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Assessing the myriad injuries that have plagued the 2015 NBA postseason

Assessing the myriad injuries that have plagued the 2015 NBA postseason

This has gotten out of hand, and there isn’t much our hands can do about it.

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Wednesday night’s DeMarre Carroll injury marked the latest in a significant strain of nasty setbacks that has made the 2015 playoffs a walkthrough of the walking wounded.

Carroll will be just fine, in terms relative to the scare we saw in Game 1 of his team’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’s still in significant pain and questionable for the rest of his team’s series, however long that lasts. We start with him, as we document a postseason gone twisted. Literally.

DeMarre Carroll, sprained left knee.

It looked bad. It really looked bad.

Carroll planted on his left knee after a Eurostep in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern finals, and his knee just decided not to give back as DeMarre rose for a layup. He clutched that knee in agony after falling to the floor and could not put weight on it while being lifted to the locker room. He left the arena on crutches, as the whole of the viewing public assumed the worst for an overachiever that is set to make a deserved dent on the free agent market this summer.

Impact: Currently listed as “day-to-day,” the “every-other-day-to-day” schedule of the Eastern Conference finals does Carroll no favors. He may not have torn anything, but the Hawks’ leading playoff scorer will not be the same player as his team’s dream season moves along.

Kevin Love, separated left shoulder.

It wasn’t intentional, but it sure looked like it.

Boston Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk basically ended Love’s season with a clumsy rebounding move that ripped Love’s shoulder from its socket, necessitating 4-to-6 months’ worth of rehab and knocking the Cleveland Cavalier forward out of the playoffs. Love charged Olynyk with making the move on purpose, something the second-year Celtic denied, and while Olynyk may not have been attempting to end Love’s first postseason run, man, you just can’t do that.

Impact: Love’s absence, combined with a J.R. Smith suspension and a Game 1 Chicago Bulls win in the next round, was thought to put Cleveland’s championship hopes on ice. Instead, the Cavs roared back against a listless Bulls squad to take that series, and they currently hold a 1-0 lead over Atlanta as LeBron James goes it alone.

Thabo Sefolosha, broken right fibula and torn ligaments.

What you want to do is write 4200 words. What you have to do, until all the lawsuits and investigations have cleared, is mind your space and hope that that we still live in a society where just the facts, ma’am, will come out. As if that was ever the case.

Sefolosha was reportedly barely in the vicinity of an altercation between Indiana Pacers forward Chris Copeland and a would-be assailant in the early hours of April 8. A TMZ video showed Sefolosha being pulled to the ground by several NYPD officers, reportedly a hundred feet from Copeland’s incident, while compliant. Sefolosha, choosing his words carefully as the National Basketball Players Association readied a lawsuit against the NYPD, later told reporters that his season-ending injury was “caused by the police.”

Impact: In pure, stupid, basketball terms Thabo’s injury was already a crucial blow long before DeMarre Carroll went down with his knee sprain. A gifted defender and passer, Sefolosha was hired with the express written consent of defending LeBron James in the playoffs, and the Hawks will miss him on several levels.

Donatas Motiejunas, back surgery.

Motiejunas acted as a needed jack of all trades for Houston this year, utilizing solid enough spacing and surprising low post pep while acting as the squad’s fourth leading scorer. The Rockets rallied to make it to the West’s second seed before the team’s regular season ended, but Motiejunas had to watch from afar over the season’s final three weeks.

Impact: Houston has done well to make the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1997, but it sure would be nice to see Motiejunas bounding around in a matchup against Golden State that seems perfectly suited for his style of in-and-out play. He scored double-figure points in three of his four games against the Warriors during the regular season.

Rajon Rondo, back injury.

Rajon Rondo never liked playing under Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. Rick Carlisle never liked the way Rondo dismantled Dallas’ previously top-ranked offense with his ball-dominating ways. The injury was a sham, the benching was real, and the gamble was a loss.

Impact: The Mavericks declined to give Rondo a playoff bonus, and it is safe to say Rondo’s cap hold won’t be a nagging factor for Dallas this offseason.

Jrue Holiday, right leg injury.

This is a lingering concern, dating back a year and a half, and a frightening one for the NBA’s first player to be born in the 1990s. The New Orleans Pelican guard is reported to want to undergo yet another surgery to take the screw out of his surgically repaired right leg, and that seems the safest maneuver possible in the wake of another season mostly lost to constant pain and limited action.

Impact: Holiday missed 12 of 19 shots spread out over three games in the 2015 postseason, and he had to sit out Game 4 of his team’s first round sweep at the hands of the Golden State Warriors.

Wesley Matthews, torn Achilles.

After his Portland Trail Blazers gutted out a wrist injury to LaMarcus Aldridge and a surprising second half step backward from star guard Damian Lillard, the team’s heart and soul had to sit the final five weeks of the regular season and eventually the postseason with a torn Achilles. Matthews, who was shooting 39 percent from long range while averaging 15.9 points per game, handled his injury with his typical grace and humor.

Impact: The Blazers smartly reached out to acquire shooting guard Arron Afflalo in an attempt to circle the wagons prior to Wes’ injury, and he responded by hitting 40 percent of his threes as a Blazer. Afflalo hurt his shoulder in early April, however, and was an afterthought during the postseason as Portland bowed out in the first round. How this affects Matthews and Afflalo’s free agent turns remains to be seen.

LaMarcus Aldridge, left thumb injury.

Some of us were wrong. He didn’t just want an All-Star Game bonus. He wasn’t just, understandably, looking out for his free agent future. LaMarcus Aldridge played through a significant amount of pain with a thumb injury that should have put him out for two months, staying on the court as his Blazers fought to retain their status as a Western Conference postseason perennial. He waited until the offseason to have surgery, but not before leading his team to a gutty run that ended in the first round of the playoffs.

Impact: Aldridge will be healthy by the time training camp starts following surgery, and his injury hardly left him as an approximation of his usual self – a testament to his ability to play through pain. He will explore the free agent market as he decides what to do with his last big contract, and last few years as a franchise-level player.

Chris Paul, strained left hamstring.

Paul, who made a point to play 82 games after what has been an injury-plagued career thus far, had to time this perfectly. He had to wait until Game 7 of his team’s Finals-worthy showdown with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs for things to go pear-shaped. It had to happen at the exact worst time. Chris Paul always has an excuse, right?

Impact: It didn’t matter.

Mike Conley tries to see it through. (Getty Images)
Mike Conley tries to see it through. (Getty Images)

Mike Conley, multiple facial fractures.

MULTIPLE FACIAL FRACTURES.

Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum nailed Conley with an inadvertent elbow in Game 3 of Memphis’ eventual first round win, necessitating Conley to undergo surgery to repair what looked like an incredibly painful series of cracks.

Because he is from Memphis, however, Conley returned after just a week and a half to add to the Grizzlies’ inspired run against the top-seeded Golden State Warriors.

Impact: Conley shot just 38 percent against the Warriors, but that may have happened even without the mask that hamstrung his vision and clarity, as Golden State boasted the best defense in the NBA during the regular season. Memphis fell in six games, but, man Mike Conley is a hell of a gamer.

Patrick Beverley, torn ligament in left wrist.

Whether you deem him to be a heel or hero, one cannot dismiss the impact Patrick Beverley has on Houston’s psyche as it attempts to rise above what seems to be an endless stream of 55-win teams in the West. The Rockets’ lead guard and defensive maven had pins put in place to secure his left wrist after season-ending surgery in March which knocked him out for the season, and that timetable was confirmed recently as Beverley still has yet to have the pins removed.

Impact: Houston, statistically, played just fine with Beverley off the court prior to his injury, and that mark has held up in the postseason.

Pau Gasol, left hamstring pull.

In a season full of sturm und drang, somehow Pau Gasol managed to make it just about the entire year unscathed. Mr. Double-Double was Chicago’s offensive rock until a pulled hamstring knocked him out of Game 3 of the Bulls’ second round series against Cleveland.

Impact: The Bulls would go on to win that game on a last-second shot from Derrick Rose, and the squad appeared to play better in a Gasol-less front court for stretches in Game 4 before LeBron James decided that, no, no, you don’t deserve this.

Tony Allen, left hamstring pull.

Allen, one of 15 Memphis Grizzlies members that are usually characterized as the team’s “heart and soul,” can’t effectively bring his grit and grind with just one leg. Hamstring pulls will knock just about anyone out, and Allen was no exception.

Impact: Tony missed Game 5 of Memphis’ series against Golden State, as the Grizzlies fell by a 98-78 score. He returned to play solid enough defense while dragging that leg around in Game 6, but Memphis was topped by Golden State in Game 6, missing seven of nine shots along the way.

Kyrie Irving, left knee, right knee, right foot.

The Cleveland point guard gets to play, which is some cold comfort, but as is the case with Kevin Love he is cruelly working through debilitating injuries after years of watching the postseason from afar. Irving sprained his right foot during his team’s first round series against Boston. Overcompensation then led to a strained and painful left knee. Cleveland’s Game 6 win over Chicago put them in the third round, but Irving had to sit out the second half of that contest after spraining his right knee after landing on teammate Tristan Thompson’s foot.

Impact: Kyrie needed 10 shots to score 10 points in his team’s Game 1 win over Atlanta on Wednesday, while dishing six assists, and that was after five full days off. The Cavaliers have enough to win a championship with Irving acting as an afterthought, but it won’t be easy.

Dwight Howard, left knee sprain.

It was understandable to fear the worst, after teammate Josh Smith fell into Howard’s left knee in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. Dwight returned to play during Houston’s Game 1 loss, but outside of setting effective screens he acted as a millstone on both ends, as Golden State routinely found lanes to the basket, and Howard was understandably off his game offensively.

Impact: Dwight seems game to give it a go in Game 2, but it remains to be seen as to whether or not this is a good thing for the Houston Rockets. Howard can compete well and potential contribute even while gritting through a painful knee sprain, but it is possible that 100 percent of reserves like Clint Capella might be more productive than 60 percent of Dwight Howard.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!