “When I originally heard three-to-six weeks, in my mind I’m thinking ‘in two weeks I’m back.’ But unfortunately, this is not how it happens. My first knee surgery of my career and unfortunately this stuff takes longer than we expected.
“So I’ve got to be patient, do the smart thing and keep working.”
“I just want to be out there,” Nowitzki said. “To me, the recovery is not as quick as I was expecting. I had some down days, so I’m working on being in a good mood and still firing the guys up and being there every day, working out and working hard on some other stuff.”
In 14 NBA seasons -- all in Dallas -- Nowitzki has averaged 22.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. His career long for consecutive games missed due to injury is nine, when he sprained his right knee in 2011.
