Dirk Nowitzki of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks sat out Sunday's win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is recovering from something at once gruesome but at the same time bizarre.
Let's recap, shall we? Friday night's game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets was a chippy one. Five technical fouls were handed out as well one flagrant foul.
The game went to overtime and the Rockets rode Aaron Brooks' nine points to a 116-108 victory. But the highlight reel shots are all about a second quarter collision between Dirk Nowitzki's elbow and the face of Houston's Carl Landry.
Depending on which newspaper or blog you read, Landry lost parts or all of up to five teeth but they didn't land on the floor. They embedded themselves in Nowitzki's arm. Video of the incident can be seen here.
To add insult to Landry's injury--sorry, I just just had to--Nowitzki got the benefit of the referee's whistle and Landry was called for the foul. His mouth impeded Nowitzki's elbow from shooting a basket freely. I'm not kidding. Nowitzki shot free throws with his other arm. You know, the one that didn't have teeth in it. He made one of two.
Reports from the locker room were that Nowitzki wouldn't return to the game after tooth parts were extracted from him and stitches sewed it all up. Landry reportedly went to a hospital emergency room and the video shot of him being led off the court remind me of one of those True Blood characters after he/she has had a nice drink from someone's body.
Landry is no stranger to losing teeth in action. He lost one in practice from Dikembe Mutombo's elbow a while back and then again in the course of a game against Utah last season.
Landry reportedly suffered through root canal surgery and Nowitzki had his stitches re-opened so that the doctor could get back in and be certain that no tooth fragments were left in the wound. Yahoo! Sports reported that he let out a scream from the pain.
In addition to missing Sunday's game with the Cavs he might also be kept out of the Tuesday game when the Mavericks meet up with the Portland Trailblazers. The largest concern at the present time is infection.
Basketball is not supposed to be a contact sport, and when something egregious happens, flagrant fouls are called and suspensions can result. I still shake my head when I look at video of the incident and wonder what kind of power Dirk has in his arms that would not just knock teeth out of someone gums but land them under his own skin. All the while avoiding a charging foul in the process. Yikes.