It remains to be seen the wonders Reggie Jackson’s PRP injection will do for his ailing left knee, but it’s already been a panacea for his spirits.
“I think I was actually happier leaving the hospital yesterday than I have been in about a week,” Jackson said Tuesday, back at the Pistons practice facility and on crutches following his trip to New York for the platelet-rich plasma treatment. “Once I got the procedure it was like a burden was let off, kind of a sigh of relief. Now it’s back to recovery, back to thinking about getting back to the court.”
The Pistons have put a timetable of six to eight weeks on Jackson’s return, which would be somewhere between Nov. 21 and Dec. 5. The Pistons will have played 15 games by Nov. 21, 22 by Dec 5.
It’s the second time Jackson has undergone PRP treatment for left knee tendinitis. The first – at the same New York hospital, he said – was in 2011 before his rookie season, stalled by the lockout. He felt twinges of recurrence late last season, he said, but it went away over the summer. As he geared up his off-season workouts, knee pain – “like some sharp needle is being stuck into your knee,” Jackson said – gradually returned.
Jackson felt he could play through it when training camp opened, but it became apparent to onlookers that something wasn’t right. The explosion off the dribble and to the basket that separates Jackson from most point guards wasn’t quite there.
“Coaches and training staff watched film and decided there was something I needed to do about it now,” Jackson said. “Happy to get it done and happy to be on the road to recovery.”
Jackson took advantage of a two-for-one special, getting a thumb injury that’s nagged him since the middle of last season addressed as well. An MRI indicated ligament damage and that, too, was treated with a PRP injection.
“Found out there was a little more damage than we thought, so had to take care of that, as well,” Jackson said. “Why not kill two birds with one stone?”
In Jackson’s absence, the Pistons have spun their wheels offensively since opening with a 32-point quarter in the preseason opener at Brooklyn last week. In the seven quarters since, the Pistons have averaged 20.4 points. Stan Van Gundy saw severe stagnation in Monday’s loss to San Antonio and Marcus Morris thinks he knows why – players trying to replace Jackson’s panache individually.
“He thinks the problem is that everybody is trying to pick up the slack,” Van Gundy said. “The way to do that is through playing together and better ball movement, which is the way we’re going to score. And that’s not what we’re doing right now.”
“I think Reggie takes a lot off the table for us,” Stanley Johnson said. “As a team, we have to collectively bring back what he gave to us. It’s super,super, super early. We’ve played only two games. We haven’t played our regular rotation yet. So it’s really early to say anything positive or negative other than defensively. That’s all we’re worried about right now. Offensively, we’re all bad. That’s not on purpose, but we’re not really focusing on that right now. For us, our calling card is defensively. We took strides toward that last night and that’s all that matters right now.”