- Kansas star Joel Embiid will miss the Big 12 tournament due to a back injury: “Kansas announced Monday that freshman center Joel Embiid will miss this week’s Big 12 Tournament and likely the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament after a spinal specialist in Los Angeles confirmed the initial diagnosis of a stress fracture in Embiid’s back. “Based on that, this weekend is out,” Kansas coach Bill Self said in a statement released Monday night. “Next weekend, we feel like is a long shot, but the doctors are hopeful that if Joel works hard in rehab and progresses that it is possible that he could play in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament if our team is fortunate enough to advance.” Embiid has already missed two games and is halfway through the recovery process, according to KU. But the latest developments cast a long shadow on the Jayhawks’ chances in the NCAA Tournament. “We’re all very disappointed for Joel,” Self said. “He’s worked so hard and improved so much. He’s been one of the most improved players in the country in such a short amount of time. The most important thing is for Joel to get healthy. We were hopeful, Joel was hopeful, the doctors were hopeful that his body would respond more rapidly to rehab and that has not been the case.”
- Andrew Bynum will make his debut with the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday: “”Andrew’s going to play tonight,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel told reporters after the team’s shootaround. “It was really nothing that we saw with Andrew that made us decide. It was just a matter of meeting with [team president] Larry [Bird], seeing where our team is. “I think he can give us a little bit of an emotional jolt with us losing four in a row combined with [backup center] Ian [Mahinmi] being banged up. Ian probably wouldn’t be able to play if we needed him to play [due to a bruised rib].” Bynum, who was traded from Cleveland to Chicago on Jan. 7, then cut the next day in a salary-saving move, signed with Indiana in early February. He’s worked with trainers to strengthen his oft-injured knees.”
- Larry Bird says he is not mad, but disappointed with the recent play of the Indiana Pacers: “”A lot of times, we don’t take the fight to them (the opponent),” Bird said Tuesday, before the Pacers played the Boston Celtics at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. “A lot of times we sit back and wait and see how it goes. And that was the case even when we were winning a lot of games early in the season. We’ve got to be mentally prepared to really go after the teams we’re playing again. We can’t have the mindset it’s just another game; it’s a very important game. All of them are.” The bad news is, the Pacers have hit a wall, have gone 13-10 in their last 23 games before facing the Celtics Tuesday night. The good news is, they haven’t completely coughed up their Eastern Conference lead because the Miami Heat have fallen on hard times, too. Come to think of it, the league’s other mega-elite team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, has scuffled lately, too. But Bird isn’t ready to accept the idea that this is a momentary funk that every team experiences during a long, difficult season. He saw troubling signs even when the Pacers were starting 16-1 and 33-7, and he sees even more troubling signs now that the Pacers are playing at a severely diminished level.”
- Joakim Noah is not comfortable with his recent MVP talk: “Joakim Noah reiterated Monday that he was uncomfortable with the MVP chants he heard during the win over the Heat on Sunday, as well as all the national attention coming his way. “I don’t like it,’’ Noah said. “It’s not what really matters to me.’’ According to Noah, the attention is taking away from the idea of team. So much for a breather. Sunday’s game with the Heat will be followed up with Tuesday’s game against the Spurs. “It’s not easy,’’ Noah said. “I think human nature would be to exhale a little bit. The Spurs are playing great basketball. “They’re coming [Tuesday], whether we like it or not. Whether we exhaled or not.’’”
- Pacers backup guard CJ Watson hopes to return by the weekend: “The seventh-year pro had an MRI on Monday, an off day for the team, but he didn’t say what was concluded. He’s been dealing with mostly pain for over a week now, since he injured it in the Pacers’ 94-91 home win over the Utah Jazz — a game he started for George Hill, who was sidelined with a bruised left shoulder. “A lot of popping and clicking in my elbow since last Tuesday or Wednesday,” Watson said of his injury. “I haven’t tried to shoot yet. Just did some dribbling yesterday and stuff like that. I felt a little better.” They’ll evaluate and test his sprained right elbow further at Thursday’s practice, and Watson is aiming to return Friday (at Philadelphia) or Saturday (in Detroit).”
- No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett will miss the next three weeks: “But he has been doing better things lately, even registering two double-doubles in February. There are signs of something good there, but he just needs more time to learn and grow and develop. Unfortunately, he won’t be doing any of that as he’ll miss at least three weeks because of a left patellar tendon strain. There’s only about four weeks left in the NBA season, so Bennett could conceivably return for a couple games to wrap up the Cavs campaign, but there’s a chance we’ve seen the last of him for this season. And if this is it, it’s been a pretty rough one for the No. 1 overall pick. In 51 games, he’s averaging 4.1 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting just 35.2 percent from the floor. But remember: He’s only 20 and this was his rookie season. Maybe he can build on the momentum from February and improve over the summer, coming back better for next season.”
- Kobe Bryant’s rehab has been a slow progression: “It’s progressing slowly. It really tests my patience,” Bryant said in a recent interview with Jacques Slade from Kustoo.com that mostly centered on his work with Nike. ”There’s only so much I can do. I find myself relegated to a bike. The first few weeks, it’s cool. I’m getting a good workout in. Third or fourth, I’m thinking I need to do something else. I want to play. I want to run. I want to do something different. But you got to do what you got to do.” The Lakers plan to reevaluate Bryant on Friday, perhaps giving him medical clearance to advance his rehab beyond stationary bike exercises. But the Lakers anticipate Bryant would need a couple of weeks to progress fully toward full-court practices. Add the days up, and Bryant could return as early as the beginning of April, but that presumes he doesn’t experience any setbacks. Bryant missed the first 19 games of the season while rehabbing his left Achilles tendon. He then appeared in six games, averaging 13.8 points on 42.5 percent shooting, 5.7 turnovers and 6.3 assists, a far drop from his career 25.5 points on 45.4 percent shooting, three turnovers and 4.8 assists. Bryant then suffered what could wind up being a season-ending fractured left knee injury after colliding with Memphis forward Tony Allen on Dec. 17, 2014.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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