ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala was visibly affected by a tightened back in the middle of the second quarter, as he lost a dribble to LeBron James.
According to Iguodala yesterday after the Warriors practiced at Oracle Arena, his injury occurred during the flight from Oakland to Cleveland two days prior.
“I just had a really long flight, and it just kind of built up on me a little bit,” Iguodala said. “It kind of just popped up. Like I said, a long flight and bed and just fatigue, and a lot of minutes lately.”
Iguodala played 37 minutes in Game 4 and 41 minutes in Game 5, after playing 28 minutes in Games 1 and 2, both convincing Warrior wins.
At Warriors practice the day before Game 6, we observed Iguodala shooting around and did not notice anything out of the ordinary. He even playfully blocked our filming at one point:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HSFQ83woX4&w=560&h=315]As far as practice yesterday, he did walk through some things, although he was not there for the thirty-minute post-practice shootaround which media was allowed to attend:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv_rj7Jk4tE&w=560&h=315]“The actual physical part I was actually rehabbing, which is still the same kind of active motions of the body,” Iguodala said.
He’s been getting treatment “around the clock” and trainer Chelsea Lane even made a house call the day before.
Iguodala said that in Game 6, as evidenced by a layup that he passed away, clutching his back in the process, he “couldn’t take off as well as you would like, as far as sprinting up the floor. Going up for rebounds was really tough; I had position to get a few, but had to wait until it came to you.”
He’s figuring out ways to compensate, such as beating James to the spot.
As for Game 7, Iguodala curiously told reporters that he’ll be at “full strength”, which seems hard to believe given the problems he listed out for Game 6.
“I felt like there was a way around it. So figuring it out, and the main thing is not using it as an excuse. I’m still trying to find a way,” said Iguodala. “Had the game been today, I feel like in this situation you make a way, no matter what it is. I would have said I was perfectly fine if the game was today.”
“You just try to will yourself to do it,” said Iguodala. “If I respect the game, the game will, in return, give me back what I put in.”
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram accoumt via @justinmanzana)
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