Prior to the Blazers victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night, Brandon Roy sat on a chair in a Rose Garden auxiliary locker room, surrounded by a semi-circle of television cameras and media members. Wearing a jacket, untucked dress shirt and slacks, Roy talked with reporters for nearly 10 minutes about a knee injury he suffered during Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers. The key details were reported earlier here.
While the team announced Sunday night that Roy had suffered a knee contusion, Roy told reporters that a further study of his MRI revealed a partial tear of the meniscus in his right knee. Roy said the tear will require surgery this offseason, a surgery that he is postponing with the hope that he will be able to play during the playoffs, which start next week.
Roy's current plan is to rest and ice his knee until Friday or Saturday, enough time, he hopes, to allow the inflammation to come down. At that point, he will attempt to run and play on it and make a determination about whether he can manage the pain and will have sufficient mobility to play at a competitive level.
Roy's demeanor and voice were that of a realistic and extremely disappointed man. If you would like to listen to an .mp3 of his full comments to the media, please Click Here. Be advised there are camera noises and other assorted sounds in the audio file.
Click through to read a transcript of his statements. As always, Roy was very honest, straightforward and articulate in talking about his injury and mindset. It's definitely worth the full read.
As of this writing, based on the nature of Roy's injury, his statements and his demeanor, it is difficult for me to imagine him playing a significant role during this year's playoffs.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
Initial Statement
Last night I did that MRI when we got back. I think it was leaked a little bit that I had a bone bruise. The reason why I didn't want to speak is because the radiologist wasn't in to actually to read the scan. He was able to go over them, and I met with Doctor Roberts a couple of hours ago. It was confirmed that I had a meniscus tear and bone bruise. So we decided to try to come up with a strategy and I told them I would like to at least try to play on it and he thought it would be best if I waited until until either Friday or Saturday before I tested it. To try to let the inflammation calm down from yesterday. So that's the plan for now.
Of course it's disappointing. I was hoping for better news. I thought the bone contusion was ... I was happy about that but I knew the meniscus that there was a chance that it could have been torn. Disappointed but at the same time I still trying to keep an open mind that maybe there's a chance that I can play with this. But again, if I can play I want to be able to play at a level that can help this team. And not be a distraction so I'm going to take all of that into consideration when I go back out there and start to try to play again. Right now, it's just ice and rest for the next couple of days. See where we're playing and I'm sure I'll try to start working out a little bit.
How optimistic are you that you will be able to play?
Um... you know, I don't know right now. It's still swollen. It's actually still a little painful. But, um, I think that's why we decided to wait until Friday or Saturday even to even try to play on it again. I don't know. I want to play, it's the playoffs. You play 82 games and you take a beating just to get to these moments and I want to be out there. You know, the guys have done a great job all season long. Whether I play or not, I think the biggest thing is that if I do play, then I want to play at a level I can help. And if I don't, I want to make sure I'm supporting these guys because we still got a good team and I still think we can cause some damage.
How are you doing emotionally?
Um... it's difficult because, last night was rough for me. I stayed up all night just thinking about a lot of of "what ifs." Just about a lot of things. I think just getting the news a couple of hours ago, it's tough. Especially being around my teammates, who are all like 'When are you coming back? You gonna play Wednesday?" It's hard to tell them that I don't know when I'm going to play again as far as this season. It's difficult. It's really difficult. The thing about it is I keep telling those guys, 'we still should win games.' We've got a good team, I've just got to be positive. Just try to encourage them.
Do you know whether you can damage it further by playing?
Yeah, they're pretty confident. The tear is there and it's not anything, it's like the bone is bruised right now but besides that it's just the meniscus tear and they feel like if I try to play then they don't think I'll further damage it.
Pain tolerance issue?
Yeah. Just how much can I play through with the pain and at the same time, he said if you play, it can swell up and it can continue to be inflamed if you continue to play on it. So that's something, I may play Friday and then Saturday it's too painful. It's just something I'm going to have to wait until I start playing on it again to see if it just keeps swelling up on me.
Had you been experiencing any pain before last night?
No. Nothing at all. I was fine. Only pain I was feeling was my lower back and then most people think I bumped knees but I didn't bump knees. I went to front to get around on Artest and our feet kind of met at the same time and my knee and my body weight carried me one way. And the minute it happened I knew something wasn't right there. I was hoping maybe the bones just hit but I guess it was the meniscus, well it was the meniscus. No, I wasn't feeling anything before, it was just unfortunate with the timing.
Is this related to your injury at the University of Washington?
It was similar. I was playing a game, I didn't do anything major. I think I grabbed a rebound and went back down court and felt some clicking in my knee. Tried to go back in and just felt that I couldn't play. I ended up having the surgery a couple of days later. Because that was the beginning of the season. Two months ago I would have had the surgery. Since the timing is the playoffs then I want to hold off on that and see if I can play.
How does it feel compared to yesterday?
Well, it's a little more sore today, a little more swelling. Yesterday I had took some medication for my back so the swelling didn't show up as much in the MRI. But today I didn't take any medication last night so that way we could get a good judgment on what the swelling is. It's a little swollen today, more than anything it's stiff but I haven't tried to do anything major.
Doctor's recommendation if it wasn't April is surgery?
Yeah, well, where we are right now, is that I will have surgery it's just a matter of when. If this was January or even a month ago I would have said 'let's have the surgery now' and just try to get back as fast as possible. But yeah, now, it's just a matter of if I can play, then I'll play as long as I can, and as long as we can as a team and have the surgery when the season is over. That's best case scenario for me, play as long as I can until the season is over.
You had the same procedure on your left knee, didn't you?
Two years ago, yeah.
Recovery
4-6 weeks. He said it's not a, the meniscus is not something that has to heal. They go in there and they just clean up the part that is torn and try to leave as much as possible. And after that it's just a matter of getting the swelling down from the procedure and take the stitches out and summertime, you know, Jay usually makes me take it slow so if I have something to come back for I may speed it up a little bit because I couldn't do any further damage to it.
Telling your teammates
It was tough because i didn't really tell them all at once. I had just found out as I came downstairs. They all came over, like 'You're alright? You'll be able to play?' So I haven't spoke to them all at once. The coaches didn't even all know. Coach Nate knows. It was just something that I really haven't talked to them about. I'm sure I'll talk to them as the night goes on and again tomorrow at practice.
Friday or Saturday to test the knee?
Yeah, you know that's something that may be a possibility. You know, like I said, it all happened so fast today that who knows maybe I miss the first two games and try to come back when the team comes back home. But those are all things that me and Coach will talk about, me and Jay will talk about and I just got to continue to think about it more. This has all happened so quick.
Can they win a series without you?
Yeah, I think so. I really believe that this team is deep and you know I always joke on Martell. I'm like 'Hey, I don't play and all of a sudden you want to score 20 points and bust Kobe down the stretch.' I'm joking. We got good players and it's funny when guys go down, guys step up. So we've beaten Dallas, I didn't play, we beat San Antonio, I didn't play. I can only believe that these guys are ready to go out there and play even better when the playoffs come.
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter