National Basketball Association

Pekovic out with badly bruised leg

Published Jan. 18, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Minnesota Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic will miss the next seven to 10 days because of badly bruised right quadriceps.

Pekovic was injured in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night after a collision with Blake Griffin. Pekovic did not practice on Friday and Timberwolves president David Kahn says he will miss at least a week.

Pekovic leads the team in scoring and rebounding and is the latest significant injury to a team beset by them all season long. Shooting guard Alexey Shved sprained his left ankle in the fourth quarter as well and is questionable for the game on Saturday night against Houston.

The Timberwolves have lost five games in a row to fall to 16-20, good for 10th place in the Western Conference.