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Warriors center Kwame Brown tore the muscle in his right shoulder in Tuesdays game against the Miami Heat and will undergo surgery, according to the team. Brown is expected to miss a minimum of three months.
Brown sustained the injury while taking a hard foul underneath the basket on Heat center Udonis Haslem. Brown had emerged as the Warriors' starting center in the wake of an injury to Andris Biedrins and had become the teams most effective interior defender.
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Obviously, were very disappointed for Kwame, who was playing extremely well and had worked diligently since his arrival, Warriors general manager Larry Riley said. In short time, he had proven to be the anchor to our low post defense and certainly lived up to his reputation as one of the top interior defenders in the NBA.
Browns injury likely means Biedrins will be back in the starting lineup Thursday night against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. Biedrins has missed the past three games with a sprained ankle and toe injury, but he practiced on Wednesday.
Brown, 29 was averaging 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 21 minutes per game for the Warriors. The team signed Brown in December to a one-year, 7 million contract.
In other words, its conceivable that Brown has played his final game for Golden State.
Golden State Warriors
After Tuesday's game, Jackson praised Brown and what he had brought to the team over nine games."I cantbelieve this guy was at home when we called him, looking at him play," Jackson said. "He is an incredible fighter, hes still wants to play, hes still thinking what can I doto get back on the court. Ill take him with one arm over a lot ofguys with two.Unfortunately, that's not a realistic option.I feel extremely bad for Kwame, head coach Mark Jackson said via press release. He had done absolutely everything that myself and our coaching staff had asked of him and quickly started to change this teams image on the defensive end of the floor.
"If you look at the last week, in particular, he had some pretty impressive defensive performances, especially against some of the top scoring big men in the NBA. This is a blow, but Kwame and the Warriors will recover and move forward. I know that he will work as hard as he can during rehabilitation.