getting Casey Smith from the Mavs has helped tremendously. thanks nico harrison

You guys can be on whatever side of the debate you want, but some players tough it through or are encouraged to. Brunson has picked plenty of ankle injuries or whatever during the playoffs already, just toughing it through

Because Thibs went out and got players that aren’t injury prone so they could survive him.

Built immunity by eating bullets

Iron man and Josh hart being wings able to play heavy minutes (40+ consistently) without getting injured much helps.

It’s not like they got injured deep into the playoffs with injuries that are preventable by stretching or something lol

Garland played 32 minutes/g against the heat and his season average was.. 31

Or it’s just basketball where players can get injured at any time

Load management wasn’t shown to reduce injuries.

Seeing as a lot of injuries are freak accidents it makes sense

There’s obviously a middle ground that most teams seem to understand. Thibs and Atkinson are both outliers.

Load management is fine. Bad injury luck just happens sometimes. The playoffs are a war of attrition. 82-game regular season in a sport that can be brutal, with physicality ramping up after the ASB and then again in the playoffs.

Pacers are basically a load management team too. Thankfully they got most of their injuries out of the way over their first 20ish games (knock on wood!). There have been MANY other years where their bad injury luck came later in the season.

But from a mental standpoint, it seems like the Cavs weren’t prepared for playoff physicality. There were glimpses in the regular season of this too - they struggled at times with heavy ball pressure, even when fully healthy.

Kenny is still bitching about physicality to the media which is crazy for a coach playing any team in the playoffs other than maybe the Magic.

If they face the Thunder in the finals I think they’re getting swept, healthy or not. Dort & Caruso & SGA with his 7’ wingspan would just gonna clamp their back-court.

I think it was Bron that said at least for him days off are far more important than a minute restrictions. Playing an NBA game is a day long process. If you’re already prepared for it then no a few extra minutes won’t make a huge difference.

It can be good for teams to get more minutes for bench guys but in the Cavs case they just ended up sucking anyway in the last one.

Imagine a naked Thibodeau straddling you and saying, “Let’s work on load management.”

Didn’t they lose kawhi against the warriors?

No fool lmao

At least one team has a great year and gets fucked up by injuries

2018 Chris Paul got hurt vs warriors when the rockets had their best season since Hakeem. They were up in the series too, I think

KD and Klay in 2019 and Kawhi beat em with the Raptors

Miami in 2020 with Bam going out and AD feasting

In 2021, in classic clippers luck, Kawhi got hurt against the suns when they looked like the better team imo. The Nets are thought of as a joke, but who knows how they would’ve played the bucks if Kyrie wasn’t injured

2022 Grizzlies looked legit and a big thorn in the side of the Warriors until Morant got injured

2023 the Heat basically lost their starting lineup. Herro, Oladipo, Brogdon all got injured. Not saying the Nuggets wouldn’t have won, but that made their chances a lot better

2024 Giannis and Dame got injured on the Bucks. Brunson and OG got injured on the Knicks. Doncic got injured early in the playoffs and had to play through it. Celtics basically walked to the finals (even tho they lost KP)

And that’s just recently

They’re not healthy. You’ll have a KD scenario - rushed to come back to try and defeat Toronto, then tore his Achilles

Yup and I wasn’t even trying to go there because flair. But yeah, you’re exactly right - very risky game with injured players. That’s partially why Haliburton looks so much better this postseason…yeah, obviously the experience gained from last year helps but he’s also clearly way healthier with the back and hammy rn.

More risky if they are older. In the end, there’s a universal truth about the playoffs (of most sports): everybody is playing hurt. Even these pampered sacks of meat from the Curry generation and now Doncic generation, 82 games is tough regardless if they are playing basketball or the soft abomination of the last 15 years. Seven games in the first round doesn’t help, neither the play-in (who is a cool idea, but needs better rules), the “NBA cup” is a pathetic concept

As a Dame fan, that was the night I retired him in my mind. Dame’s story arc is kind of tragic if you follow it. Sucks :(

How so?

Lmao. Whatever helps you sleep at night, buddy

As long as I never have to watch Jerome single handedly blow the entire game up again

I know, just teasing. Of course a Pacers fan would want the injured Cavs star players to take all the time they need

I don’t think Dames blood clot had anything to do with his Achilles rupturing.

i think you’re reading into to much dawg it says “ a source feels like he doesn’t have a choice” considering the situation the teams in and he would feel he would HAVE to play