Kevin Love Injury: Minnesota Shuts Love Down For Season

Kevin Love's 2011-12 NBA season is over. The Minnesota Timberwolves have decided to not risk further injury for the All-Star forward by shutting him down for the rest of the 2011-12 season according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

In a meeting with the Love, coaches and medical personnel, it was decided that Love, who sustained a concussion when hit by a JaVale McGee elbow in Denver April 11, will miss the team's final two games this season.

Love has not played since receiving the elbow from McGee on April 11, and he was expected to be a game-time decision for Sunday evening's game against the Golden State Warriors. With the Timberwolves officially eliminated from playoff contention and Ricky Rubio already out for the season with a torn ACL there is little need to risk further injury for Love.

For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. You can also check out professional basketball news from around the league over at SB Nation's NBA page.

Kevin Love Injury Update: Timberwolves All-Star A Game-Time Decision For Sunday

Minnesota Timberwolves center Kevin Love has not played since suffering a concussion on April 11 when he was elbowed by Denver's JaVale McGee. As of a few days ago, it was reported that Love could possibly return on Sunday for the penultimate game of the season.

After Saturday's practice, the Tribune's Jerry Zgoda says that is still the case, and Luke Ridnour could also return:

Love and Luke's status for Sunday's game vs Warriors won't be determined until tomorrow. They both practiced some today

— Jerry Zgoda(@JerryZgoda) April 21, 2012

It appears Love passed any concussion tests he was required to undergo before returning to physical activity.

Love is averaging 26 points and over 13 rebounds in 39 minutes per game this season.

For more on Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. For more on the NBA in general, head over to SB Nation's NBA hub at sbnation.com/NBA.

Kevin Love Injury: Timberwolves Star Could Return Sunday

To say that the Minnesota Timberwolves have had a lackluster recent few weeks would be a bit of an understatement. Too many injuries and just plain bad old basketball have sunk the Wolves' once decent playoff hopes to the tune of an 11 game slide recently.

The biggest injury among that slew of them, at least recently, has been the loss of Kevin Love after a blow to the head back on April 11 against the Denver Nuggets left him with a concussion. Fortunately, Love appears to be recovering fairly quickly and will soon start doing NBA mandated tests in order to prove his concussion is gone so he can return to the team by the end of the season. According to the Star Tribune his return could come as soon as Sunday, the second to last game of the year when the Wolves meet the Golden State Warriors.

It's not much of a concession, but with how the month of April has gone so far for the Wolves they can use pretty much anything to make the rest of the season as bearable as possible.

Love this season has averaged 26 points and 13.3 rebounds per game as Minnesota's break out star.

For more on Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. For more on the NBA in general, head over to SB Nation's NBA hub at sbnation.com/NBA.

Kevin Love Injury: Timberwolves All-Star Cleared To Return To Minneapolis

Minnesota Timberwolves has been cleared to travel back to Minnesota following a short stay in a Denver hospital due to a mild concussion, the team has announced.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love suffered a mild concussion and neck strain in last night’s game at Denver, and stayed overnight at a hospital for precautionary reasons. After further evaluation today, Love’s diagnosis remains unchanged and he has been cleared to return to Minneapolis. He will not play in tonight’s game vs. the L.A. Clippers.

Love has missed just four games this season, while logging 39 minute per game, trailing only Loul Deng for the highest average in the NBA. With the Timberwolves all but eliminated from playoff contention, it wouldn't be surprising to see Love sit out the remaining seven games of the season.

Love leads Minnesota with 26 points and 13.3 rebounds per game.

For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. You can also check out professional basketball news from around the league over at SB Nation's NBA page, or check out SB Nation's YouTube channel:

Kevin Love Injury: Mild Concussion Highlights League's New Policy

During the off-season, the NBA instituted more rigid guidelines for dealing with concussions.

This is relevant, of course, because Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love suffered a mild concussion when he caught a nasty elbow Wednesday night from Denver's JaVale McGee. Love was immediately dazed and was helped from the court, not to return.

As a precaution, he spent Wednesday night in a Denver hospital.

As such, Love will likely need to fulfill the requirements of the NBA's new concussion policy. ESPN Los Angeles' Brian Kamenetzky analyzed the league's freshly amended concussion guidelines after Kobe Bryant was diagnosed with a concussion sustained in the All-Star Game.

From Kamenetzky's report:

As part of the policy, during the preseason every player in the NBA undergoes baseline neurological testing.

If a player is diagnosed with a concussion, he's no longer allowed to play until cleared in consultation with the NBA's director of the concussion program, Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Michigan.

To gain clearance, a player must return to his symptom free neurological baseline, then complete a series of exertion tests, each growing in difficulty (from a stationary bike to jogging, to agility and individual basketball drills) remaining free of symptoms after each test.

There isn't, according to Kamentezky, an explicit timeframe. Instead, a player's clearance is contingent upon these tests.

During All-Star Weekend, David Stern spoke about the new policy:

I think the teams have been very supportive of that. They may not agree with every single instance, but collectively they agree completely, because they wanted a uniform policy, and competitively our policy is there....And honestly it arms the teams with the ability to say to a player who wants to make an imprudent decision, ‘You can't do that, the league won't let us.'"

In other words, don't expect Love to play in Thursday's game with the Clippers.

For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. You can also check out professional basketball news from around the league over at SB Nation's NBA page, or check out SB Nation's YouTube channel:

VIDEO: Kevin Love Injury Results In Concussion, Neck Strain

Kevin Love suffered an ugly looking injury in the first quarter of the Minnesota Timberwolves game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. Turns out the diagnosis was just as bad as it looked on the court, too, unfortunately.

Love suffered a mild concussion and a neck strain, according to the team's public relations department.

.@kevinlove suffered mild concussion & neck strain in Q1 of tonight's gm. Will stay @ a Denver hospital overnight for precautionary reasons.

— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) April 12, 2012

Concussions are never a good thing for athletes to endure, as recent research projects have shown. Knowing that, it wouldn't be surprising to see Love shut down for the remainder of the season considering Wednesday's loss officially knocked the Wolves out of playoff contention (as if that wasn't already known).

For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. For more on the Denver Nuggets you can head over to Denver Stiffs.

Kevin Love Injury: Javale McGee Elbow Forces Timberwolves All-Star To Bench

Kevin Love caught an elbow from JaVale McGee in the first quarter of Wednesday night's game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets. The All-Star power forward was helped off the court and is expected to miss the remainder of the game due to the injury.