EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Kenyon Martin is out with a broken
right leg for the second time in a year, but the New Jersey Nets
star does not think the fracture is as serious as the one he had in
college.
"I'm disappointed with 10 or 11 games to go in the season for
it to happen," Martin said Friday from the Nets' practice facility
with a boot on his right leg. "I thought I was playing pretty
good."
"For it to happen now is unfortunate, but I didn't think here
we go again," he added.
Martin, the NBA's top draft pick, sustained a nondisplaced
fracture of his right fibula midway through the third quarter of
the Nets' 113-98 loss to Boston on Thursday night. Celtics guard
Milt Palacio kneed Martin in his calf after the two got tangled.
Martin tried to stay on the court, but the power forward
eventually limped to the locker room and told trainer Tim Walsh his
leg was broken.
Martin said the break, diagnosed as a hairline fracture, is
lower on his fibula than the one he sustained playing for
Cincinnati during the Conference USA tournament last March.
The fibula is the smaller of two bones in the lower leg.
"I'm not fragile by any means," said Martin, who said this
injury is totally different from the last one.
Nets spokesman John Mertz said Keith Van Horn also had a
hairline fracture of his fibula in training camp. The forward
missed 32 games.
Martin said if this injury happened earlier in the season, he
would be out four to six weeks.
Martin, who has played better as the season has progressed, was
making a strong push for Rookie of the Year honors. He finished the
season averaging 12 points and 7.4 rebounds in 68 games, all
starts. He also had 113 blocks, 131 assists and 78 steals.
"I think I was the favorite the way I was playing," said
Martin, who had 22 points on 10 of 16 shooting in 28 minutes
against the Celtics.
Nets coach Byron Scott said Friday that Martin still deserves to
be the Rookie of the Year.
"He had gotten pretty close to arriving, and he turned into
being a pretty darn good player," Scott said. "We think he has
the possibility of being a great player in this league. I think he
is well on his way."
Nets president Rod Thorn said it easy to think there is
something wrong if a player fractures the same bone twice in a
year.
However, team doctors have assured him the leg will have no
greater chance of breaking again, provided it heals properly.
"To have a freak thing like this happen with 11 games to go is
terrible," Thorn said after the Nets' shootaround for Friday
night's game with the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. "It's
terrible for us, but it's terrible for him. He's come on strong and
he has a chance to be a really good player in the league."
The injury is the latest to strike the Nets this season. Kerry
Kittles has missed the entire year after undergoing knee surgery.
Forward Jamie Feick has missed 64 games with an Achilles' tendon
injury. Forward-guard Kendall Gill has missed 40 with tendinitis in
his knee, and center Jim McIlvaine has missed 35 with back and calf
injuries.
"Everything happens for a reason, but I don't know what the
reason is," All-Star guard Stephon Marbury said. "I know we're
not cursed like people say."
Marbury then paused.
"Maybe we are," he said. "It's tough. It's tough with all
those people going down."
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