Russel Westbrook has Knee Surgery - Out for the Playoffs

[HarlemHeat37]

Miami was missing Bosh for the majority of last year's playoffs, not sure why people are acting like they haven't been hurt..

[pgardn]

Miami was missing Bosh for the majority of last year's playoffs, not sure why people are acting like they haven't been hurt..

The East last year... Bad.

[Dro210]

Cry me a river about Beverley's play being "dirty". Dribble right up to me and try to casually call a timeout, I'm gonna attempt to take that EVERY time, and any hungry player in the playoffs should. Since when did that become a play with such injury concern Westbrick ed himself by trying to be a hardass and get back at him on the next possession instead of checking his knee. Got that steal and fast break dunk, landed on it wrong and finished himself. Watch the replay.

[Sean Cagney]

One year too late! If this is last year with Harden gone and him being hurt the Spurs breeze to the finals! Good lord why not last year Spurs still have a tough road ahead of them, if OKC can't beat LAC or Memphis next year the Spurs will have to face either or in the WCF! Do not look past Denver though at all! Infact we have to win tonight first of all and then worry about later. You have a series ahead of you now, going to LA for two games so settle that first you guys jumping way ahead.

[Stabula]

Westbrick is overrated the biggest impact to OKC will be morale.

[SpursOwn]

Hope it ends up being a career ender. Westbrook.

[superjames1992]

Hope it ends up being a career ender. Westbrook.

umadbro?

[KaiRMD1]

Well that sucks, does this mean D Fish gets the starting point guard gig? Does this mean this will be the third year in a row that a number 8 seed beats a number 1 seed? That would be nuts but doubtful, either way Thunder are better without Westbrook.........maybe

[SpursOwn]

umadbro?

Wrong forum, whoops.

[Libri]

[Spurs and Mavs fan]

The Spurs' chances of emerging as the Western Conference champs just increased significantly.

[Budkin]

The Spurs' chances of emerging as the Western Conference champs just increased significantly.

Too bad their chances of winning it all didn't.

[TD 21]

If true, there's absolutely no excuse for the Spurs to not win the West, tbh.. The realization that Westbrook is out should boost their confidence and belief, tbh, there shouldn't be any doubt in the Spurs locker room that another team in the West can beat them, tbh..

Finally. It took four and a half pages of skimming (I went through it back to front) to find someone who finally said it. Typical overly cautious Spurs fans. That being said, I do expect him to return at some point during the Conference-Semis (I also wouldn't rule out them winning that series without him), but in what form? He can't possibly have his usual athleticism/explosiveness and in the absence of that, the Spurs should be the favorites.

I don't know what you're talking about with the Heat, though. Other than Wade's balky knee (which is more ongoing soreness/pain threshold than actual injury), they've not only been remarkably healthy (in fairness, they did have quite a few injuries the previous two seasons), but they've had every imaginable break, from virtually any team in the East who could have at least given them a series having a significant injury, to pulling seemingly every close game out of their ass. That has more to do with them than it does the opposition, but there's still some luck to that.

[skulls138]

Westbrook is injured? He must be old and washed up. You know, like people said about Ginobili.

[Captivus]

Photo or Russell in hospital preparing for surgery. Apparently one of the doctors stole his shirt!!

[heyheymymy]

it's the same situation we feared with the lakers. will the absence of a chucker actually help the team, despite the fact that he was a star player?

the lakers don't have the personnel to excel, but they are a better team without kobe chucking.

what worries me is the thunder could gel around KD getting more touches and have enough depth imo to distribute WB's role as a pretty decent band-aid. still will be weaker without a star in the playoffs though.

[DesignatedT]

it's the same situation we feared with the lakers. will the absence of a chucker actually help the team, despite the fact that he was a star player?

the lakers don't have the personnel to excel, but they are a better team without kobe chucking.

what worries me is the thunder could gel around KD getting more touches and have enough depth imo to distribute WB's role as a pretty decent band-aid. still will be weaker without a star in the playoffs though.

No and they certainly don't have the time to figure out how to effectively play without him. The Oklahoma City Thunder have played a total of 0 games without Westbrook in its existence.

The Lakers played off pure adrenaline and effort those last few regular season games without Kobe but if they had played with that type of urgency and effort when Kobe was healthy, they would have been in the playoffs long before they were.

Neither LA or OKC are better because one of their stars got hurt.

[NickiRasgo]

Yet the Heat are still oddly without any significant injuries.

Banged-up Wade gets treatment, remains day-to-day

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/banged-wade-gets-treatment-remains-day-day-172148064.html

[Stabula]

Damn this has been a horrible year for the NBA regarding injuries.

[crc21209]

Damn this is crazy. I thought Durant or Westbrook would never get injured. OKC's fans and team have been lucky as over the past couple of years to never have any serious injuries. Now they know how the Spurs and pretty much every other team feel. Injuries happen, it happens. It happened to TD in 2000, Dirk in 2003, etc....

[Kidd K]

He's not going to be out very long. He bumped his padded knee into another guy's knee in the 2nd quarter yet still played 37 minutes, jacking up 30 shots and getting 29 points and 4 steals.

He'll be back in for game 5 at the latest and only if the Rockets take games 3 and 4. I would not be surprised if he's back as early as game 3 or 4 either. He could obviously still play after bumping his padded knee.

Don't get so excited.

[cd021]

it will be intresting what consequences this has for OKCs series against Houston ... Westbrook has not missed a game in years

Hasn't missed a game ever. high shool, college, NBA

[cd021]

Photo or Russell in hospital preparing for surgery. Apparently one of the doctors stole his shirt!!

ing classic

[sventhedog]

the basketball gods have spoken.

[HarlemHeat37]

Finally. It took four and a half pages of skimming (I went through it back to front) to find someone who finally said it. Typical overly cautious Spurs fans. That being said, I do expect him to return at some point during the Conference-Semis (I also wouldn't rule out them winning that series without him), but in what form? He can't possibly have his usual athleticism/explosiveness and in the absence of that, the Spurs should be the favorites.

I don't know what you're talking about with the Heat, though. Other than Wade's balky knee (which is more ongoing soreness/pain threshold than actual injury), they've not only been remarkably healthy (in fairness, they did have quite a few injuries the previous two seasons), but they've had every imaginable break, from virtually any team in the East who could have at least given them a series having a significant injury, to pulling seemingly every close game out of their ass. That has more to do with them than it does the opposition, but there's still some luck to that.

I agree that they've gotten lucky with the injuries to the rest of the East, but I wouldn't call them "remarkably healthy"..Bosh was out for most of last year's playoffs, along with several injuries to role players, and Wade's knees have frequent flare-ups..