Deron Williams’ troublesome ankles kept him from making the trip to London this week with the rest of his teammates.
The Nets announced Sunday afternoon Williams, who underwent cortisone shots and platelet-rich-plasma treatment in both ankles Tuesday and has missed the last four games, would not accompany the team on its flight to
London Sunday night for Thursday’s game there with the Hawks.
Leaving Williams behind was a prudent decision, as it gives the Nets’ star point guard a chance to get an additional week of rest and rehab to try and get himself healthy after spending the last few months dealing with sprains in both ankles.
Williams had three rounds of cortisone shots last season, when he dealt with synovitis in both ankles, as well as getting a round of the PRP treatment just before last February’s All-Star break. The Nets hope Williams responds to this round of treatment the way he did following last year’s All-Star break, when he averaged 22.9 points and 8.0 assists in 28 games, shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 42 percent from 3-point range.
This had been expected to be a big season for Williams after the Nets surrounded him with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko, among others. But Williams suffered a sprained right ankle in an offseason workout in Utah that held him out for virtually all of training camp, and then has missed 15 games since the regular season began because of a sprained ankle.
Williams first suffered the injury in Phoenix on Nov. 15, only to later re-injure it on Nov. 20 in Charlotte before it swelled up on him again after participating in practice last Sunday. That eventually led to the decision to have him undergo the cortisone shots and PRP treatment.
Williams is averaging 13.6 points and 6.9 assists through 22 games.
Mirza Teletovic became an Internet sensation Friday evening during and the Nets’ 104-95 double overtime win over the Heat thanks to smiling and laughing at LeBron James after the four-time league MVP got angry with
Teletovic. The Nets backup forward committed a flagrant foul early in the fourth quarter to stop James from attempting a fast-break layup.
But Teletovic still isn’t done having fun at James’ expense. After the Nets won Friday night’s game to improve their win streak to five games, Teletovic tweeted out a picture of James having to be held back by teammates while Teletovic smiled at him.
Then, over the weekend, Teletovic changed the background of his Twitter page to a blown-up version of the same picture.
“He went around my neck,” James said Friday night of Teletovic, also trying to say his last name before eventually referring to him as, “however you say his last name.”
“I was just trying to foul, nothing else,” Teletovic said. “I was trying to make a stop. That was it.”