Okafor seen leaving Cameron in walking boot

[Baller224]

Media outlets are reporting Jah left Cameron in a walking boot. Stay tuned.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

I don't think so. Not seeing this anywhere.

 

[gottagonow]

certainly could be simply cautionary or...not.

 

[DiehardDukeFan4Life]

I read a post game recap and it had quotes from Coach K talking about Jah's ankle and he said that they're gonna evaluate Jah's ankle tomorrow and get him plenty of rest tomorrow since there's no practice tomorrow anyway. Hopefully it turns out to just be a minor sprain and with enough rest he'll be ready to go Saturday against Clemson.

 

[bleediteveryday30]

Just saw it on Twitter. #$%. I hope it is just a precautionary thing. Probably is considering how important he is to the team and this season.

This post was edited on 2/19 1:58 AM by bleediteveryday30

 

[Crank_it_loud]

Makes total sense to do to keep swelling down. If he was on crutches, then is be concerned. That ankle is going to hurt and be sore, and I wouldn't be shocked if he didn't miss a game or two.....

 

[madrussian]

That does not surprise me at all. It's done really as a precautionary thing. If his ankle were really bad he wouldn't be walking on it.

 

[K-oach Q]

I wouldn't worry to much. Clearly precautionary and Dukes medical staff is really good they will take good care of him.

It's why I think he played so much in the second half...I think they wanted to keep him moving on it and not let it swell up and get stiff from sitting.

He will be extremely sore and tender today and tomorrow. I expect to see him Saturday the medical staff will get him feeling right in a week or two.

Hopefully these next couple games will be smooth sailing and we can take really good care of him.

 

[Wojoman]

I think he should be good. since he played the entire second half and all. Its gonna swell and its gonna hurt. Boot is purely precautionary I would think. Nothing to see here IMO though. We have all had ankle sprains. If they are really bad you don't just come back and play at such a high level as him. If its a bad one you don't come back. he did

 

[aah555]

Yes, a walking boot the night of an ankle sprain is not unusual at all. Obviously, there's always a chance that something may come up today in the medical evaluation -- but, I don't think anything can be really gleaned from the boot. Clearly Okafor's not going to be 100% for a bit. The only real question here will be (i) can he play through it; and (ii) if he does play through it, will that impact whether he can return to 100% before the end of the season.

Clemson is a very capable team that could beat us if Okafor's not playing -- but, if he's not moving significantly better than he was against UNC in the second half -- I'd definitely consider sitting him for that game and giving him at least a week to recover. Every game matters, but obviously don't want a situation where we're stuck with an 85% Okafor in March b/c we didn't let him heal now.
This post was edited on 2/19 8:44 AM by aah555

 

[HeLooks2MuchLikeDave]

That commercial break was brutal last night! Once they told us it was an ankle I felt better. And then seeing him come back in the 1st half, amazing!

 

[dukehokie]

As aah said, anytime you have a sprain, you get a boot. It wasn't a fun looking sprain. He'll probably feel it for a few weeks, but it's better than a big toe...

 

[DukeDenver]

Originally posted by dukehokie:
As aah said, anytime you have a sprain, you get a boot. It wasn't a fun looking sprain. He'll probably feel it for a few weeks, but it's better than a big toe...

Can confirm. It makes it more likely that he'll do it again too. BTW, isn't it a foul to go up under a shooter's feet? There were a ton of no calls both ways last night. I guess it made it interesting.

 

[LastWaltz]

Most athletic trainers boot any and everything these days. It helps keep the weight off. Those kind of ankle turns hurt like crazy and the real issue is the weakness of the ligaments around the bone. I think you rest him until he is close to 100%. If you think this team truly has a shot at a Natty I wouldn't be opposed to resting him until UNC.

 

[Tim1515]

I need to admit I was wrong about the coaches choice to leave Jah in last night. I do think he hurt us the end of the first and first 10 minutes of the second because he didn't trust his ankle.

However...he was huge to end the game and that only happened because he stayed warm

 

[aah555]

Originally posted by DukeDenver:

Originally posted by dukehokie:
As aah said, anytime you have a sprain, you get a boot. It wasn't a fun looking sprain. He'll probably feel it for a few weeks, but it's better than a big toe...

Can confirm. It makes it more likely that he'll do it again too. BTW, isn't it a foul to go up under a shooter's feet? There were a ton of no calls both ways last night. I guess it made it interesting.

If this was in the NBA, definitely -- and people would be screaming bloody murder over that play. I remember how ESPN spent like 3 days debating whether Dahntay Jones was a dirty player b/c Kobe rolled his ankle on Dahntay's foot on a similar type of play. Defenders are supposed to give a shooter space to jump up and down. With that said, the collegiate game is just a lot messier all around and defenders often lack the body control / precision to tightly contest without having something like that happen. I certainly don't think it was intentional by Joel James. It just happened.

 

[aah555]

Originally posted by Tim1515:
I need to admit I was wrong about the coaches choice to leave Jah in last night. I do think he hurt us the end of the first and first 10 minutes of the second because he didn't trust his ankle.

However...he was huge to end the game and that only happened because he stayed warm

I'm conflicted on that. Impossible to know how the game would have played out if we had left Marshall in for most of the second half, but I do feel as if Okafor really hurt us for nearly the entire second half -- b/c the injury seemed to have impacted Jah both mentally and physically on the offensive end (he had a few turnovers in the second half that were a little hard to understand) and he really was ineffective on the glass and defensively. In the second half, particularly, UNC got a ton of points b/c Jah was laboring down the court as his man and UNC's other big men were sprinting by him, and then b/c he basically could not get a rebound that did not come straight to him. Jah just wasn't active around the rim defensively -- which became a huge problem when we went to the small lineup.

Not really criticizing K's decision -- b/c there's no way to really know how Jah would respond -- but, after seeing how Jah actually played, I would have liked our chances a lot more with Marshall.

As you said, I think K's thinking was that he couldn't take Jah out for even a few minute stretch to see how things played out -- b/c once he did, Jah's ankle may stiffen and then he wouldn't be able to play at all.

This post was edited on 2/19 10:08 AM by aah555