Robert Covington Bounced Back From Injury in Huge Way

Robert Covington bounced back from a scary injury by playing some great basketball over the last several games.

When coming back from an injury, there’s a general expectancy that it will take a player a while to get back to their usual self. When an injury leaves a player leaving an area on a stretcher, that expectancy gets even higher.

In a game against the Brooklyn Nets on March 11th, Robert Covington was engaged in a very physical play that left two Nets players and two Sixers players on the floor. Three quickly got up, but Covington, who had been kicked in the neck/head area by his own teammate Jerami Grant did not. For a while. It was unclear whether or not Covington was knocked unconscious, but there was reason to be careful with him as his body laid on the floor with little movement.

After some attention from the medical staffs of both the Nets and the Sixers, Cov was taken out on a stretcher and put in the hospital that night. On his way out, Covington gave a thumbs up to the fans at the Wells Fargo Center, letting them know he would be back. And come back, he would.

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The injury that hospitalized Covington wasn’t anything too serious, as Cov was released the next day, but it still caused him to miss six straight games. Cov would return in time for a road trip for the Sixers. His first game back was against the Denver Nuggets on March 23rd, a heartbreaking loss for the Sixers.

Covington showed up to play in this game, scoring 16 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. His next game was against the Potland Trail Blazers, another heartbreaking loss. Covington scored 17 points, and pulled in 11 rebounds, obtaining a double double in Oregon.

A loss on the final stop of the road trip against the Golden State Warriors had Covington scoring 16 points and pulling in 11 rebounds.

In the three games since coming back from his scary injury, Covington is averaging a double-double. He’s scoring 16.3 points, pulling in 10.3 rebounds, playing just under 30 minutes per game.

These are all higher than his regular season stats altogether, as he’s been scoring 12.1 points, pulling in 6.1 rebounds, all in 27.6 minutes per game. Cov was obviously inspired in his time sitting on the sideline, and quite hungry to get back on the floor.

“It’s tough to be sitting on the sideline when you know you want to be out there with them,” Covington said as he was prepping to return.

The fact that Cov has been able to come in and do so much coming off of a neck injury is impressive to say the least, and encouraging for the Sixers. As the team moves forward this offseason, the futures of a lot of players on this team will become uncertain, but Cov has made it clear that he can be a solid part of a competing team.

Covington’s injury has been just one of many for the Sixers, who are dealing with a lot of injuries towards the end of this season. Jahlil Okafor has undergone surgery to repair a torn meniscus and is out for the season, Nerlens Noel is suffering from a knee contusion (MRI results came back with no other reports other than a contusion), and Richaun Holmes and Jerami Grant both are listed as day-to-day.

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It seems that every game the Sixers play, there is a slew of three-to-four injuries throughout the 48 minutes of game time. It’s good to see some encouraging reports from Cov related to injuries.