Carroll vows he’ll fight through pain
Raptor listed as questionable for Game 6 with wrist injury; MRI shows nothing broken
His left wrist in what looked like a rollerblading guard, DeMarre Carroll very casually settled in against the wall at BioSteel Centre to speak with a large pack of reporters Thursday.
There was no concern in the voice of the Toronto Raptors forward and no uncertainty from him about his status for Friday’s Game 6 against the Miami Heat.
There were questions looming over Carroll about the extent of his wrist injury and how it would impact his status. Slightly beyond that, where Raptors fans may not want to venture yet, lies the possibility of this team playing into late May and concerns about what Carroll’s impact could be.
For his part, Carroll wasn’t in that mindset at all.
“My wrist is great,” he said, overenthusiastically. “It’s all right. I got positive feedback from the MRI, from the X-ray. If it ain’t broke, with me, I’m ready to play.”
The Raptors announced Thursday morning the post-game tests Carroll had taken were negative and that his wrist contusion would be treated symptomatically. He’s listed as questionable for Friday.
He did admit though, that when he hit the floor Wednesday night, with Miami point guard Goran Dragic in front of him trying to draw a charge, he thought he’d broken his wrist.
“My whole wrist went numb (and I thought), ‘Here we go again.’ ”
“I stayed positive and eventually after a couple minutes, the numbness in my wrist just kind of went away. It was sore. Once I got the MRI I actually looked at my phone and we were only up by one and that really made me mad. But at the end of the day . . . it’s not broke, like I said, and hopefully I can play (Friday).”
Carroll made light of the situation. He called Raptors director of sport science Alex McKechnie his “socalled dad” and said he asked for the same treatment McKechnie gave DeMar DeRozan and his injured thumb in Game 5.
“I told him, ‘Let’s wrap a shoelace
“My wrist is great. It’s all right. If it ain’t broke, with me, I’m ready to play.” DEMARRE CARROLL
around my wrist and see what happens,’ ” Carroll said, adding he’d have a lot of say in determining his status for this important game.
“He said let’s take it day by day. Me being who I am, I’m pretty sure I’m going to fight him to play.”
A right-handed shooter, Carroll may be able to improvise a little more with the injury affecting his offhand.
“That’s what DeMar told me. He said, ‘Man, you barely use it. You only use it when you dribble,’ ” Carroll said. “It makes it a little uncomfortable but at the same time, once I’m on the court, if it’s not broke — and I understand it’s not broke — I can go out there and play like I want to play.”
Raptors coach Dwane Casey saw Carroll fall to the floor Wednesday and thought his top defensive player had just re-injured his knee. Carroll missed 54 games this year, the bulk of them owing to rehab from January surgery.
“That was scary,” Casey said. “As we know, hand and arm injuries are an issue in basketball.”
This marks the second year in a row Carroll has suffered an injury in the playoffs. He sprained his knee in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final last year while playing with the Atlanta Hawks against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With LeBron James and the Cavs waiting for the winner of the Raptors-Heat series, Carroll said he’s not thinking about any unfortunate luck.
“It happens. It’s the nature of the beast,” he said. “I don’t look at it like that. I just look at it like I’ve got a couple of obstacles in my way, so I’ve just got to keep trying to improve.
“I can’t worry about being hurt, man, because if I worry about being hurt that’s when you lose it mentally and I’m not trying to lose it mentally.”
Miami could be without one of its top forwards as well. Luol Deng also injured his left wrist in Game 5 when he collided with a TV cameraman. The team listed his status as questionable for Game 6.