The scariest thing was not knowing just what caused the pain at the base of his stomach. Hornets forward Jamal Mashburn even feared cancer.

"My mother crossed my mind with (her) colon cancer," Mashburn said Tuesday in his first interview since going on the injured list. "Maybe I might be susceptible to that. I had myself checked out for that.

"I was deeply concerned."

The diagnosis finally was narrowed down to a lower abdominal strain, an uncommon injury in basketball. So Mashburn spent a week in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a physical therapist who treats that injury in hockey players.

The results are promising, though Mashburn is still weeks away from knowing whether he'll avoid surgery. He works out 21/2 hours daily with a medicine ball, to stretch and strengthen the muscles in his abdomen.

Ultimately, how he feels will determine whether an operation is necessary. That surgery would likely add three months or more to his recovery time.

"It's all up to me," Mashburn said. "If (surgery is) the only way I get better, then that's the route I have to go. But I'd rather have therapy than get cut on.

"You still feel pain. I see progress, but not the kind of progress I'm used to seeing. I'm very impatient - I want to play."

But he says he won't play until he's certain he's able. Even if he avoids surgery, Mashburn anticipates it would be more than a month from now before he's ready to participate in a game.

"This isn't like a broken leg or broken thumb where you can say, four to six weeks (and it's healed.) This is something internal and people fail to realize how much is involved," Mashburn said.

"Once you step between those lines, you're considered 100 percent. I've had that experience where you're not 100 percent, but you want to play."

Lynch hopes to debut Jan. 7

George Lynch has set a Jan. 7 timetable to make his first appearance with the Hornets, if his recovery from foot surgery continues as he hopes.

"That's the date I'm shooting for, if I get my walking boot off this week and I'm able to start working out soon," Lynch said Tuesday before the Hornets faced the New York Knicks at the Charlotte Coliseum.

Lynch, a 6-8 forward from North Carolina, was part of the trade that sent Derrick Coleman to Philadelphia in October. He had been a starter for the Sixers but was still bothered at the time of the trade by an injury to his left foot that forced him to miss most of last season's playoffs and have surgery.

Doctors determined that he again needed surgery, which was done on Oct. 30. He was on crutches but more recently has been wearing a walking boot.

"I'll see the doctor on Friday and have the foot X-rayed," Lynch said. "Then he'll tell me whether I can take off the boot and what I can and can't do about working out from that point. From the day he lets me work out, I'd say in 10 to 14 days I'll hopefully be in decent shape to play."

He would have almost one full week more than that to get ready for Jan. 7, when the Hornets host the Denver Nuggets.