What a shit show of a playoffs.

[kekgeek]

Kawhi might have torn his ACL
CP3 has covid and in protocols
Irving out
Embiid playing with a torn meniscus
Harden playing with a bad hammy
Conley hurt
Davis was hurt
Murray was hurt

What a complete shit show

[WildWolf2813]

Wiggins has laid down the blueprint to staying healthy.

Don't play so hard.

[FNG]

Unbelievable. Hadn't heard that about Kawhi. So sad. So many great moments so far in these playoffs and some terrific individual performances, but somehow it just doesn't seem relevant with the extraordinary number of injuries. More like a game of survival than a true competition.

After Durant's sensational performance last night (and with Harden back on the court, albeit ineffective last night), the knee jerk reaction (no pun intended) is that the championship is a cakewalk now for the Nets. But the way things are going, I fully expect KD to blow out a knee and Harden to reinjure his hamstring tomorrow night. That would sum up these playoffs perfectly.

Is this just random bad luck, or is there something else happening here? Are the referees allowing too much contact out there? Are these multi-millionaire stars not doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. Or are today's athletes just too big and athletic to withstand the rigor of the NBA game? Seriously, why were season-ending injuries so infrequent 30 years ago, and so common now? What's going on, and does it mean the end of pro basketball as we know it? This seems to be far beyond random concurrence.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Unbelievable. Hadn't heard that about Kawhi. So sad. So many great moments so far in these playoffs and some terrific individual performances, but somehow it just doesn't seem relevant with the extraordinary number of injuries. More like a game of survival than a true competition.

After Durant's sensational performance last night (and with Harden back on the court, albeit ineffective last night), the knee jerk reaction (no pun intended) is that the championship is a cakewalk now for the Nets. But the way things are going, I fully expect KD to blow out a knee and Harden to reinjure his hamstring tomorrow night. That would sum up these playoffs perfectly.

Is this just random bad luck, or is there something else happening here? Are the referees allowing too much contact out there? Are these multi-millionaire stars not doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. Or are today's athletes just too big and athletic to withstand the rigor of the NBA game? Seriously, why were season-ending injuries so infrequent 30 years ago, and so common now? What's going on, and does it mean the end of pro basketball as we know it? This seems to be far beyond random concurrence.

No idea.

But training schedules and routines were thrown out of whack quite a bit. Players do seem bigger, faster, et al. They may have more demands on those bodies than before. Maybe despite all the sleep science, nutritionists, health advances, technologies, rest management, supplements, et al... we're missing the forest through the trees or something?

Players might also have more incentives NOT to play through injuries as guys in the past.

For example, would Kevin McHale's decision to play the 1987 playoffs with a broken foot be wise today considering... he was only 29 years old and in his prime... and instead of making $1M for the foreseeable future... he was looking at a $150M - $200M payday in his next contract?

[FNG]

Unbelievable. Hadn't heard that about Kawhi. So sad. So many great moments so far in these playoffs and some terrific individual performances, but somehow it just doesn't seem relevant with the extraordinary number of injuries. More like a game of survival than a true competition.

After Durant's sensational performance last night (and with Harden back on the court, albeit ineffective last night), the knee jerk reaction (no pun intended) is that the championship is a cakewalk now for the Nets. But the way things are going, I fully expect KD to blow out a knee and Harden to reinjure his hamstring tomorrow night. That would sum up these playoffs perfectly.

Is this just random bad luck, or is there something else happening here? Are the referees allowing too much contact out there? Are these multi-millionaire stars not doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. Or are today's athletes just too big and athletic to withstand the rigor of the NBA game? Seriously, why were season-ending injuries so infrequent 30 years ago, and so common now? What's going on, and does it mean the end of pro basketball as we know it? This seems to be far beyond random concurrence.

No idea.

But training schedules and routines were thrown out of whack quite a bit. Players do seem bigger, faster, et al. They may have more demands on those bodies than before. Maybe despite all the sleep science, nutritionists, health advances, technologies, rest management, supplements, et al... we're missing the forest through the trees or something?

Players might also have more incentives NOT to play through injuries as guys in the past.

For example, would Kevin McHale's decision to play the 1987 playoffs with a broken foot be wise today considering... he was only 29 years old and in his prime... and instead of making $1M for the foreseeable future... he was looking at a $150M - $200M payday in his next contract?

I hadn't considered that...money has to be in there somewhere. Probably a combo platter along with the thought that 6-9 270 pound bodies were not designed to jump that high or run that fast. It's a different game today for sure.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Unbelievable. Hadn't heard that about Kawhi. So sad. So many great moments so far in these playoffs and some terrific individual performances, but somehow it just doesn't seem relevant with the extraordinary number of injuries. More like a game of survival than a true competition.

After Durant's sensational performance last night (and with Harden back on the court, albeit ineffective last night), the knee jerk reaction (no pun intended) is that the championship is a cakewalk now for the Nets. But the way things are going, I fully expect KD to blow out a knee and Harden to reinjure his hamstring tomorrow night. That would sum up these playoffs perfectly.

Is this just random bad luck, or is there something else happening here? Are the referees allowing too much contact out there? Are these multi-millionaire stars not doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. Or are today's athletes just too big and athletic to withstand the rigor of the NBA game? Seriously, why were season-ending injuries so infrequent 30 years ago, and so common now? What's going on, and does it mean the end of pro basketball as we know it? This seems to be far beyond random concurrence.

No idea.

But training schedules and routines were thrown out of whack quite a bit. Players do seem bigger, faster, et al. They may have more demands on those bodies than before. Maybe despite all the sleep science, nutritionists, health advances, technologies, rest management, supplements, et al... we're missing the forest through the trees or something?

Players might also have more incentives NOT to play through injuries as guys in the past.

For example, would Kevin McHale's decision to play the 1987 playoffs with a broken foot be wise today considering... he was only 29 years old and in his prime... and instead of making $1M for the foreseeable future... he was looking at a $150M - $200M payday in his next contract?

I hadn't considered that...money has to be in there somewhere. Probably a combo platter along with the thought that 6-9 270 pound bodies were not designed to jump that high or run that fast. It's a different game today for sure.

Baseball injuries are up, too.

These are all highly specialized, highly regimented athletes... anything that messes up their "routine" could mess with their ability to ward off injuries?

[Monster]

Unbelievable. Hadn't heard that about Kawhi. So sad. So many great moments so far in these playoffs and some terrific individual performances, but somehow it just doesn't seem relevant with the extraordinary number of injuries. More like a game of survival than a true competition.

After Durant's sensational performance last night (and with Harden back on the court, albeit ineffective last night), the knee jerk reaction (no pun intended) is that the championship is a cakewalk now for the Nets. But the way things are going, I fully expect KD to blow out a knee and Harden to reinjure his hamstring tomorrow night. That would sum up these playoffs perfectly.

Is this just random bad luck, or is there something else happening here? Are the referees allowing too much contact out there? Are these multi-millionaire stars not doing what they need to do to take care of their bodies. Or are today's athletes just too big and athletic to withstand the rigor of the NBA game? Seriously, why were season-ending injuries so infrequent 30 years ago, and so common now? What's going on, and does it mean the end of pro basketball as we know it? This seems to be far beyond random concurrence.

No idea.

But training schedules and routines were thrown out of whack quite a bit. Players do seem bigger, faster, et al. They may have more demands on those bodies than before. Maybe despite all the sleep science, nutritionists, health advances, technologies, rest management, supplements, et al... we're missing the forest through the trees or something?

Players might also have more incentives NOT to play through injuries as guys in the past.

For example, would Kevin McHale's decision to play the 1987 playoffs with a broken foot be wise today considering... he was only 29 years old and in his prime... and instead of making $1M for the foreseeable future... he was looking at a $150M - $200M payday in his next contract?

I hadn't considered that...money has to be in there somewhere. Probably a combo platter along with the thought that 6-9 270 pound bodies were not designed to jump that high or run that fast. It's a different game today for sure.

Baseball injuries are up, too.

These are all highly specialized, highly regimented athletes... anything that messes up their "routine" could mess with their ability to ward off injuries?

There were probably guys that played through torn ACLs in the past. Some injuries back in the day ended guys careers too. It would be interesting to see some real data about injuries from say 40 or more years ago and compare it to today. The thing is so many injuries years ago probably weren't even reported. The leagues were also smaller with fewer teams so that's something to factor in also.

I think it's possible that let's say 40 years ago a guy with a real bad injury may have been able to tough it out and athletically be more ok. Now? The athletic difference between a player hobbled and the bench guy that's healthy might be drastic.

I think athletes do clearly have to push their bodies possibly just as much in training to stay ahead as when they are actually playing. I can't imagine the level of work guys do just to stay in shape.

As for the injuries in the playoffs...to some extent I think it can add something interesting to the game. Who will win? I'm certainly not advocating that injuries are good or it makes it more compelling but sometimes injuries allow for another possibly deserving team to win. There are lots of franchises that have been on the other end of that. The Wolves had that happen once in their history. I think without Lebron and Curry out of the playoffs early it gives the whole thing a more wide open feel so I'm ok with it. I wonder if Durant will win over some people IF he ends up basically willing his team to a championship.

[Porckchop]

Kawhi played 52 games this year. Load management
Irving took games off simply becuz he wanted too.
Hardens offseason was self induced.

I don't feel sorry for any of these fuckers and I don't wanna here about Athletes being pushed. This is the biggest crybaby generation in sports and or other.

[thedoper]

These guys want the most amount of money for the least effort possible. If society keeps rewarding mediocrity then we can only blame ourselves. The players have been acting like theyre curing cancer for a while now. The real shame of this playoffs has been the only healthy team, with a loyal superstar, cant make a shot when it matters. Im waiting to put everything into cheering for the Bucks, but man they are dissapointing.

[Wolvesfan21]

Guys are training along with playing and I think simply not giving themselves enough rest. Guys didn't even lift weights in the NBA in the 70's/80's. They had time to rest.

Now guys have to keep up and they are pushing themselves to do so. Even in the offseason guys are practicing new moves, playing pick up games, lifting weights, cardio, etc. Just a culmination of fatigue causing injuries I think. It makes sense that you keep pushing your body it's going to eventually break. So it's kind of a fine line between how much you train and how much you rest.