LOS ANGELES — From now on, Nuggets forward Chris Andersen will be able to play at ease. What a difference one MRI makes.
Still, for the foreseeable future he’ll play with knee tendinitis, though he was inactive Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. But his mind knows better days are ahead.
And in this case, that is every bit as big as how quickly his body heals.
“My knee is feeling better, but mentally I’m stronger,” Andersen said. “I couldn’t jump. I couldn’t move laterally. It was something that was bothering me, and then I was thinking negatively about it because I asked a bunch of people about it and they were telling me their situation with this type of problem.
“But that’s why I went and got an MRI, to kind of calm those thoughts down a little bit. And now I’m feeling a lot better about it, knowing it’s nothing serious that’s going to require surgery.”
The MRI, taken Wednesday, came back negative. The plan is to proceed with regular treatment while still playing in games. He’ll likely take it easy in practices, though.
Andersen had played in all 12 games before Friday, but hasn’t been as effective as he wanted to.
“I think it’ll be fixed pretty soon,” Andersen said. “I think I’ll be rehabilitated in three weeks. But after three months the patella tendon will be back on track, right on line and be ready to go.”
Home no big deal.
Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo starred at Centennial High School in Compton, so practicing at Westchester High in Los Angeles — as the Nuggets did Friday morning — was kind of weird, but being back in his home state is no longer big news.
However, moving from Detroit in the Eastern Conference to Denver in the Western Conference will get him at least one additional trip to L.A. each season.
“That’s the best part, I get to come home more,” Afflalo said. “But as far as the basketball part it’s business as usual.”
Footnote.
Clippers TV announcers Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith served a one-game suspension for their comments in Wednesday’s game about Memphis’ Hamed Haddadi, who is from Iran.
Chris Dempsey, The Denver Post
