Injuries main X factor down stretch
Coaches weigh resting stars before playoffs
Teams around the NBA are feeling the rigors of a compressed 66-game season that often has teams playing back-toback games. It’s a balancing act, especially for playoff-bound teams weighing trying to land the highest seed vs. keeping players fresh for the postseason.
“The schedule being what it has been has affected a lot of players,” Chicago Bulls general manager Jim Paxson said in an April 10 radio interview about the rash of injuries down the stretch affecting the league. “I’m convinced that has a lot to do with it.”
Most recently, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was diagnosed with a herniated disk in his lower back, potentially ending his season. He had missed seven of the Magic’s last nine games, and they were 3-4 without him after Monday’s victory vs. the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Magic’s 100-84 victory Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers clinched a playoff spot, but Orlando suffered another injury when forward Glen Davis, who had been playing center for Howard, sprained his right knee. Davis also was out Monday.
Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown had Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol playing the second- and third-most minutes in the league before a shin injury sidelined Bryant for the last five games. The Lakers lost their first without him but won the next four.
The New York Knicks have been hampered by injuries for much of the season. Forward Amar’e Stoudemire (back) and point guard Jeremy Lin (torn knee meniscus) have missed the last 11 games. New York has gone 7-4 since, with the Knicks battling for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio’s season ended when he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee March 9. The Timberwolves haven’t overcome that, going 4-17 since. Minnesota, which has yet to win in April after losing Monday’s game at the Indiana Pacers, lost All-star power forward Kevin Love to a concussion last week, all but sealing its eighth season in a row missing the playoffs.
It’s not always injury keeping players out.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra rested guards Dwyane Wade and Mike Miller from a 105-82 win Friday against the Charlotte Bobcats and called it a “maintenance program.”
“Both are a little sore,” Spoelstra said then, with the Heat coming off a 96-86 overtime loss the previous day to the Bulls. “A little bit too quick of a turnaround for them.”
Boston Celtics starters Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce did not make the trip Sunday for a matchup against the last-place Charlotte Bobcats. With Boston having secured a playoff spot, coach Doc Rivers opted to rest both players. Pierce had jammed his left big toe in Saturday’s win against the New Jersey Nets, and Rivers was already planning to rest Garnett. The Celtics also have been without Ray Allen (sore right ankle) for the last four games, going 3-1.
“Rest is the whole key,” Rivers said. “The only thing I don’t like about this season is some of the games have been decided on endurance. It has nothing to do with who is the better team on given nights. That should never happen.
“But that’s what has happened. But we signed up for it, and it’s not like we didn’t know it. Whenever our guys complain about it, I say, ‘Well, you signed up for it.’ . . . If we think it will make them better for the playoffs, then yeah, we’ll rest them.”
The Bulls have been extra cautious in resting defending MVP Derrick Rose, who has been fighting numerous injuries throughout the season and missed 23 games. The Bulls, who own the league’s best record at 46-15 despite Monday’s loss to the Washington Wizards, are 16-8 without Rose.
“At this time of the year, you’ve just got to be smart with all that stuff. . . . Don’t take any chances,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of resting Rose in an April 10 win against the Knicks.
Some coaches, particularly the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, have used this strategy in previous seasons to their advantage. But with the Spurs resting the likes of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the question is: How fair is it to fans who pay to see the NBA’S elite players?
“I understand exactly. I’d feel shorted if I went to see Miami and Lebron James didn’t play. But I have a different priority, and that rules for me,” Popovich told The New York Times.
The Spurs won 11 consecutive games before losing to the Utah Jazz on April 9, when Duncan, Parker and Ginobili didn’t even travel with the team. Popovich said he had decided to rest them “pretty much when the schedule came out,” with the Spurs playing their second of five games in seven days.
After the game, Jazz forward Paul Millsap said it was a “slap in the face.”
Big picture, Popovich thinks health trumps winning one regular-season game, even if it costs his team the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“I’m not going to chase Oklahoma City,” Popovich said after the Spurs’ 107-97 win Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies, the team that upset No. 1 San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs last year.
“People say, ‘Well, you were ahead by one in the loss column.’ Understand the big picture. I’m not here to win the battle and lose the war. It doesn’t mean we’re going to win the war, but it gives us a better shot. . . . If it means we’ve got to rest people the way we did in Utah the other night, I’m going to do it, and whatever criticism we get, I’ll take it.
“History tells me when we don’t have our health we don’t go anywhere,” Popovich said. “When we have it we’ve won four championships.”
Other coaches with younger players don’t need to be as concerned. Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks likened resting players to “cheating the game” and the fans. However, he was quick to acknowledge his team’s youth playing a role in his mindset.
“If we had a bunch of veteran guys in their 30s, there’s no question things would be different,” Brooks said after the Thunder beat the Toronto Raptors on April 8. “If guys need to play 40 minutes, they have to play it. . . . I’m not worried about the minutes. I’m worried about how we play and how we can get better.”