Kevin Luthringer
Injuries have always been a big part of any sport. No one knows when and how a player could get hurt so there is no way to plan for it. More often than not an injury can derail a team especially if it happens in the postseason or the playoffs. That is exactly what has happened this year in the 2016 NBA Playoffs.
The Golden State Warriors, who broke the record of most wins in a single season by a team with a 73-9 record, saw their MVP go down not once but twice. In Game 1 of their series with the Houston Rockets, last year’s MVP and the presumptive MVP for this year, Steph Curry tweaked his ankle. He was able to return to action after missing the next two games in Game 4. As if it wasn’t bad enough seeing him go down once, in the first half of Game 4 he seemed to slip on a wet spot where an opponent had fallen just before. When he fell he hyperextended his knee which could sideline him for up to two weeks. This could have been a devastating injury, but the Los Angeles Clippers experienced worse.
In Game 4 of the Clippers’ series with the Portland Trailblazers right after Steph Curry got hurt for the second time, the Clips saw their two best players go down in less than 2 hours. The leader and point guard of the team, Chris Paul fractured his hand which would sideline him indefinitely. If that was not a big enough blow, Blake Griffin, their All-Star power forward re-injured his quad taking him out for the remainder of the playoffs.
So instead of a fully loaded 4th seeded Clipper team going up against a limp Steph Curry-led 1st seeded Warriors team, the Clippers couldn’t make it out of the first round. After the two injuries, the Clippers would go on to lose the rest of the games allowing the Trailblazers to advance to the second round against the Warriors. The Warriors team is now handling the Trailblazers fairly easy in the absence of their MVP, which most likely would not have been the case against the Clips.
Injuries are always an unavoidable part of sports, and lately it seems that they have had huge impacts on the NBA Playoffs. Either way, all we can hope for is for the stars to stay healthy for the rest of the Playoffs and an entertaining run to the Finals!