Oklahoma City guard, Russell Westbrook, tears lateral meniscus in knee
The Oklahoma City Thunder are in big trouble. Star point guard, Russell Westbrook, will need surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee.
Royce Young of CBSSports made the following tweets this afternoon.
Russell Westbrook will undergo surgery for a meniscus tear in his right knee. No timetable announced.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 26, 2013
The team says Westbrook suffered the injury in the second quarter. Yes, that's when Patrick Beverley play happened.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) April 26, 2013
Westbrook suffered the tear during game two of the playoff series against the Houston Rockets. Rocket’s guard, Patrick Beverley, charged into Westbrook to get the steal while Westbrook was calling for a timeout.
Depending on the grade of the tear, whereas a grades one and two is slightly torn and grade three severely torn, Westbrook may return soon or worst-case scenario out for the rest of the post season.
Metta World Peace of the Los Angeles Lakers also tore his lateral meniscus and was scheduled to be out for 6-8 weeks however he returned after 13 days. Returning from this type of tear so quickly is extremely rare however, so Westbrook returning after 13 days is highly unlikely.
The Thunder currently have a two game lead over the Houston Rockets with games three and four to be played on Saturday and Monday. It will prove to be difficult for them to defeated the Rockets without their best or second best player. If Westbrook is out for the whole duration of eight weeks, the Thunder will not be able to defeat the defending champions, Miami Heat. The last time the Thunder played a game without Westbrook was when the team was still the Seattle Supersonics.