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The Minnesota Timberwolves got a bit of good news Thursday when doctors told All-Star Kevin Love that he wouldn’t need surgery on his broken right hand.
The bad news is they still have to figure out a way to replace his 26 points and 13 rebounds a game for the next six to eight weeks.
Love said in a statement Thursday that he broke his right hand while doing knuckle push-ups the day before in a pre-practice workout. The injury means the Wolves will be without their two best players — point guard Ricky Rubio isn’t expected back until mid-December at the earliest because of a torn ACL in his left knee — for the first month of the regular season, and possibly longer.
“Although I’m disappointed that this injury happened, I will work extremely hard to stay in shape and return to the court as quickly as possible,” Love said.
The situation is similar to what Wolves coach Rick Adelman had to deal with in Houston, when he lost stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming for extended stretches.
“I was just shocked,” Adelman said when he was told of Love’s injury. “I couldn’t believe it. Here we’re trying to get ready and then we have something like this happen. I learned a long time ago. I’ve had so many injuries to good players, I’ve started to think maybe it’s me.”
— Reported by the Associated Press
