Pacers' Granger sprains right foot, to have MRI
Posted Feb 18 2009 10:56PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Indiana scoring leader Danny Granger sprained his right foot early in the second quarter of the Pacers' game against Charlotte on Wednesday night.
Granger, averaging 25.3 points, pulled up after a Charlotte turnover and came out of the game during a timeout with 10:50 left in the quarter.
Granger had 12 points before the injury.
The Pacers said he would not return to the game. He's scheduled to have an MRI on Thursday, leaving him in doubt for Indiana's game at Minnesota on Friday night.
"Yeah, it's so painful," Granger said. "It's really painful. We don't exactly know what it is yet.
"That last shot I took right before I left the game, it felt like something popped in my foot. I thought I had just pulled it. I ran down to the other end, and that's when I just walked to the bench and said, 'I've got something wrong.'"
Granger is the fourth Indiana player currently out of action due to injury or illness. Forward Mike Dunleavy is out with a sore right knee, center Jeff Foster has a sprained right ankle, and forward Josh McRoberts has the flu.
"We have to see where Danny is," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "We're already down one 19-point scorer from last year [Dunleavy]. Certainly it would not be a good situation to have Danny go down for any extended period of time."
Man, I'm praying and praying everything comes back OK. This would be such a blow. If he's out for a long period of time it's gonna be so hard to even watch this team. Please, please, no structural damage.
