David Lee is Still in the Hospital

Lee‘s elbow infection is so bewildering that the team doctor had to face the press and explain exactly what’s going on. From the San Fran Chronicle: “In a unique move by the Warriors, who are usually guarded when it comes to injuries, they made the doctor available to the media. Dr. Bill Maloney said the infection probably could not have been avoided, explained the process for treatment, and offered a glowing outlook on Lee’s recovery … ‘I know there is a lot of speculation out there, but it almost doesn’t matter how it was treated,’ Maloney said. ‘You’re going to have to open it up eventually. I don’t think they could have avoided this, even if somebody would have treated him differently in New York. The die was cast when he got the tooth through the skin with a deep enough puncture wound to allow the bacteria to get in there.’ The Warriors flew to Chicago for the tail end of a back-to-back, but Lee woke up Thursday in ‘the worst pain’ of his life and went to the emergency room. His elbow looked like a grapefruit that had been kicked around a dirt lot as he explained why he was missing the Bulls’ game with an ‘elbow scratch.’ After the 30-point loss to Chicago, Lee was evaluated by the Bulls’ doctors and went back to the emergency room. That’s when new owner Joe Lacob stepped in, had his plane wait for Lee and general manager Larry Riley, and flew back to the Bay Area. ‘We tend to underestimate it, but those are just bad wounds,’ Maloney said. ‘A mouth is so dirty that when there’s a puncture wound, it often ends up just like this. We see them most typically on a Saturday night in the ER when somebody gets into a bar brawl.'”