PLAYER injuries are impacting the ongoing conference semifinal playoffs in the National Basketball Association, be it in the East or the West.
Among the top-flight players that are dealing with injuries are Chicago’s Pau Gasol, Cleveland’s Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert and see-you-next-season Kevin Love (out for the remainder of the playoffs following surgery on his dislocated left shoulder, an injury he suffered in the four-game series-clincher vs. Boston in the first round), Washington’s John Wall, Memphis’ Mike Conley, Houston’s Patrick Beverley (surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist) and Donatas Motiejunas (spinal surgery), both of whom have been sidelined since the postseason started; the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul, and Golden State’s Marreese Speights.
Generally, their absence have been felt by their teams but still the game results vary as other players have stepped up their game to overcome such health-related adversity.
EAST – Chicago vs. Cleveland
The third-seeded Chicago Bulls and the second-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers are deadlocked at two victories apiece following a thrilling 86-84 road triumph by the Cavs yesterday in Game Four.
Aware that an injured Irving could not go full throttle, Cleveland franchise cornerstone LeBron James took the Bull by its horns and asserted his leadership. The King bucked a third-quarter ankle sprain to knock in the game-winning jumper at the buzzer off Chicago’s Jimmy Butler, the NBA’s Most Improved Player awardee. James collected 25 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in 43 minutes.
Bulls frontliner Pau Gasol, who like his younger brother Marc of the Grizzlies is playing in the second-round playoffs, sat out Game Four due to a strained left hamstring.
The 7-foot Spanish-born Gasol initially hurt the hamstring in the Game Two loss to Cleveland and could not get going in the second game as he was limited to six points in 22 minutes and had to leave early in the second half.
Pau, who turns 35 in July, admittedly has been rejuvenated by his free-agent transfer to Chicago last summer following two forgettable seasons with the Lakers where then-coach Mike D’Antoni treated him like an outcast and not a two-year championship veteran. Gasol topped the NBA in double-doubles this season with 54 and was the first player in league history to average at least 18 points and 11 rebounds in his 14th season or later with norms of 18.5 ppg and 11.8 rpg in 78 appearances.
Chicago star and 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player Derrick Rose is still fragile with left knee soreness and the 6-foot-3 guard sustained a shoulder stinger in Game One of the East conference semifinal series against Cleveland, a 99-92 win at the Quicken Loans Arena that shifted homecourt advantage to the Bulls.
The 26-year-old Rose has had multiple surgeries on both knees in the last three years, including one on his right knee that was operated on February 27. He subsequently missed 20 straight regular games and only returned to action last April 8.
Cleveland saw Shumpert suffer a strained left groin in the Game Two victory over Chicago, then got back starting guard J.R. Smith from a two-game NBA suspension in the third game only to find out that All-Star floor general Kyrie Irving has been hurting with a strained right foot that began to bother him in the Boston series. A hobbling Irving was held without an assist in the Game Three 99-96 setback that was decided on a stunning banking triple by Rose at the buzzer.
He suited up yesterday in a game that went down to the buzzer-beating winning shot for the second consecutive time in the series.
Game Five of the series will be played tomorrow (Manila time) at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. The sixth game will be held in Chicago two days later. In NBA history, the Game Five winner of a tied best-of-seven series has won the series 81.7 percent of the time.
EAST – Washington vs. Atlanta
The fifth-seeded Washington Wizards own a 2-1 lead over the top-seeded Atlanta Hawks going into Game Four of their own best-of-seven duel today (Manila time) again at the Verizon Center, Wizards’ home floor.
The Wizards lost the second game, 106-90, in Peach City but captured the third, 103-101, on 37-year-old veteran forward Paul Pierce’s game-winning 21-foot jumper at the buzzer, having withstood the absence of the injured Wall for a second straight contest and a huge comeback by the Hawks, who trailed by 21 points with less than 10 minutes remaining before deadlocking the count at 101-all.
Wall has missed the second and third games of Washington’s series against Atlanta due to five non-displaced fractures in his left wrist and hand, an injury he sustained during the second quarter of the series opener.
The series will return to Atlanta on May 14 (MT) for Game Five.
WEST – Houston vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Entering Game Five tomorrow in Houston, the LA Clippers enjoy a commanding 3-1 edge over the Rockets after sweeping the twin games at the Staples Center with blowout victories – 124-99 in Game Three and 128-95 in Game Four.
Clippers playmaker Chris Paul was back in action in Game Three after sustaining a strained left hamstring in the first-round, seven-game series-clinching win over deposed league champion San Antonio that forced him to miss the first two games of the LAC-Houston series.
It’s the same kind of injury that Pau Gasol is nursing now.
The series has produced NBA record-setting marks in free throw attempts due to the Hack-a-Shaq scheme (intentional fouling of poor free-throw shooters) employed by both teams. The Clippers’ target: Dwight Howard. The Rockets’ marked man: DeAndre Jordan.
The awful scheme has prolonged game time and stalled the flow of the games.
In NBA history, only eight teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, the most recent being the 2006 Phoenix Suns, who beat the LA Lakers, 4-3, in a first-round duel after falling behind 3-1.
WEST – Golden State vs. Memphis
Memphis enjoys a 2-1 advantage over Golden State, the regular-season leader with an all-time franchise-best 67 victories and the postseason’s No. 1 seed overall, entering today’s fourth game at the Grizzlies’ FedExForum.
Buoyed by the return to action of Memphis floor general Mike Conley in Game Two following facial surgery, the Grizzlies have put together two straight victories, including a 99-89 home win in Game Three.
The 6-foot-1 Conley has been playing with a protective face mask since the time. He had missed three straight games, including the series-opening defeat to the Warriors, after suffering broken bones in his face in Game Three of Memphis’ 4-1 win against Portland in the first round.
The Warriors’ meal ticket Stephen Curry, the NBA’s runaway Most Valuable Player awardee, struggled with his shooting in the twin losses. And in the fourth quarter of Game Three, Golden State backup center Speights, a former Grizzly, suffered a moderate right calf strain and will be out for at least a week.
Golden State will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak of the season in Game Four. Memphis is 4-0 at home in this year’s playoffs.
Atlanta (the only other 60-game winner during the regulars at exactly 60), Cleveland, Golden State and Houston opened the second-round playoffs with a homecourt advantage over their respective foes due to better win-loss records.
But all four aforementioned teams lost once on their home floor in the first or second games – the Hawks, Cavaliers and Rockets in their series openers against the Wizards, Bulls and Clippers, respectively, and the Warriors in Game Two when their 21-game win streak at the Oracle Arena came to an abrupt halt.
However, Cleveland won on the road in Game Four to regain homecourt advantage in the series vs. Chicago.