DeMarre Carroll questionable for Game 2, MRI shows no structural damage to left knee
As they returned to work after conceding home-court advantage to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Atlanta Hawks got some good news on Thursday morning. The non-contact knee injury that starting small forward DeMarre Carroll suffered during the fourth quarter isn't as bad as many feared:
Multiple sources tell me #Hawks feel there is no structural damage to DeMarre Carroll's knee. MRI today
— Zach Klein (@ZachKleinWSB) May 21, 2015
Good news on the DeMarre Carroll front: I'm told the Hawks SF has nothing structurally wrong with the left knee and is day to day.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 21, 2015
Good news on DeMarre Carroll: MRI reveals no structural damage, will be treated around the clock, per source. Should be listed as day to day
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) May 21, 2015
DeMarre Carroll's MRI revealed bone bruise and no structural damage, league source tells @CBSSports. He's day -to-day.
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) May 21, 2015
DeMarre Carroll has been diagnosed with a hyperextension of the left knee. No structural/ligament damage. Bone bruise. Questionable for G2.
— Kevin Arnovitz (@kevinarnovitz) May 21, 2015
That's awfully good news for the 29-year-old Carroll, who hit the floor in apparent agony with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Game 1 after trying to make a move around Cleveland defender Iman Shumpert:
Carroll couldn't put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the court and back to the locker room, and left the arena on crutches, leading many to fear the worst. It's incredibly heartening, then, to learn that the 29-year-old suffered no structural damage on the play.
Sources who have been monitoring Carroll's situation closely characterize it as "best case scenario." Small bone bruise/mild hyperextension.
— Kevin Arnovitz (@kevinarnovitz) May 21, 2015
DeMarre Carroll is at Philips Arena and walking without crutches.
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) May 21, 2015
"No structural damage" and "day-to-day" are wonderful outcomes for the 29-year-old Carroll, who's poised to enter unrestricted free agency this summer coming off the best season of his pro career, and is expected to receive significant interest from teams in need of a top-flight perimeter defender who can also knock down 3-point shots at an above-league-average clip.
The man himself sure seemed grateful when he took to Instagram on Thursday morning:
"THANK YOU GOD!!!" Carroll wrote in the caption of his Instagram post, adding the hashtag "#BLESSED" for good measure.
Now that the worst-case scenario's been ruled out, Carroll and the Hawks will turn their attention to doing everything in their power to getting "The Junkyard Dog" back on the court as quickly as possible. He's listed as questionable for Game 2, and the longer he's absent, the fewer options Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer has for guarding Cavaliers superstar LeBron James ... especially without veteran swingman Thabo Sefolosha, whose season ended in April when he allegedly suffered a broken right fibula and torn ligaments while in custody of the New York Police Department following his arrest with teammate Pero Antic at a Manhattan nightclub on the night Indiana Pacers forward Chris Copeland was stabbed. The National Basketball Players Association is investigating the circumstances Sefolosha suffering the injury.
With Carroll gone on Wednesday, Budenholzer turned primarily to Paul Millsap to guard James, and while the All-Star's got the strength to body up LeBron and more quickness than many of his brethren at the power forward position, that's an awfully tough cover for the Atlanta big man. Behind Millsap, as my colleague Eric Freeman noted after Game 1, the Hawks will be forced to rely more heavily on reserve Kent Bazemore, already playing an outsized role due to the absence of Sefolosha, and perhaps mothballed backup Mike Scott, a dicey-at-best defender whose game suffered enough after a late-season broken toe that he's fallen out of Coach Bud's rotation entirely.
Simply put, the Hawks really don't have any credible secondary options for defending James one-on-one if Carroll can't go; there's no Jimmy Butler behind Luol Deng here, no Lance Stephenson behind Paul George, no Danny Green or Boris Diaw behind Kawhi Leonard. With Atlanta already in a 1-0 hole and without home-court advantage, the Hawks have to figure out how to get back on the good foot immediately, starting with Friday's Game 2.
For the time being, learning that Carroll's "questionable" rather than "out" seems like a pretty good place to start.
- - - - - - -
Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
Stay connected with Ball Don't Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, "Like" BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.