D. Clarke Evans
Injuries continue to test the mettle of playoff contenders
By Art Garcia, NBA.com
The rash of injuries across the Western Conference hasn't gone unnoticed, and will no doubt influence the race and the seeds going into the playoffs. Teams just can't lose the likes of Andrew Bynum, Tracy McGrady, Amar'e Stoudemire and Jason Terry and expect to function at the same level.
Well, unless you're the Lakers.
"All that matters is who's healthy come playoff time," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Everybody has injuries to some degree during the season and some more than others. But come playoff time, everybody seems to get pretty healthy."
The Spurs are dealing with their own set of issues. Manu Ginobili (sore leg) is out and Tim Duncan joined the ranks of the walking wounded with an injured quad. Neither injury is considered serious, which is good news for the big picture in San Antonio.
"The teams that have experience, like some of these top teams, are able to play through that," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "They've been there. They have the experience. They know how to take up the slack. They don't go into panic mode when losing a key guy. They know they just have to maintain until a guy gets back."
The Lakers are running away with the West despite Bynum's absence. Los Angeles won't need to bring its young center back too soon with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom stepping up in Bynum's place and the No. 1 seed all but locked up.
As for T-Mac and Amar'e, the prognosis isn't as encouraging. Houston may be better off without McGrady for a myriad of reasons, but the Rockets will be hard pressed to contend without him. Stoudemire isn't expected back during the regular season, a major issue considering Phoenix sits ninth.
"That's unfortunate because it's great for the fans to see teams at full strength. But it is what it is," Popovich said. "You just have to deal with it. You have to do whatever you can during the season to try to have the best opportunity to be healthy come playoff time because everybody knows you have to have your horses to win it all."
Utah is banking on that. Carlos Boozer returned to the lineup this week after a three-month absence, marking the first time this season that all 15 Jazz players were available. The trio of Boozer, Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur went 49-22 together last season.
The Mavericks are doing what they can to tread water without the sharpshooting Terry, the leading candidate for the league's sixth man of the year honors. He should be back sometime next month for Dallas, which still has eyes on a top-four seed despite hovering around seventh or eighth for a while now.
"After the Lakers I think everything is open," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "The Lakers look pretty sharp, even with Bynum out. They went into Cleveland and won there, they went into Boston and won there, and continue to win. The Lakers are probably the heavy favorites. But after that it's going to be a fun ride until the end of the season."
Yeah Lakers have gone thru less adversity this year than any contender, only just losing Bynum, with the Spurs having people out a load to start off the season, and now with Manu and Tim. I want the Lakers to go on a skid at least once this season, I feel bad for hoping for injuries, but I want the Lakers to know how losing all of their top 3 at one point in a season feels. I settle for an illness that is curable, but needs 3 weeks of R&R to fully heal.
Bynum is just getting injured like he does every season. nothing new here
In some ways, I think the timing of these injuries could be the best thing that could have happened for the Spurs, as long as Tim and Manu are healthy in time for the playoffs. This stretch is going to strengthen our bench in ways that probably never would have happened otherwise. And so far, they have really shown the ability to hold their own.
Denver and New Orleans both scraped out wins at the end last night. I was really hoping that the Spurs could pick up a full game on both of them. I'd like to see enough separation that the Spurs could sort of semi-coast into the 2 or 3 seed in the playoffs. But lately I'm even less concerned about that.
The Spurs aren't going to catch the Lakers for the 1 seed. And there's not another team in the West that I am really worried about in a 7-game series - even without HCA. So if the key is to prepare for the Lakers, what could be better than having Tim and Manu well-rested, and getting the bench guys some quality minutes against some opponents' starters?
My biggest concern now is how long Parker can handle this pace. I'd rather lose some games now, than have him worn out or injured for the playoffs. Because I don't see how anything better than an 8 seed really hurts us that badly.
Once Tim and Manu are back I wouldn't be surprised to see Parker sit a game or two.
When the did it become Amar'e ?
I'm curious to see if Utah can start geling.
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