Will Injuries in The NBA Playo...

There’s always a lot of talk in and around the NBA playoffs concerning injuries. For many teams, injuries to 1 or 2 key players can make or break your season. All the work that went into making it into the playoffs can go up in smoke. But considering the number of games involved in a season, and the physicality of the game itself, unless your Lebrone James of course that age defying athlete. Anyway, I would consider it hard, nearly impossible, for a team to remain injury free. However, there is always the prospect of players coming off the bench (and teammates) stepping up and making a name for themselves, some becoming overnight stars leading their team to that unexpected win.

Many people I know or listen to have discussed the fact that this is the first playoff season in a while with no LeBrone James or Steph Curry. I’m sure you’ve all noticed it. The torch is officially being passed as Dozens of other stars, some already household names, and now with some of those names already done for the season due to injury or a failure to win and advance. No Miami, no LA Lakers, no Golden State Warriors? Seems almost sacrilegious! 

Regardless of who is hurt and who is or is not playing this year’s NBA playoffs have been exciting to watch and of course the drama both on and off the court has been compelling even without the customary recognized stars.  On another note, both coaches and players have been speaking out more and more against the referees (a thankless job) were your not remembered by the thousands of good calls you make but by that one controversial mistake, but to the referees defense those players and coaches are rewarded with having to pay fines for their comments. This year it seems that more players apparently are in some kind of cosmic meltdown, throwing objects both at refs and at fans and paying larger fines even yet! Why can’t we all just get along and enjoy a game? Oh, I remember there is big money involved on games that must be it.

As usual, nothing ever seems to work out in The NBA playoffs, according to the predictions from most experts perhaps this year might be the exception. This was supposed to be the year the Seventy Sixers who had a legitimate shot at the title. Not happening care of The New York Knicks and an injured Joel Embid. The Knicks look really good as they have several emerging stars but can they stay healthy? It appears they unfortunately have had some emerging injuries themselves. 

Only the Boston Celtics have consistently delivered the goods, almost that is. The Celtics as usual were picked as a top contender, they finally look like a team everyone says they are, or are they, fortunately when they go cold it isn’t for too long. They are my pick to make it to the final, but a Garden match up would be nice, the knicks are struggling a little so it’s not a lock, but they have Brunson to push them along and to a possible advancement against the Celtics, who most probably will end their championship hopes. Again, good for Celtic fans because the Boston Bruins appear to be getting eaten alive by the Florida Panthers over in The NHL. So, I’m just talking out loud, but I’m saying if the Knicks play the Celtics in the next round the arena crew in Boston won’t be switching the basketball court to and ice hockey ring every few days. 

Moving on, The Western Conference is home to quite a bit of action and a ton of drama as well. One thing is almost certain however and that is that The Dallas Mavericks live and die according to the play of Luka Doncic. The guy can be amazing when he’s on but Dallas struggles when he’s playing flat. Their series against Oklahoma City has been a very up and down event with all eyes on Luka. Let’s hope players can stay healthy.

The Denver Nuggets are another team in The Playoffs that are again playing up and down. Denver dominated the conference all year and were my pick to win it again but the Minnesota Timberwolves were chomping at the bit to keep them out of the conference finals the first two games faltered badly and let Denver back in, I say if they played that well the first 2 games they can do it again, I see 7 in that series. Personally, I would have loved to see a Dallas vs. Denver match up. But again, the Nuggets star (and league MVP) Nikola Jokic will have his hands full, this might mean Minnesota makes a monumental come back and advances. Remember there’s always the unexpected in professional sports. Let’s just hope there is no more chair throwing incidents and cursing out of a referee or other overzealous outbursts to distract from a game.

Another point of interest, I think that everyone realizes that woman’s sports is trending right now. It’s a very hot topic. With the influx of well-known and well branded WNBA stars and celebrities in the sports news media empires I think we are going to see some serious changes in the woman’s sports industry. ESPN just this week launched ESPNW which I assume will be their new platform for the ladies. Of course, the first group meeting (a conference sort of on stage) was pretty much a statement from several woman’s sports dignitaries that were handpicked by producers. I’m not impressed by the methodology as it seemed to streamlined to fit the network narrative. It shouldn’t be all about money and marketing. Until the quality of the play, regardless of what sport the ladies are playing, the interest will be limited. I’m taking a wait and see attitude on this, so we’ll have to see. 

With all that is going on it’s easy to realize it will be another long summer. The Olympics are just around the corner. Stay tuned and Play On!!

All the best, Kev and the Staff at Sportsbookstuff.com

Kev

Kev's Corner Our Staffs Weekly Sports perspective

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