Shane Larkin forced to leave the court in Milan due to a right ankle injury
· EurohoopsNikola Mirotic unintentionally landed on the Anadolu Efes’ superstar’s right ankle
By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Everything looked promising for Anadolu Efes during the away trip to Milan’s Unipol Forum, as Tomislav Mijatovic’s team led even by 22 points (49-27) at the beginning of the third quarter. However, Ettore Messina started to create a comeback, and the Turkish team even lost its brightest star.
Trying to contain a shot from Nikola Mirotic in the fast break with 4:50 to play in the third quarter, Anadolu Efes‘ leader severely injured his right ankle, landing roughly on the court and against the advertising LEDs. Milan’s No.33 landed on his foot unintentionally.
He tried to get back to his feet on his own but was forced to leave the game, heading to the locker rooms helped by Anadolu Efes‘ medical staff. Before being forced to abandon the encounter, the two-time EuroLeague champions scored only 2 points over 1/4 from the field but shared 6 assists.
Before this game, the 32-year-old Turkish team’s playmaker was averaging 13.0 points and 5.2 assists per game, including a team-high 24 points in the win against Olympiacos in the EuroLeague Round 4.
After the game, Mijatovic said that Larkin’s injury appears to be some form of ankle sprain.
“Of course I’m worried,” Mijatovic mentioned.” Not just me, I saw the reaction on the faces of our guys. We were all very worried. Our guys wanted to step up for Shane; he wasn’t able to help us unfortunately due to injury. I spoke with the medical staff briefly in the locker room: it’s an ankle twist of some sort, we don’t know it without being evaluated with an MRI. We are hoping and praying it isn’t something that will sideline him for a longer period of time”
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague