Garbajosa Undergoes Surgery Following Frightening Injury
Raptors forward Jorge Garbajosa underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a season-ending ankle injury suffered in Monday night’s game against Boston . It’s predicted he could be out for six months.
It happened in the last five minutes of the game – with Toronto down 75-66, when Garbajosa jumped to block a dunk by Celtics forward Al Jefferson. When he came down, his left ankle bent in the wrong direction and he collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain.
“It’s not something that you want to experience at this stage of the season or any point of the season,” Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo said after practice Tuesday. “Obviously Jorge was a big part of everything that we’ve done . . . this is the kind of thing that happens in an NBA season.
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“It’s unpredictable and you try to do what you can to overcome things and that’s what the team’s focus is right now.”
Colangelo said the team would make a statement after the surgery, but said “clearly we’re talking about a fracture and a soft tissue injury.”
The loss of Garbajosa, who scored a career-high 22 points in Toronto ‘s 121-94 win over Denver Friday, would be a significant one for the team.
“He’s a big part of our team, so we’re definitely going to miss him,” guard T.J. Ford said. “I hate that it happened because he brings so much to the table. On the defensive end, on the offensive end, his knowledge of the game — man it’s tough.”
It’s the second setback for the Raptors in a week – rookie forward Andrea Bargnani is expected to be gone for the rest of the season after undergoing an appendectomy last Wednesday.
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Still, Chris Bosh, who missed a good part of the early season, says the team will pull together.
“That hurts us, but the team has gotten it done without me, it’s gotten it done without T.J., Jose, Anthony — the list goes on,” Bosh said. “This is just another situation that we have to get ready for and make sure everybody steps up their play.”
Toronto is looking to claim its first division title ever – they’re six games ahead of New Jersey in the Atlantic Division with 12 games left to play.
