The margin between the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat is so thin that it’s not inconceivable it could swing on a "magic" shoelace.
After five games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, just three points separate the two teams and all five games have been decided in the final minute or overtime.
Which is why Raptors director of sport science Alex McKechnie was carrying around a red shoelace in his right-hand pocket at the team’s morning shoot-around on Friday.
In Game 4, McKechnie was observed on camera wrapping the red lace around the sprained right thumb of DeMar DeRozan. Was it just a coincidence that following the seemingly unusual treatment the struggling Raptors all-star had his best game of the post-season, scoring a playoff career-high tying 34 points?
Maybe not.
DeRozan credits the treatment for giving him more mobility in the swollen joint, which he says is hampering his ability to grip the ball and has bothered him when he spreads his hand to cradle the ball while shooting.
The "magic" shoelace has helped.
When he left the floor after hurting his thumb in the fourth quarter of Game 4 he didn’t aggravate the sprain, but had merely taken a hard knock on the already tender joint.
DeRozan first hurt the thumb on the final play of Game 1. The team wouldn’t comment on whether he has been taking needles to numb the pain locally.
In the meantime, the shoelace seems to be doing the trick.
"Once he takes it off I’m able to move my finger more, so I try to do it as much as possible," said DeRozan. "When he wraps it and then takes it off, you can see the swelling leave. I like it though."
"It hurts like hell, but I like that it helps."
The Raptors haven’t commented on the extent of the injury, although DeRozan said Friday it was a sprain with nothing torn, and he didn’t think it would need surgery following the season.
McKechnie starts wrapping the shoelace around the tip of the thumb and keeps winding it tight all way down to where the thumb meets the base of the hand.
"The process is actually a very traditional way of treating injured fingers," said McKechnie. "It’s very difficult to get compression on your finger, the small joints of your hand the fingers, so when it’s used, it’s used to create pressure and compression. You start very firm and you actually release the pressure as you go through. Once it’s completely covered in the string of the shoelace, you mobilize the joint at this point so you actually get tissue drainage … And you’ll get immediate recovery in range."
McKechnie has had a long career treating elite athletes and was with the Los Angeles Lakers before joining the Raptors in 2012, and while it may have been the first time most have seen an NBA player get treated with a shoelace, he said the only thing unusual about it was the venue.
"I’ve done it many, many times," said McKechnie. "This might be the first time on the bench. But like I said, standard method of treatment."
Said DeRozan:
"I’m pretty sure [McKechnie] is walking around with his shoelace in his pocket right now."
