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| One Bright side to the injury? Less outfits like this. |
Earlier today a lot of people may have been disappointed to hear that Russell Westbrook could miss the playoffs after having surgery on his meniscus. Now, my hate for the Thunder is not hidden but even I feel bad for them. I still remember when Chris Webber went down in a heap in a year that Sacramento would almost assuredly have won the title (2003) and it sucks, it really does. You only get so many chances to win a title and Oklahoma City just lost one of them. Having said that, a lot of other teams are dealing with injuries; Rose, Bryant, Gallo, Nash, Ginobili, Lee, Rondo, Chandler, Granger, to name a few that could put a serious dent into what little chances they had to win the title in the first place (This is not even mentioning guys like Kevin Love whose absence greatly affected the Wolves season). The playoffs would be far more intriguing if everyone was healthy, that almost goes without say but isn't it time to consider the big picture here? Just earlier this year Popovich infamously benched his best players for a nationally televised game against the Miami Heat, sighting that playing four games in five nights on the road was a strain he did not want to expose his players to (something that both he and the Spurs were fined heavily for by David Stern). Pop is also among the least shy coaches when it comes to resting players and preserving them over the long haul, more than happy to throw away a few regular season wins for the long-term health of his team. Looking at the Spurs now, Pops method looks like its paying off; the Spurs seem to be getting healthy as other teams around them are crumbling with Ginobili and Parker looking like they are getting back to their best.
Injuries have clearly thrown a massive wrench into the postseason and now at least five fan bases will be left wondering what could have been if they were fully healthy for the playoffs. At what point does the NBA step in and do something? Now I am not asking for anything dramatic to be done, but how about just letting teams rest their players during the regular season without fear of being fined? Or maybe shorten the regular season by 10 games? These athletes are exerting themselves on a nightly basis for over seven months for our entertainment and we are surprised when they do serious damage to their bodies? Hopefully the occurrence of key injuries this year will alert someone with authority to do something about this in the future, because for now we know that Stern will stand pat.
The Miami Heat
One team that has not been affected by injuries to the extend that others have also happens to be the team that is the odds on favorite to win the title, the Heat. There really isn't much to profile about these guys, they can play any style: big, small, fast, slow, 3-point shooting, defense, you name it they have it. At their disposal they have three players who could be franchise players on other teams working in a system that took Miami on an astonishing 27 game winning steak. The Heat have lost only 2 games since signing Chris Andersen (who would have thought huh?) and it would be a massive surprise if they did not win their second straight title this season. The only drama at this point seems to be whether or not they can match the 01' Lakers and their 15-1 romp through the 2001 playoffs. Future editions of contender profiles will focus on what has to go right for teams to beat Miami, who will in all likely hood sweep the Bucks this weekend.
Up next: The Knicks of New York
