Star Taipan Sidelined Again?

Cairns Taipans star Keanu Pinder is likely to miss the remainder of Round 17, after copping a stray elbow to the face in the team’s loss to South East Melbourne.

Pinder attempted to go up for a rebound during the third quarter on Wednesday night, before copping a knock from the Phoenix’s Dane Pineau.

He left the court and didn’t return. 

“I never want to speculate (on the severity of the injury) … we’ll go through the proper channels and get him to see a doc, but his eye’s pretty swollen,” coach Adam Forde said. 

“He was bleeding … bleeding from the nose, bleeding from the lip, bleeding from the eye.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Keanu Pinder has been taken straight into the changerooms following a stray elbow to the face late in the third quarter. <a href="https://t.co/w5mcAmSgDo">pic.twitter.com/w5mcAmSgDo</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1618192464304820228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Pinder has already missed a large chunk of games over the past month due to an ankle injury, and this latest blow will likely see him sidelined again, at least in the short term. 

“The plan is we’re not preparing for him to suit up against this weekend again for us,” Forde said. 

“We’ll make sure he is right first and make sure he’s right to fly back home and do all the necessary things to put him in a position we take care of his health first.” 

Pinder has had a career-best season in NBL23, averaging 17.6 points and 9.6 rebounds, but has played just two games over the past month.

The Taipans will be sweating on the fitness of their star man, with the finals just a fortnight away. 

They play two more games in Round 17, before closing out the season with a road trip to Perth next week.