Perhaps its best if we just get our Hawks medical reports from DeMarre Carroll from now on.
Following Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night, Carroll was discussing a play in which teammate Al Horford and Cleveland's Matthew Dellavedova became tangled while chasing a loose ball, leading to only technical foul on Dellavedova and a Flagrant-2 foul and ejection for Horford (who threw an elbow after believing Dellavedova went after his knees). This came after Dellavedova fell on Kyle Korver while going for a loose ball in Game 2, possibly causing/worsening his reported ankle injury.
Within Carroll's comments, he let it slip that Korver was expected to have ankle surgery and could be out for four to six months: "I just seen Dellavedova diving. You know, he did it to Kyle. He's one of our starters and he gotta have surgery, he's out 4-6 months. And he did it to Al."
The Hawks immediately denied Carroll's comments, saying Korver and the team's medical staff were still gathering information. Well, guess what? The team announced before Tuesday night's game that Korver was having surgery -- but that's all they announced.
Ankle? Foot? Ligament? Cartilage? Appendix? Nose job?
Coach and interim general manager Mike Budenholzer was asked about Korver's reported surgery before the game and this is what he said: "Kyle went to New York and got a second opinion. Additional tests, additional information. It's been determined that he'll need surgery. He's scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon, and I think this was always part of the original timeline. There was some hope that surgery may not be required but with additional information, additional testing, he will need surgery for his ... to get him back to where we want and we all want what's best for Kyle and we look forward to having him back."
Ligament damage, cartilage ...?
"I couldn't answer that honestly right now. ... We'll know more (after the) surgery to know exactly what is happening. That addition information will come when appropriate. "
Diagnosis?
"I think it would best for our doctors and that information will come from (publicist) Garin (Narain) or our medical staff."
Narain, who takes his marching orders from Budenholzer, declined to provide more information. But if Dr. Carroll was correct with his four-to-six-month comment on Korver's absence, it would suggest something as significant as ligament damage.
Regardless, I believe the Hawks have become the first team in sports history to announce a surgery but not divulge what for.
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