Bernard King Says He’s Set to Play Again

WASHINGTON — Bernard King says he will play for the Washington Bullets against the Phoenix Suns tonight after missing seven games with a sore back. While some might trumpet his return to action at the Capital Centre, King Monday preferred to downplay the comeback and the injury.

“Over the course of a season every player experiences things like this, every player goes through them; you deal with it as best you can--that’s not unique,” King said of his lower back strain. “I plan on playing Wednesday; I feel fortunate to be at the point where I can play. It’s not November anymore, it’s March. There’s about a month and a half left to the regular season and then the playoffs. This is not a time to be idle if one can help it.”

Although the Bullets have won the last six of the seven games that King has missed, his will be a welcome return, particularly if he picks up where he left off. In the 14 games before he was hurt, the veteran forward averaged 21.8 points with six rebounds and four assists.

“He’ll fit in wherever he has to, there’s no set agenda on how it’s going to happen,” Bullets’ Coach Wes Unseld said Monday before King and guard Frank Johnson participated in a vigorous one-hour workout at Bowie State College. “I really have no idea. If he came back today, he wouldn’t start on Wednesday. I’m not dumb enough to think that he could do that.”

In his last appreance for Washington, on Feb. 22, King scored 15 points against the Denver Nuggets. Five days earlier, against the Dallas Mavericks in the opening game of the Bullets’ recently completed eight-game Western Conference road trip, King felt a twinge in his back while going after a rebound.

“There was a slight pull and it just seemed to get worse and worse, I aggravated it by continuing to play,” King said. “I didn’t feel I was being any help to the ball club, I wasn’t performing up to par and so I decided to rest it.”

King remained in his hotel room during the Bullets’ 111-100 loss to the Lakers on Feb. 23, then traveled to Sacramento with the team the next day. However, when there was no improvement, he flew to Chicago to be treated by Dr. Roland Sidney.

“I’d worked with him before, he’s very good at what he does,” said King. “The team was abreast of what was going on--I’d talked with (Bullets general manager) Bob Ferry myself. I went (for the treatment) with their blessings.”

Typically, King did things quietly, keeping to himself, which led to further speculation. Was it more than a strain? Had he wrecked his back while overcompensating for his reconstructed knee in his first season back after virtually two years of idleness? Dr. Sidney fueled the flames when he when he referred to himself as a “last resort” for King.

“That’s all ridiculous, I didn’t disappear,” said King. “My back had nothing to do with my knee. If I sprain my thumb, if I hurt my shoulder, is that because of the knee? Let’s be realistic. The people who say things like that are the same people who thought that I wouldn’t make it back (when he injured his knee in 1985). I don’t have time for people like that.”

There is little doubt that King is a favorite for the NBA’s comeback player of the year award. King’s career appeared in serious jeapordy after he fell and blew out his right knee attempting to block a shot by Reggie Theus during a game on March 23, 1985 against the Kansas City (now Sacramento) Kings.

“I’ve been playing basketball for so long that I’ve become very attuned to my body, and when it happened . . . I knew that my career might have been over,” King said. “I may not have known that I’d torn the anterior cruciate but no one had to tell me how bad it was.”

So a back injury seemed relatively minor.

“When I hurt my knee, I had to go out and work on it every day; this I had to rest,” said King. “When something happens to me, in most cases I know how serious it is and how long I’ll be out. Coming back on Wednesday seems realistic.”