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Charlotte Bobcats? Byron Mullens rebounds, thanks to fresh legs
By Rick Bonnell
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Posted: Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013
The word you keep hearing about Byron Mullens is ?fresh.?
Fresh, primarily as in rested from six weeks off with an ankle sprain. But also fresh as in reinvented.
This is a guy who showed up in Charlotte last season as the world?s tallest shooting guard. Then Monday night, with a career-high 18 rebounds, he looked like something else entirely in a victory over the Boston Celtics.
?He put his nose in there a lot,? coach Mike Dunlap said of Mullens? rebounding. ?He?s been accused of not being a blood-and-guts kind of guy.?
With good cause; over his first three NBA seasons, 7-footer Mullens averaged just four rebounds a game. If the ball didn?t fall into his hands, somebody else probably got it.
Compare that to the five games he?s played since returning from the ankle sprain: He grabbed 49 rebounds, nearly 10 per game. Twelve of those came against the Los Angeles Lakers and center Dwight Howard. The 18 Monday night were primarily against Boston?s Kevin Garnett.
?I told everybody I?d be so much faster because of fresh legs,? Mullens described Tuesday.
Mullens wouldn?t recommend a sprain that swelled his left ankle to softball size. But he and Dunlap both say Mullens used his time off well. He worked hard with strength-and-conditioning coach Matt Friia and spent hours breaking down video with the assistant coaches.
How do you get in better shape with a bad ankle?
?I got in the pool a lot and ran,? Mullens said. ?And a lot of quick-lifting ? light weights but heavy reps. Speed stuff to get the heart rate up. A lot of mountain climbs.?
cont...
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/20...otte-bobcats-byron-mullens.html#storylink=cpy
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