The Boston Celtics’ hopes of beating the Atlanta Hawks took a huge hit when they lost Avery Bradley to a hamstring injury. Photograph: Erik S. Lesser/EPA
This may sound strange, but the Golden State Warriors’ most logical course of action could involve sitting their best player for the remainder of their series against the Houston Rockets. Steph Curry, the reigning MVP, did not play in Monday night’s Game 2 after tweaking his ankle in the series opener. While the injury, at this point, doesn’t seem to be too serious, the Warriors are being super-cautious with their star player. It’s hard to blame them, especially since the postseason is only a few days old and there are already signs that some teams won’t be able to overcome injuries to key players.
“We will definitely err on the side of caution,” Kerr said on Monday, “if he’s not right, then he’s not going to play. It’s not worth risking turning this into a long-term issue.”
That’s why, even though an exploratory MRI on Curry’s foot showed “nothing of concern,” the Warriors have listed Curry as “questionable” for Thursday’s Game 3. The Warriors can afford to be patient because, to be frank, they should be able to easily and quickly defeat the Rockets even if Curry doesn’t step on the court again. Playing without Curry on Monday, the Warriors beat Houston 115-106, with the final score making the game look a lot closer than it actually was.
The Rockets are now in an 0-2 hole and have shown absolutely no signs of life. If there’s any real possibility of Curry injuring himself further, there’s no reason to risk it when the upside is sweeping the Rockets rather than beating them in five or six games.
Although Curry’s ankle tweak has received the most attention, it may not have even been the most significant injury to happen on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the Celtics’ Avery Bradley went down with a hamstring injury in the middle of what was shaping up to be a dramatic comeback against the Hawks.
Without Bradley, the Celtics fell just short in Game 1, as the Hawks hung on to win 102-101. The next day, head coach Brad Stevens announced that it was “very unlikely” that Bradley would be able to return this series, leaving them without their most valuable defensive player and most reliable three-point threat.
They missed him. On Tuesday night, without Bradley or Kelly Olynyk, who was out with a shoulder injury, the Celtics scored a mere seven points in the first quarter of game two, the lowest-scoring first quarter in NBA playoff history. While Boston’s defense managed to keep them in the game after that laughable start, the Hawks ended up winning 89-72. With the Celtics now 0-2, Bradley’s hamstring injury could end up being season-ending for the simple fact that Boston’s season might only last a couple more games.
Since we’re speaking of season-ending injuries, let’s turn to the sad case of the Grizzlies who staggered into the postseason despite suffering more casualties than an average Crystal Lake camping expedition. Any chance the Grizzlies had of going deep into the playoffs ended when they lost both Marc Gasol and Mike Conley. Even if fully healthy, the Grizzlies would have had little chance in upsetting the scary good Spurs, but they would at least made them work. Instead, the Spurs blew them out 106-74 in Game 1. Last night’s Game 2 was hardly any better, with Memphis eventually losing 94-68.
At least Grizzlies fans knew this series was hopeless heading into the playoffs. Fate might be playing an even more cruel joke on Mavericks fans. On Monday they were celebrating Dallas’s stunning, series-tying win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. On Tuesday, they received word that Dirk Nowitzki bruised his knee andis now questionable for Thursday’s Game 3. That’s not the news you want to hear about your team’s most important player, especially when he’s 37 years old and the entire team was built around him.
The biggest “what if” team among those playing without key players might be the Miami Heat. While the Heat are up 1-0 in their series against the Charlotte Hornets without Chris Bosh, who is out indefinitely because of blood clots, his absence still looms large. With Bosh, one could make the case that the Heat were the Eastern Conference team with the best chance of knocking out the Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s difficult to imagine them pulling that off without him.
It feels strange to dismiss the chances of so many teams so early, but, in the NBApostseason, a team’s fate is always tied to the health of its star players. Yes, the current Warriors team is incredibly talented, and clearly well-coached, but they also have been lucky when it comes to injuries to their key players. Don’t expect them to push that luck by putting Curry on the court any sooner than they have to.
Quote of the week
It kind of feels like playing a scrimmage in practice.
– the Golden State Warriors’ Andre Iguodala on playing the Rockets.
One of the reasons the Warriors can afford to take their time with Curry is that the Rockets are absolutely dreadful. The Rockets are already down 0-2 in the series, but they’re playing as if they’ve already been eliminated. Maybe Iguodala’s almost comical level of disrespect here will inspire the Rockets to step up their level of play when the series resumes in Houston, but it’s just as likely that we’ll see a frustrated Dwight Howard quasi-intentionally foul out of the game. Yet again.
Video of the week
Sometimes the difference between winning and losing ends up being barely a second. Here we see Steven Adams’ would-be-game-winning putback for the Thunder being (correctly) waived off by the officials. Had Adams gotten the ball off just a bit earlier, the Thunder would have a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Mavericks. Instead, Dallas were able to hold on to a 85-84 victory to even the series at 1-1. The bad news for Oklahoma City is that their season-long fourth quarter struggles have carried over into the playoffs. The good news is that there’s absolutely no way that Kevin Durant will be limited to seven-for-33 shootingagain this series.
How did LeBron carry the Cavaliers this week?
The Cavaliers’ first game of the playoffs wasn’t the smoothest of starts as they needed a late rally to defeat the Pistons106-101. While Kyrie Irving was Cleveland’s leading scorer with 31 points, James scored 22 and dished out 11 assists. Of course, if you ask Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy, if LeBron was carrying the Cavaliers, he was getting some help from the officials.
“A couple calls have upset our guys,” Van Gundy said in an in-game interview, “they’ve got to understand, LeBron’s LeBron. They’re not going to call offensive fouls on him. He gets to do whatever he wants. They’ve got to understand that.”
The NBA ended up fining Van Gundy $25,000 for his comments, which is phenomenally silly. Saying that star players tend to get calls in their favor during the playoffs should be about as controversial as saying that the team that ends up scoring the most points in a game tends to win. In any case, Van Gundy v LeBronlooks to be a diverting subplot in a playoff series that may very well end up being brief and uneventful.
Assuming that everyone stays healthy, of course.