By Greg Fuchs
In professional sports, it is not always the best team that wins. Sometimes it is the healthiest. And that may very well be the case in the NBA this season based on round 1 of the playoffs.
The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers dealt with significant injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the regular season, but they appeared to be healthy entering the playoffs. Now Davis could be out for Game 5, and possibly beyond that, with a groin injury. Without a healthy Davis, it will be a chore to beat a talented Phoenix Suns team in round 1…
… unless of course the right arm of Suns point guard Chris Paul continues to be an issue. There is no doubt if this were the regular season that Paul would have missed a handful of games. But in the playoffs you don’t have the luxury of taking time off to get healthy, so Paul has been gutting it out. Clearly effected by the injury in games 1-3, he played better in game 4. Hopefully, his arm continues to heal.
Staying in the West, the next injury of significance that has/will affect the playoffs is the neck/shoulder of Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. He has not been himself the past 2 games, which by no coincidence the Mavs lost allowing the LA Clippers to even the series at 2 games apiece. If the Mavericks are to have a chance in this series, Doncic needs to be near 100% healthy.
The Denver Nuggets, who made it to the Western Conference Finals last season, have been behind the 8-ball for a while ever since they lost All-Star guard Jamal Murray for the season a few months ago. They might be able to squeeze by Portland in round 1, but I don’t envision them going much further than that without Murray.
The Eastern Conference playoffs have also been affected by the injury bug. The Celtics lost Jaylen Brown for the year towards the end of the season and are now dealing with injuries to Kemba Walker and Robert Williams. The Nets should close out the series in 5 games.
Speaking of the Nets, their Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden missed quite a few games during the regular season, but they appear to be healthy right now. They will need all 3 at 100% if they hope to win the championship this season.
And last, but certainly not least, we have the knee injury suffered in game 4 by Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid. It remains to be seen how much time Imbiid will miss (could be 1 game or several). They can finish off the Washington Wizards in round 1 without him, but they have no chance of making it to the NBA Finals without him.
The scary part is that injuries to Davis, Paul, Doncic and Embiid all occurred in round 1. They weren’t carryover injuries from the regular season, so it not only makes you wonder if/when they will be healthy, but also what other players could get injured during the duration of the playoffs. The MVP of the playoffs may very well turn out be a team trainer!
