More on Thabeet’s injury, from the Commercial-Appeal:
Are The Memphis Grizzlies Cursed?
Rookie center Hasheem Thabeet suffered a ridgeline fracture in his mandible — a bone in his lower jaw — when he appeared to collide with Zach Randolph’s head going for a rebound late in the first quarter.
Play was stopped with 57.4 seconds remaining as Thabeet rolled around near the basket in obvious pain.
He will not make the trip to Houston for the team’s game against the Rockets tonight, but his status will be day-to-day after that.
“It’s tough. We’re down a lot of people,” [said Memphis forward Rudy Gay].
This comes after a wildly disappointing first few weeks for Thabeet, the Allen Iverson experience gone horribly awry, and 1-6 record for the Grizzlies, which actually seems kind of tame, when compared with the rest of the turmoil the franchise is dealing with.
Thabeet, for his part in the mess, hasn’t played more than 12 minutes all year long, and last night played just 90 seconds before breaking his jaw. He’s averaging less than 1 ppg, and, oh yeah: HE WAS THE NUMBER 2 PICK IN THE DRAFT. And while you could certainly make the case that he’s a work in progress, he’s still someone that spent 3 years in college. He shouldn’t need this much work.
And yet, so far anyway, he’s looked woefully overmatched, to the point where he’s relegated to playing in garbage time, a fate that nonetheless got him injured last night. It’s never been great to be a Grizzlies fan, but this particular era of ineptitude has to be considered worse than most.
We’ll keep you updated on Thabeet’s condition as news emerges from Memphis.
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