Injuries are certainly a major factor that plays into the success (or lack thereof) for teams across the league. While the season is roughly only 1/4 through, several teams are (or have) battling through injuries for some of their key players. Here’s an assessment of some of the most notable injuries so far this season, and how their team has been able to cope with their absence.
Danny Granger – It’s always hard to lose your leading scorer, especially when talking about someone as prolific as Granger. Granger tore his right plantar fascia (and any hope for salvaging the Pacers’ season) in Saturday’s loss to the Clippers and will be out of commission for at least a month. The Pacers will have to rely much more heavily on Mike Dunleavy (who is just coming off an injury himself) and the surprise scorer of the season: Dahntay Jones. Pacers fans have to be rather disappointed with the limited offensive output from both Troy Murphy and T.J. Ford, both of whom have seen drops of over 4 points per game on their scoring average. All is not well in Indiana, as they have lost six straight and ten of their last 11 games. Let’s find a way to blame this on Josh McRoberts and his unkempt hair that screams “Really, I’m not a basketball player…trust me.”
Greg Oden – What would a discussion about injuries be without mentioning Greg Oden? Oden had a season ending fracture of his left patella during Sunday’s game against the Rockets. Bolstering Oden’s prolific injury lore even further was that the fracture came without any impact or out-of-the-ordinary motions – just a fracture after planting and jumping. Oden joins fellow Blazers Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Jeff Pendergraph, Patty Mills and even coach Nate McMillan on the injured list. Fortunately for Portland, they still have their two best players in Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, but they will have to develop a comfort level moving forward with their current roster. Even Juwan Howard is getting some notable run.
Michael Redd – Redd has certainly seen his fair share of injuries over the past few years. It’s no wonder that people in fantasy drafts all over the world were avoiding him like the plague mixed with arsenic. Redd again finds himself nowhere near the hardwood, as his early season strained patella tendon has kept him out of all but five games. Apparently he asked to be shut down again until his knee is fully healed, but the Bucks (surprisingly) are not in as much of a rush to get him back as one might have expected. They are easily the most overachieving team of this young season, starting out with a 10-11 record behind the brilliant play of rookie Brandon Jennings and the surprise production from players like Ersan Ilyasova. Still, their win tonight was their first in the past five games – so they’ll take any help they can get.
Devin Harris - In the midst of New Jersey’s “miracle run” to the worst start of any team in NBA history was a slew of injuries, but none more important than that of Harris – who missed 10 games during that stretch due to a groin strain. It’s hard to lose your primary playmaker, creator, distributor, scorer, etc…especially when you have a roster as thin as the Nets. Now, even if Harris was healthy that whole time, the Nets still would be bottom feeders in the league, but I don’t think there is any way they would have set that record – he has just too much big-game potential. While the Nets are currently sitting at a painful 2-20 record, the worst seems to be over as they have won two of their last five games. That’s two more than the entire month of October.
Louis Williams – The fractured jaw of Louis Williams might have been the most exciting injury in the history of Philadelphia sports. While no fan likes to see their starting point guard (who isn’t really a point guard) get injured and leave their team with no other real viable replacements at that position. But, this was an exception as it lead to the return of the most popular athlete the city has seen in this modern era in Allen Iverson. Iverson makes the 76ers an intriguing team with a starting lineup that is scary on paper, but he has been far from the “Answer” thus far. The 76ers have lost both games since Iverson’s return, and continue their unexpected skid of 11 straight losses. The good news is, when Williams returns he can return to his usual role as a sparkplug off the bench relied on more as a combo guard than the team’s floor general.
Honorable Mentions: Andris Biedrins, Chris Paul, Tyrus Thomas, Mike Miller
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }