Chris Webber was concerned about the pain in his left ankle the morning after he helped the 76ers to a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. But he was relieved when he learned the pain had nothing to do with his surgically repaired left knee.
Webber was back at practice yesterday after sitting out Saturday night's game against the Chicago Bulls because of a compressed nerve in his left leg.
"The doctor told me about a nerve in your foot and several ways you can affect it," Webber said after practice.
"There is a good chance of [hurting] it with how you sit and how you lean. Another way is the way that I ice [the knee] - like I ice my nerve or something like that. But I'm glad it's not the knee. I'm glad it's one game."
Sixers coach Jim O'Brien said Webber practiced "full-out, full-contact" yesterday.
"He looked good," O'Brien said. "He had a great practice. I fully expect the fact that he practiced full-out - I think he'll be ready to go in the next game and in the foreseeable future."
"The thing that worried me," Webber said, "was that I felt as if my ankle was hurting and my knee was hurting. I thought I was crazy, because I felt so good after the game [against Cleveland on Friday night]. I talked to the doctor, and he knew exactly what it was, so I was glad it was something that I hadn't seen before."
With practices yesterday and today before the Sixers' home game tomorrow night against the Detroit Pistons, Webber, who has struggled since being acquired from Sacramento in a trade last month, was confident that things would improve for him.
"It's beneficial," he said. "I feel more and more comfortable with the guys on the court every day."
