The Houston Rockets’ 116-108 overtime victory over the Dallas Mavericks last night was overshadowed by a brutal collision between Dirk Nowitzki and Carl Landry early in the second quarter. Nowitzki cut through the lane after being on the receiving end of a loose pick-and-roll, and as he rose up to the basket his elbow connected with Landry’s mouth. The collision took both players out for the remainder of the game. The video below is not for the squeamish.
Landry, straight faced and mouth closed, went straight off the court to the team doctor, spit teeth into his towel and was immediately taken to the emergency room. Landry suffered five cracked or knocked-out teeth, and adding insult-to-injury (literally in this case) Landry was called for a foul on the play.
Nowitzki also got more than just a scratch on the elbow. He suffered a deep cut that required three stitches to close. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, “the Maverick’s found pieces of two teeth embedded in Nowitzki’s elbow and had to spend 30 minutes cleaning the cut before administering X-rays, which were found to be negative.” Nowitzki fought through the pain though and shot the ensuing free-throws from Landry’s unfortunate foul. He made one of two…left-handed.
Let’s hope we don’t see any more injuries on this level of disgusting any more this season.
