knee

Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior was worried. But how worried? He couldn’t say at first.

The team had taken major steps to address Shohei Ohtani’s lingering left knee condition, presenting him with a plan to skip his last start before the All-Star break and have his knee drained that Sunday. And he’d co-signed it.

The swelling in Ohtani’s knee, however, had been more persistent than the team expected. And pitching seemed to irritate it.

“I would say, moderately concerned,” Prior eventually said in a conversation with The Times last weekend. “But no more concerned than I probably am with anybody else who’s had to deal with aches and pains. Hopefully, this break and this rest will get it to calm down a little bit, and then we’ll see where we’re at next weekend.”

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Dodgers face the most pressing question for their second half: Will they be able to manage Ohtani’s knee condition?

Of course, plenty of other questions loom: What approach will the Dodgers take at the trade deadline? Will the pitchers coming off the injured list in the second half provide enough depth? Can they maintain the best record in the majors?

But naturally, Ohtani’s health is tangled up in all those answers.

The Dodgers have enough star power and enough of a lead in the division to still make the playoffs without Ohtani replicating his first half on the mound (8-2, 1.79 ERA). And they showed last year that they can win a World Series even if their postseason path begins with a wild-card series.

They’d prefer, however, to take a different route, with a strong second half that ensures home-field advantage all the way through the postseason.

“At the end of the day, it’s just trying to expect the best of your ballclub,” manager Dave Roberts said before the break. “And with the talent that we have, we expect to have the best record in baseball, and so that’s our standard. And so, what falls out of it is X, Y and Z. So that’s what we’re playing for.”

That’s also what they need a healthy Ohtani for.

Workload is part of the equation, and an aspect that’s garnered plenty of attention in Ohtani’s first full season balancing two-way duties since 2023.

“I’ve been much more open and watching … his workload, and not just taking for granted that he can be a two-way player, take every at-bat, pitch like a normal pitcher,” Roberts said. “I think that would be unfair. So for me, if anything, it’s just, keep having those conversations with him, bringing them to him, and saying, ‘Hey, this is what we see. This might be a different option, a better option for your best interest and our best interest.’ And I think that with that, he’s responded really well.”

That approach will continue in the second half. But refining Ohtani’s mechanics also will be vital to keeping his knee from becoming an issue again.

Ohtani said it himself, through interpreter Will Ireton, last week: “I have to kind of find a way to adjust my mechanics so that my knee doesn’t get affected.”

He’s been trying to do so since the swelling in his knee first cropped up.

“I think we’ve identified the issue,” Prior said. “Sometimes the fix isn’t always the easiest, especially with a guy who doesn’t spend probably the same amount of time on the mechanics of it.”

As a two-way player, Ohtani doesn’t have the “physical bandwidth,” as Prior put it, for things like multiple bullpen sessions between starts, even if they are a week apart. He has to keep the long, grueling season in mind when he’s also in the lineup every day.

Looking back at Ohtani’s pitching start against the Pittsburgh Pirates last month, the day before he exited the series finale because of inflammation in his knee, the Dodgers observed his right leg landing a little farther across his body in his delivery, probably putting extra strain on that plant leg as he moved around it.

“He fixed it, and then I’m wondering if it got aggravated just in-game,” Prior said. “These guys are extreme compensators, and in the moment they don’t necessarily know what they’re doing, but they’re finding other ways to pitch, and then afterwards you find out that things are a little sore.”

Ohtani had a dominant first half, but, whether because of the knee condition or mechanics or some combination of the two, he wasn’t quite as sharp in his last four starts (4.38 ERA).

“If he can fix the delivery, then he can fix a little bit more of the execution,” Prior said.

But will the delivery adjustment, All-Star break intervention and attention to workload fix Ohtani’s knee at least through the postseason? The Dodgers’ second-half trajectory will be tied up in the answer.

CHICAGO — Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Friday against the White Sox after exiting the game before with discomfort in the back of his left knee.

Manager Dave Roberts had expressed optimism Thursday night, after the Dodgers’ 8-6 win against the Pirates at PNC Park, that Ohtani would not miss additional time for the ailment. But he added: “Obviously with the travel [to Chicago on Thursday night], we’ll just kind of see how he comes in.”

Especially at this point in the season, the Dodgers have incentive to play it safe with Ohtani’s recovery. Pushing him to return early and exacerbating the injury would be a larger blow to a team seeking its third straight World Series championship.

With Ohtani out, left fielder Alex Call was in the leadoff spot, and Santiago Espinal served as the designated hitter.

It was not immediately clear whether the injury would affect Ohtani’s next pitching start. He’s lined up to take the mound Wednesday against the Rays, before the Dodgers’ off day Thursday.

Britain’s Jack Draper will miss the rest of the clay court season – including next month’s French Open – because of an ongoing knee injury.

The 24-year-old hopes to return for June’s grass court season but by then will almost certainly have fallen outside the world’s top 100.

Draper retired from his one and only clay court match of the season in Barcelona earlier this month because of the tendon issue in his right knee.

He then pulled out of back-to-back ATP 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, but expressed optimism that he would be fit for the French Open.

“My knee is on the mend and I’ve started back hitting balls but unfortunately I have been advised not to play Roland Garros,” Draper posted on Instagram.

“As gutting as it is to miss another Slam, the advice is not to rush straight back into playing five set tennis on clay.”

The tournament in Barcelona was just the fourth event of Draper’s comeback from bone bruising in his serving arm, which – bar one match at the US Open – had kept him off the tour since Wimbledon last year.

“Off the back of the arm injury, I’ve been restricted with my training and by giving myself the time to heal and build, I can be the player I want to be out there once again,” Draper added.

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz said Monday that he’s known about the five loose bodies in his elbow — which were removed in an operation Wednesday — since he was drafted in 2012.

Last week in Colorado was the first time it affected him. He gave up three runs without recording an out on April 19. And the next day, he told the team his arm felt “weird.”

On Monday, he described the feeling as “tired and tight.”

Before his arm started giving him problems, Díaz was unavailable for four straight games because of fatigue in his knee. His legs felt “good” in Colorado, Díaz said.

Results from an MRI scan suggested that the loose bodies in his elbow were to blame for the discomfort in his arm. Díaz said he was confident the operation would resolve the problem.

“The tightness and the soreness was where the loose body was,” Díaz said. “So that’s why we ended up getting the surgery because it was in the same spot I’ve always had them.”

He’s hoping to return after the All-Star break. So, the Dodgers will have to come up with an alternate ninth-inning plan for the next two-and-a-half months.

“That sucks to miss the first half with the team,” Díaz said. “I’m new with this team. But that’s something I can’t control. Everyone here is supporting me. All of my teammates they’re supporting me, they’re happy that I’m doing way better than before. They just can’t wait to see me on the mound in the second half.

“They say, take your time, we need you in October. But I want to come back as soon as possible and help this team to win games.”

Díaz is still waiting to have his stitches removed, but he expects to start playing catch in a couple weeks.

“My arm is feeling way better than it did on Sunday,” he said. “That’s a good sign. Right now, just a couple days after surgery, I can move my arm really good. My range of motion is coming back to normal. So that’s something I like. And just get stronger and be ready for the second half.”

Edward’s teammate Donte DiVincenzo was also hurt as Minnesota rallied to beat Denver and take a 3-1 NBA playoff series lead.

Ayo Dosunmu came off the bench to score ‌a career-high 43 points on 13-for-17 shooting, and the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away for a 112-96 win over the ⁠Denver Nuggets in Game ⁠4 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series on Saturday night in Minneapolis.

The victory, which gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, came at a steep cost for the Timberwolves, who lost two key starters ⁠due to injury.

Anthony Edwards, a four-time All-Star and the team’s top scorer, left in the second quarter and did not return because of a left knee injury. Earlier, in the first half, Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo injured his right leg on ⁠a noncontact play. Early reports indicated he might have ruptured his Achilles tendon.

Naz Reid added 17 points off the bench for Minnesota. Julius Randle finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Rudy Gobert grabbed a game-high-tying 15 rebounds to go along with four points.

Jamal Murray scored 30 points on 10-for-25 shooting to lead Denver. Nikola Jokic finished with 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. ‌However, he shot 8-for-22 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.

Thunder 121, Suns 109

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a playoff-career-high 42 points to lift Oklahoma City to a road win over Phoenix.

The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player finished 15 of 18 from the floor with eight assists to give the Thunder a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Oklahoma City have won 11 consecutive first- round games. Playing without Jalen Williams, who suffered a hamstring strain in Wednesday’s Game 2 victory, the Thunder leaned even more heavily on Gilgeous-Alexander.

Dillon Brooks led the Suns with ⁠33 points while Jalen Green added 26 points. Devin Booker scored 16 points, but was ⁠held to 6-of-16 shooting from the floor.

Knicks 114, Hawks 98

Karl Anthony-Towns totalled 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first career playoff triple-double as New York earned a victory over host Atlanta and evened their Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece.

Towns ensured Game 5 on Tuesday ⁠in New York will not be an elimination game for the Knicks and also ensured the series returns to Atlanta for Game 6 on Thursday. Towns posted his fifth career triple-double ⁠in any game. He also notched the seventh postseason triple-double in New York’s ⁠history. Anunoby led the Knicks with 22 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career playoff double-double.

CJ McCollum led the Hawks with 17 points but was held to three points after half time. Nickell Alexander-Walker added 15 and hit five 3s, but the Hawks were a dreadful 10 of 41 (24.4 percent) from behind the arc.

Magic ‌113, Pistons 105

Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane scored 25 points apiece as Orlando withstood a fourth-quarter rally to beat visiting Detroit in Game 3 of their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Banchero had 12 rebounds and nine assists for the eighth-seeded Magic, ‌who improved ‌to 7-1 in their last eight home postseason games, including play-in tournament games. Bane was 7-for-9 from 3-point range.

Cunningham scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for the Pistons. Tobias Harris scored 23 points, Ausar Thompson had 17 and Duncan Robinson added 10.