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Pollitz hot despite iced knee

Emile Dawisha

Amidst an endless cycle of ice packs, anti-inflammatories and injections, Tim Pollitz is somehow playing the best basketball of his career.

Pollitz's recent hot streak - he's averaging 22 points per game in his last six games - has propelled him into MAC Player of the Year contention. But with every passing day, the junior forward is fighting a losing battle with a right knee that is nearly bereft of cartilage and meniscus.

The injury, which he sustained in December of 2005, is not severe enough to put him on the shelf but has limited his practice time and has proved to be a round-the-clock headache.

After each game, he receives an injection to quell the inflammation and keep the two connecting bones from grinding into each other. The next day, when the pain really starts setting in, he usually sits out of practice.

For as long as he plays basketball, Pollitz will carry the chronic pain with him like luggage. But in the face of ubiquitous swelling and throbbing, Pollitz has elevated his game to new heights and has spearheaded Miami to a four-game winning streak. In his last eight games - of which Miami has won seven - he has shot 68 percent from the field (73-of-107) and has averaged 38.1 minutes per game, helping to dispel any doubts about the knee's stability.

To the untrained eye, Pollitz appears unencumbered by his ailing knee. But he admits that his best playing days are over and that his vertical leap will never be at the same level due to the injury.

But Pollitz does not need to play above the rim to be successful. At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, he has the uncanny ability to run the floor like a guard and still hold his own in the blocks. He is thick, but nimble enough to create his own shot against taller defenders, and shows great dexterity around the rim with the ball.

He has aspirations of one day playing professionally overseas, but with the decision of whether to undergo knee surgery hanging over his head, his basketball future remains hazy.

After the season, Pollitz will consider undergoing knee surgery. But such a procedure, while helping prolong the shelf life of his knee, will not fully repair the meniscus.

According to Pollitz, the complete deterioration of his meniscus is almost inevitable.

After each game, Pollitz is a sorry sight to behold. He trudges into the postgame press conference weighed down by an ice pack strapped to his knee.

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Pollitz has always been a good sport about the constant inquiries regarding his injury status. But even the reporters are beginning to feel bad about the barrage of knee-related questions.

"Don't ask him about his knee," a reporter told me after Miami's win over Ball State Saturday, a game in which Pollitz scored a game-high 24 points.

As long as Pollitz continues playing at such a high level, questions about his knee will seem less and less relevant.