Injuries kind of ruining playoffs

[gouki88]

Way too many games and not enough rest days. Cause and effect.
The NBA should modernize. Playing 82 games plus (best-of-7)-playoff-series is nuts.
Lots of players are already exhausted when the regular season is over.

First of all there's hardly any merit with a best-of-7 series in comparison with a best-of-5.
That's just a statistical fact. When a series goes 3-0 or 3-1 up, it's basically done.
Easy fix.

Regular season should never have back-to-backs. Don't have to be a exercise physiologist to realize that's not a viable rest period between games. The NBA seems to plan on a small expansion. Well if they add two teams (Vegas and Seattle?), then just play every team twice and the new number of regular season games would be 62.

Almost every playoffs have been diminished by injuries. It's nothing new. On top of that the average level of players is higher than ever and so is the pressure thus star players can't just "coast" games.

I think the idea of a shorter season is inevitable, but I think that having teams play all others twice would create some unfairness with regards to travel. Californian & Texan teams would be at an advantage compared to more geographically isolated teams

[Kernewek]

Way too many games and not enough rest days. Cause and effect.
The NBA should modernize. Playing 82 games plus (best-of-7)-playoff-series is nuts.
Lots of players are already exhausted when the regular season is over.

First of all there's hardly any merit with a best-of-7 series in comparison with a best-of-5.
That's just a statistical fact. When a series goes 3-0 or 3-1 up, it's basically done.
Easy fix.

Regular season should never have back-to-backs. Don't have to be a exercise physiologist to realize that's not a viable rest period between games. The NBA seems to plan on a small expansion. Well if they add two teams (Vegas and Seattle?), then just play every team twice and the new number of regular season games would be 62.

Almost every playoffs have been diminished by injuries. It's nothing new. On top of that the average level of players is higher than ever and so is the pressure thus star players can't just "coast" games.

I think the idea of a shorter season is inevitable, but I think that having teams play all others twice would create some unfairness with regards to travel. Californian & Texan teams would be at an advantage compared to more geographically isolated teams

I don't have the numbers in front of me but I would say it's a safe assumption to say that players, particularly star players, play fewer minutes now than at any point in NBA history. Durability is an ability, but these guys are also being treated with kid gloves in relative terms.

But let's look at a guy like Embiid who people, for some inexplicable reason, keep expecting to run - rather than limp - through the postseason. That Embiid has never existed, and he arguably was never going to exist.

[Celtics2021]

I'm not sure how much a shorter season would help.  Let's look at the major injuries:

Giannis -- hurt himself trying to jump over Kevin Love and landed badly.  Yes, he's had some back issues that might have exacerbated things, but that injury was due to a pretty specific play.
Morant -- tried to jump over Anthony Davis and his wrist bent the wrong way when he fell.
Kawhi -- was load managed all season, and lasted all of two games in the playoffs.
George -- missed a third of the games during the regular season, and is hurt again.
Herro -- broke his hand diving for a loose ball.
Fox -- broke his finger when he was hit while someone was trying to block his shot.
Embiid -- he's never played more than 68 games in a season, and the only year he didn't miss at least one game in the playoffs was the 2020 bubble year when there was four months off in the middle of the season, and the Sixers only lasted four games before we swept them.
Oladipo -- Played 42 games, which was the most he'd played since 2017-2018.

Would a shorter season have prevented any of these injuries?  A lot of them were contact injuries, so not due to overuse.  The ones that weren't contact injuries came to players that have missed years of their career to injury issues.

[celticinorlando]

Boston going to wear Embiid out

[Atzar]

I'm not sure how much a shorter season would help.  Let's look at the major injuries:

Giannis -- hurt himself trying to jump over Kevin Love and landed badly.  Yes, he's had some back issues that might have exacerbated things, but that injury was due to a pretty specific play.
Morant -- tried to jump over Anthony Davis and his wrist bent the wrong way when he fell.
Kawhi -- was load managed all season, and lasted all of two games in the playoffs.
George -- missed a third of the games during the regular season, and is hurt again.
Herro -- broke his hand diving for a loose ball.
Fox -- broke his finger when he was hit while someone was trying to block his shot.
Embiid -- he's never played more than 68 games in a season, and the only year he didn't miss at least one game in the playoffs was the 2020 bubble year when there was four months off in the middle of the season, and the Sixers only lasted four games before we swept them.
Oladipo -- Played 42 games, which was the most he'd played since 2017-2018.

Would a shorter season have prevented any of these injuries?  A lot of them were contact injuries, so not due to overuse.  The ones that weren't contact injuries came to players that have missed years of their career to injury issues.

Agree with this.

I don't mean to be callous, but what I've witnessed in this postseason has been a couple of fluke contact injuries, some injury-prone players sustaining yet more injuries, and some players with high-risk playstyles finding out why their playstyle is considered high-risk.  This is all unfortunate, but not particularly surprising. 

It's a shame that it has scuttled what had the makings of a great first round of basketball.  But I don't think less basketball is necessarily the fix here.  Nobody can fault the Clippers for putting too many miles on George and Leonard, but they're stuck in the breakdown lane anyway. 

Specifically, I've been irritated by the discourse around Giannis's injury to begin with.  Guy goes down with a back injury for a couple of games and we blame the schedule, the rules, everything except the guy whose entire game is running people over.  He gets away with more contact than anybody I can remember.  Even Shaq, physical as he was, didn't typically have a running start before he pasted some unlucky schmuck. 

[slamtheking]

I'm not sure how much a shorter season would help.  Let's look at the major injuries:

Giannis -- hurt himself trying to jump over Kevin Love and landed badly.  Yes, he's had some back issues that might have exacerbated things, but that injury was due to a pretty specific play.
Morant -- tried to jump over Anthony Davis and his wrist bent the wrong way when he fell.
Kawhi -- was load managed all season, and lasted all of two games in the playoffs.
George -- missed a third of the games during the regular season, and is hurt again.
Herro -- broke his hand diving for a loose ball.
Fox -- broke his finger when he was hit while someone was trying to block his shot.
Embiid -- he's never played more than 68 games in a season, and the only year he didn't miss at least one game in the playoffs was the 2020 bubble year when there was four months off in the middle of the season, and the Sixers only lasted four games before we swept them.
Oladipo -- Played 42 games, which was the most he'd played since 2017-2018.

Would a shorter season have prevented any of these injuries?  A lot of them were contact injuries, so not due to overuse.  The ones that weren't contact injuries came to players that have missed years of their career to injury issues.

agreed.  a lot of senseless handwringing over freak injuries or the chronically injured that wouldn't have been impacted by shortening the season or eliminating back to backs.   League's had the same schedule (playoffs have expanded a bit but not by a lot) for decades and injuries/health have played a part of it the entire time.   in the end, the title will be won by the best team, not just the healthiest

[Who]

but what I've witnessed in this postseason has been a couple of fluke contact injuries, some injury-prone players sustaining yet more injuries, and some players with high-risk playstyles finding out why their playstyle is considered high-risk. 

What I have been wondering is if today's style of play (encouraged by rule changes) has led to more high-risk physical plays.

I was thinking more how it is more perimeter orientated and more ball-handling which on one hand leads to less physical banging but on the other hand requires more explosive drives. More stress on your feet and ankles to change directions, push off, explode to the basket.

I remember there was wonderings a few years ago whether hi-top shoes was leading to more knee injuries vs ankle injuries.

And then you have the drives going to the basket. There are a lot more drives going to the rim in today's NBA because dribble penetration is easier than ever before. The lane is also more open than ever before so long strong jumps to the rim are more common which leaves the offensive player more exposed physically.

Then you have the defensive obligations. Again less banging but more side-to-side defense on the perimeter. I know in the past people wondered if this type of defense for big guys led to more knee injuries than banging in the post. That there was more stress on the knees when having to get low and move laterally than there was defending in the low post against power players. Now we have big guys being asked to do this on every possession.

[Moranis]

Way too many games and not enough rest days. Cause and effect.
The NBA should modernize. Playing 82 games plus (best-of-7)-playoff-series is nuts.
Lots of players are already exhausted when the regular season is over.

First of all there's hardly any merit with a best-of-7 series in comparison with a best-of-5.
That's just a statistical fact. When a series goes 3-0 or 3-1 up, it's basically done.
Easy fix.

Regular season should never have back-to-backs. Don't have to be a exercise physiologist to realize that's not a viable rest period between games. The NBA seems to plan on a small expansion. Well if they add two teams (Vegas and Seattle?), then just play every team twice and the new number of regular season games would be 62.

Almost every playoffs have been diminished by injuries. It's nothing new. On top of that the average level of players is higher than ever and so is the pressure thus star players can't just "coast" games.

What about a 2-2 series?

[Kernewek]

At the risk of oversimplifying why we're never going back to a best of five, a best of seven features two more games worth of basketball related income for the teams and players.

[libermaniac]

They could also do something crazy and say it’s best of 5 if you win by two (3-0 or 3-1). Otherwise it’s best of 7. I’m not really in favor of this, but just throwing it out there.

[kraidstar]

but what I've witnessed in this postseason has been a couple of fluke contact injuries, some injury-prone players sustaining yet more injuries, and some players with high-risk playstyles finding out why their playstyle is considered high-risk. 

What I have been wondering is if today's style of play (encouraged by rule changes) has led to more high-risk physical plays.

I was thinking more how it is more perimeter orientated and more ball-handling which on one hand leads to less physical banging but on the other hand requires more explosive drives. More stress on your feet and ankles to change directions, push off, explode to the basket.

I remember there was wonderings a few years ago whether hi-top shoes was leading to more knee injuries vs ankle injuries.

And then you have the drives going to the basket. There are a lot more drives going to the rim in today's NBA because dribble penetration is easier than ever before. The lane is also more open than ever before so long strong jumps to the rim are more common which leaves the offensive player more exposed physically.

Then you have the defensive obligations. Again less banging but more side-to-side defense on the perimeter. I know in the past people wondered if this type of defense for big guys led to more knee injuries than banging in the post. That there was more stress on the knees when having to get low and move laterally than there was defending in the low post against power players. Now we have big guys being asked to do this on every possession.

TP, great post.

Can you imagine Kareem,  McHale, Shaq, Robinson,  Hakeem,  Parrish, etc having to defend the 3pt line the way modern bigs do? No way would their bodies have held up to that abuse.

IMO its a big component of why the age of big man dominance is largely over. Look at AD. He could have been the best player of his generation, but he's chronically injured and generally diminished instead. Griffin, Lopez, and Porzingis preceded that. Embiid looks to be headed down the same path. We've seen Timelord's career suffer. Bam already looks a step slower and he's only 25.

Maybe the NBA big man is headed for a similar fate to the NFL running back. More disposable, with shorter careers. The punishment they are taking just doesn't lend itself well to such a large frame.

[angryguy77]

Injuries are part of the game. The stars in this league are coddled enough, they don't need to do more.

Now that said, I'd like to see a shorter season to make the product better. Less games means less chance they can coast.

[KG Living Legend]

 Could care less. This year is about bringing home a banner. Period. Go celtics!@!