One Injury Away

Recently, there have been key injuries to some of the best basketball players in the world, including one that’s season-ending. It’s debatable whether some of these teams were legitimate contenders in the first place, but if they aren’t at full strength, they may not even get out of the first round.

Kevin Garnett will be out for 2-3 weeks with a knee injury. Luckily for the Celtics, they’re in a pretty good position, and have played without KG before. Plus, it gives some of their youngsters a chance to get out there, and show what they can do. On top of that, it allows Garnett to get some rest. Out of all the teams that will be mentioned in this article, this one may be the only one equipped to handle a loss of this magnitude, since they still have a solid team, and because the injury is only short-term.

Amare Stoudemire was nowhere near as fortunate as KG, as he’ll be missing the rest of the regular season with an eye injury. Phoenix was already in a world of trouble before, and hanging on for dear life in the Western Conference. With Stoudemire out, they can forget about the playoffs. It’s a shame too, but I honestly don’t see how Phoenix can make the postseason without Amare in the line-up. They are two games out of the final spot in the West, and now that Utah is getting healthy, that gap will most likely widen.

There’s no true prognosis of Blake Griffin at the moment, due to suffering a concussion against the Texas Longhorns over the weekend. Oklahoma lost that game, as well as last night against Kansas, and even though they were able to compete in both, it’s obvious how much they miss Griffin’s all-around game. Last night against Kansas, Cole Aldrich went berserk in the paint, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t see that happening if Griffin is in the game. No disrespect to Aldrich, because his game is nice, but I’ve seen Griffin murk too many big men this season to believe otherwise. Oklahoma is good, but with Griffin, they are a legitimate Final Four squad. Without him, they are just another team.

Be easy.

-K. Masenda
www.edthesportsfan.com