Presented by Nationwide Insurance Agent Jeff Vukovich
Yes, Coby White saw the replay.
“To me, the replay is bad,” White said after Wednesday’s practice at the Advocate Center. “But I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone is making it out to be. It was just a hard landing and he fell on me.
That, of course, was Pascal Siakam, who sprinted across the court to block White’s shot in the final 10 seconds of regulation during an away game on March 13. Chicago Bulls would eventually win in overtime. After Siakam actually landed on White, the guard writhed on the ground in obvious pain before limping to the locker room.
White then missed the next three games — his first absences of the season — due to a strained right hip. But he practiced fully Wednesday and is on track to return Thursday in Houston against the Rockets.
“Overall, I feel pretty good,” White said in his first public comments since the injury. “We’ll see how (Thursday) goes. When I wake up, see if anything hurts or if I feel anything. Then we’ll go from there.
White, who was leading the NBA in minutes before the injury, knows, in many ways, he was lucky.
“They say I dodged a bullet. It could have been much worse. They said I was pretty flexible and that’s what helped me in this scenario,” White said. “I’m just happy. I think God was with me at that time and I’m just glad it was nothing serious, nothing more than tension.
“I was sick. But I didn’t feel anything pop.
White has since fallen to third in the NBA in minutes played behind teammate DeMar DeRozan and Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges. And in the midst of this stellar season, which has put him in high consideration for the Most Improved Player award, White has tried to use the absence in a positive way.
“It was good for me,” he said. “Obviously I don’t want to miss any games. But since this happened and I was injured, I wanted to take advantage of this time off and recover mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. For me, I just tried to turn it into a positive.
“It’s a shame that I was so close (to playing all 82 games) and it happened. But my teammates held on. They played really well. And I wanted to keep my spirits up. I tried to always be part of the team, to express myself. I am quite close and united with everyone. And I talk a lot.
Part of that conversation came when White lightheartedly stated that he was president of the Ayo Dosunmu Fan Club. Dosunmu scored a career-high 34 points and recorded a game-high 23 points and 10 assists in White’s absence. This is the first time Dosunmu has recorded consecutive 20-point games in his three-year career.
“Ayo played wonderfully,” White said. “He played well all season. This is no surprise to me. He works hard on his game every day. He wants to be really good. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.
This season marked a drastic change for White, who typically used their days off to work on their game and make hundreds of shots. But with his minutes and usage rate increasing, he devoted his off days to recovery and maintenance.
That said, it was his off-season training regimen — and a bit of luck — that allowed him to escape serious injury.
“I was lucky that nothing bad happened,” he said. “I work hard on my body in the summer — yoga and everything.”
And now, White is ready to return to the field.
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