Martynas Pocius wasn’t on the bench for Zalgiris in the first game of the Lithuanian League (LKL) series, nor was he in the arena all together. The 25-year-old had to watch the game on the TV in a hospital ward after a back surgery.
“I’m alive and feeling rather well. The victory makes it even better,” said Pocius, who should be fully healthy in 6 to 8 week and ready to help the Lithuanian National Team later on this summer.
Pocius started feeling back aches a couple of weeks ago, but the pain became very intense a couple of days ago. It appears that the player’s had a compression fracture in his spine, which pinched a nerve.
There are talks that the injury could have been caused by rather negligent actions from the club in treating a rather low-scale back injury. It has been rumored that the club’s owner Vladimir Romanov ordered ‘alternative healing methods’, which could have caused the actual fracture and that is perhaps why Pocius needed the surgery in the first place. It is said, that the worst case scenario could have even ended the player's career, but things ended well.
What Pocius wants now is for the series and the whole season to finish as soon as possible and hopes that his teammates can win the LKL without him.
"As much as I'd want to support my teammates from the bench, I just hope the series ends quickly and in our favor. And I'll just have to lie in bed for a while," said Pocius.
