Cleveland Cavaliers swingman Mike Miller has been placed on the NBA's concussion protocol after suffering a blow to the head Thursday night in the fourth quarter against the New York Knicks, the Cavs announced. Miller remained in New York following Cleveland's 90-87 victory over the Knicks and will need to meet the league's guidelines before returning to action.
Mike Miller placed on concussion protocol after Cavs beat Knicks
Mike Miller took a shot from Carmelo Anthony in the fourth quarter and remained in New York overnight as he recovers from concussion symptoms.
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Miller will not be available to play Friday against the Toronto Raptors, reports ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
On his own shot attempt, Miller drew contact from Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony with 4:56 left in a close fourth quarter. Anthony's closeout on Miller's three-point attempt actually drew a foul on Miller for creating contact by spreading his legs, but the Cavs swingman also got hit in the head. He remained in the game for another 2 1/2 minutes before being subbed out for Shawn Marion, giving the league another example of questionable protocol in diagnosing and identifying concussions.
Last year, Pacers forward Paul George controversially remained in action after suffering a head injury.
For Miller to return to action, the NBA requires him to first become asymptomatic of concussion symptoms while at rest. Then, he must remain symptom free through several steps of increased exertion.
The return to participation protocol involves several steps of increasing exertion -- from a stationary bike, to jogging, to agility work, to non-contact team drills.
With each step, a player must be symptom free to move to the next step. If a player is not symptom free after a step, he stops until he is symptom free and begins again at the previous step of the protocol (i.e., the last step he passed without any symptoms).
The Cavaliers’ training staff must discuss any clearance with the NBA’s director of the concussion program.
Miller has played in 13 of Cleveland’s 17 games thus far and averaged 1.5 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12 minutes per outing.
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