It looks like surgery is the way Pacers swingman Mike Dunleavy plans to go to fix his injured right knee.
Dunleavy, who has only appeared in 18 games this season, said he has a giant bone spur on his right patella tendon. The Pacers had listed the injury as a sore right knee the entire season. He'll have the surgery as soon as possible if he decides that's the route he wants to take. "This is an issue I've had for about 10 years," said Dunleavy, who had only missed 11 games in his career prior to this season. "This isn't new. It isn't a matter of knowing what it is. It's a matter of figuring out how you fix it. That's kind of what we're working with right now."
Dunleavy averaged 15.1 points a game this season after averaging a career-high 19.1 last season.
"Probably not until I got in the NBA was it recognized as something more than tendinitis," he said. "Early on, it was 'Oh, you have tendinitis. Everybody goes through it. You're young, whatever.' Over the course of the years, it's just gotten worse. Last year, I took a pretty bad fall and from that standpoint, I haven't been the same since. That's why were trying to figure something out."
PACERS 100, NUGGETS 94: The Pacers fought back from a seven-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to beat the Nuggets. Troy Murphy had 22 points and 18 rebounds for his 37th double-double of the season. Guard Jarrett Jack scored a game-high 28 points for the Pacers, who held the Nuggets to 36 percent shooting.
