Shades of Willis Reed

Dirk Nowitzki's return from injury has been nothing short of amazing.

When the diagnosis "high ankle sprain" was announced, most observers assumed Nowitzki would be – at the very least – hobbled for the rest of the regular season. The "two week" estimate for his return was viewed with skepticism – if not outright mockery. But Nowitzki made his surprise return to the lineup a mere 10 days later.

And the Nowitzki we're seeing isn't hobbling around like Kirk Gibson on ruined knees in the World Series. He's playing at – or above – his season averages. On a per-game basis since his return, Nowitzki's averaging 25.7 points and 7.0 rebounds. For the season: 23.5 points and 8.7 rebounds.

More importantly, he's leading the Mavs to wins. Dallas is in the midst of a brutal stretch of schedule that will decide whether or not they make the playoffs in an unforgiving Western Conference. They've won two of three games since Nowitzki's return, beating the Warriors on April 2nd and the Suns on Sunday (with a loss at the Lakers in between). Those two wins are Dallas' only two over winning teams since the acquisition of Jason Kidd at the trade deadline.

As I write, the Mavs are in seventh place in the West, two games ahead of Golden State and Denver, with five games remaining. Their remaining games: Seattle (home), Utah (home), Portand (away), Seattle (away) and New Orleans (home) -- that's two must-wins over a bad Sonics team and three more chances to improve that record against winning teams. If they can close out the season on a high – maybe upset the Spurs in a first-round matchup – we might start talking about Dirk's ankle the way we talk about Willis' knees or Schilling's bloody sock.

Story continues on RotoWire...

Welcome Back, Fellas

Couple of big names made surprise returns to the court last night:

Most Dramatic Return: Gilbert Arenas -- no question. Gotta hand it to Agent Zero: dude has a flair for the dramatic. He didn't even take his spot on the bench until five minutes had elapsed in the first quarter, so as not to give away the surprise.

The only way he could have improved on his entrance is if he'd come dancing down the aisle in an Uncle Sam costume like Apollo Creed before the Drago fight.

Unfortunately for the Wiz, the game ended a bit like the Drago fight... Arenas played nearly 20 minutes and scored 19 points, but Washington lost on a buzzer-beater by "who dat" guard Ramon Sessions -- and may have lost DeShawn Stevenson and Antawn Jamison to new injuries.

Most Surprising Return: Dirk Nowitzki's return surprised for a couple of reasons. First off -- high ankle sprains ordinarily don't heal that quickly... I shudder to think about the tape-job he needed to get on the court, or what his ankle is feeling like today. Second -- his return helped propel Dallas to a victory over a team with a winning record -- their first since the Jason Kidd trade.

Most Significant Return: This one could go to Pau Gasol, who played 30 minutes and scored 10 points in the Lakers' win over Portland -- but we're holding off on handing a title to the Lakers until we see their entire projected lineup - including Andrew Bynum - on the floor together.

As such, we're calling Elton Brand's return the most significant of the night... considering the game was his season debut. Brand came off the bench for 25-and-change minutes, scoring 19 points, grabbing five boards, and showing countless fantasy owners that they might get a bit of return on that roster spot he's been occupying all season.

In leagues where no one took a flyer on a possible return by Brand -- and according to the stats on Ultimate Fantasy Commissioner, that's around four out of every five leagues -- get to that waiver wire and make your claims. Where else are you going to find a 20-and-10 guy this late in the season?

Working the Wire

Last week in this space, I wrote about injuries as the main source of useful fantasy players at this point of the season.

This week, we’ll put that theory to the test.

The Injury: Dirk Nowitzki suffered the dreaded “high ankle” sprain as well as a sprained knee during Sunday’s game.

The prognosis: The ankle injury is being called “moderate” while the knee injury is “slight.”
Initial estimates had him returning in as little as a week to two weeks – but short of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, high ankle sprains don’t typically heal that fast.

The options: You’d generally expect him to be shelved for 3-4 weeks with this sort of injury – but the season ends three weeks from today.

Dallas is in a particularly tough spot. They’re currently sitting in seventh place in the West and are very much in danger of falling out of playoff position. At the same time, they really can’t risk losing Nowitzki for the playoffs, should they qualify. So the scenarios might break down like this:

Story continues on NBA.com...

Bass Fishin'

Before you read the rest of this column, go put in a waiver claim on Brandon Bass. Hurry. I'll wait.

All set?

Good.

Now then... unless you've been in deep seclusion due to the fact that you had Duke, Georgetown and Pittsburgh in the Final Four, you know that Dirk Nowitzki suffered a "lower leg" injury during Sunday's game. As of Monday afternoon, that Bill Belichick-ian diagnosis has been clarified – Nowitzki has a high ankle sprain and a knee sprain. As you know if you read Jim Russo's "In Street Clothes" column here on RotoWire, a high ankle sprain is bad news. To quote Mr. Russo:

A high ankle sprain is more severe than the ankle sprains you typically see because it involves not only the stabilizing ligaments on the inside and outside of the ankle, but also the syndesmotic ligament, a circular shaped structure which wraps the distal end of the tibia and fibula, the long bones of the lower leg. When the ankle rolls severely, it can stretch this ligament causing those two bones to separate to a small degree. It's not much but the swelling and pain is extreme and the ankle becomes unstable.

Now I'm not much on book learnin' – but based on that explanation and the official diagnosis, it seems to me that the initial report that Dirk would return in two weeks is a bit aggressive.

Article continues on Rotowire.com...

The Last Reason Not to Fire Isiah...

There's a theory that's been circulated recently that the only thing keeping Hawks general manager Billy Knight from getting the axe is the ongoing legal battle between Atlanta management and former partner Steve Belkin.

Atlanta can't fire Knight, the theory goes, because doing so would be an open admission that Knight hasn't done a good job -- and Knight's personnel moves (specifically, the acquisition of Joe Johnson from Phoenix) are one of the reasons Belkin sued in the first place.

Hmm... so a pending lawsuit can keep a guy from getting fired. That should be really encouraging for Knick fans, given the news that Madison Square Garden has settled the sexual harassment case brought by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders.

Follow my logic:

• Browne Sanders won at trial and was awarded $11.6 million dollars
• MSG appealed the case
• If MSG had fired Thomas with the appeal pending, Browne Sanders' attorneys could have argued that the sexual harassment accusations were a reason for his removal -- that Cablevision, in firing Thomas, was essentially admitting they were in the wrong

(Not that that's the only reason Thomas should be fired... his list of firing offenses is long and extensive. For example, as I write this post, Isiah has Eddy Curry covering Dirk Nowitzki -- with predictable -- 10 points on 6-of-7 shooting in six minutes -- results. Is there another coach in America, at the high school level or higher, who doesn't know that Curry can't hang with the Diggler?)

Is it possible that this settlement will help clear the way for Jim Dolan to finally make the move we've all been expecting?