On his flight down to Miami for treatment on his injured left ankle, Nets’ center Rony Seikaly thought he would pass out from the pain.
“I was in so much pain. I thought my toes were going to explode. I couldn’t put any weight on it whatsoever,” said Seikaly, who flew to Florida for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, a gizmo widely used in Europe to treat sports injuries and commonly used by scuba divers to prevent the bends. “It has really helped the pain. The swelling has gone down by 20 percent, but …”
The “but” in Seikaly’s words via telephone last night revealed the anxiety in his gut. X-rays showed no break and the injury has been termed a sprain by the team but the center fears he may have suffered damage similar to what Keith Van Horn went through last preseason. Van Horn suffered torn ligaments and missed the first 17 games. There has been no time frame put on Seikaly, who insists the Florida treatment will hasten his return.
Seikaly went down in pain, frustration and anger Monday night at practice. Compounding the emotions for the 11th season veteran was how he had been playing: wonderfully. And this after his 1997-98 season was wrecked by injury.
“I was disappointed, angry, hurting. I was in a state of, ‘Oh God, not again,'” Seikaly recalled. “The first five seconds or so, I had such a burning sensation. I was ticked off before I realized I could be hurt. I was just playing so well, I felt. I was feeling good, feeling comfortable.”
So Seikaly asked John Calipari for permission to fly to Miami to employ the chamber for treatment. Seikaly had used it once before and marveled at its effectiveness. The Nets had located one in northern New Jersey but it was a smaller version and Seikaly ruled it out almost immediately, opting for the submarine-like machine in Florida.
“I’m a little claustrophobic,” he admitted.
Seikaly insisted his first 75-minute session in the chamber, which works through an oxygen pressure concept to flush the blood (hey, this is him explaining it, OK?) paid instant dividends.
“We flew him to Miami. In his mind, it’s going to help him come back so, ‘Good, go do it,'” Calipari said, adding with a laugh, “I assured him he isn’t staying for the Super Bowl … The thing is Rony had been playing so well.”
The injury to Seikaly, plus Keith Van Horn battling a volcanic stomach, plays havoc with the Net front line. But it stresses the importance of picking up 7-1 Jim McIlvaine last week.
“Rony’s injury bums me out. It’s an ankle injury – I get an ankle injury a year it seems like,” McIlvaine said. “It’s a terrible injury to have and it’s going to have an adverse effect on the team because he gave us a big scorer in the post. He’s a big guy who’s quick on the floor and he’s got a good shot. Plus, he’s an excellent defender.”