When many people get injured, they will simply do things like buying a hot tub to help them relieve the pain and get back on track. In fact, 22.4% of hot tub owners say they bought their tub with the primary purpose of recovering from an injury. However, for athletes, recovering from an injury isn’t as easy as hopping in the hot tub. an injury can actually ruin their career. However, for a Portland Trail Blazers player, luck was on his side.
During their game on March 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, key player Moe Harkless ended up leaving the game midway due to an injury. Harkless tweaked his left knee as he stole the ball on defense and ran toward his basket for a fast-break. As he approached the basket, he elevated for a layup just as Minnesota’s point guard Jeff Teague slammed his hand down on the ball. Harkless spoke with OregonLive about what happened.
“When he swiped down, I wasn’t expecting it, so it just put a lot of pressure on my left leg,” Harkless said. “Honestly, I don’t even know what to call it. But I felt my knee buckle a little bit, so it was hurting. It was hard to put pressure on it after that.”
Just as a true athlete does, Harkless ended up playing another almost two minutes before sitting himself out of the game. This was a heartbreaking moment for Harkless, as this season has been the best for him. Unfortunately, the Trailblazers have been very inconsistent with their small forward all season, so having Harkless injured was a huge blow. However, Harkless believes he is going to be just fine.
He told OregonLive that he doesn’t feel any serious pain in his knee anymore. The initial pain has subsided a bit. He does say that he is going to be sticking with treatment and taking care of his leg so that he doesn’t get injured again, allowing himself to play every other game for the rest of the season.