Blame it on the Schedule
By Nick Ostiller
After cramming 66 games into four months following the lockout, the 16 teams still standing at the end of the sprint that was the NBA regular season began the playoffs last weekend. Although television ratings have remained high, the amount of injuries this season also skyrocketed. There seems to be a correlation between the taxing schedule and the number of bumps and bruises players have suffered. Just ask Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls or Iman Shumpert of the New York Knicks.
During Saturday's first-round contest, Rose drove to the hoop, then planted his feet for takeoff. Instead of bouncing effortlessly towards the rim like fans are accustomed to seeing, the league's reigning MVP fell to the ground in agonizing pain. He had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee - one of the most devastating injuries in basketball - and will miss the rest of the playoffs as well as the Summer Olympics.
Injuries are a part of any sport, but many usually involve inadvertent contact with another player. In basketball, one of the most common injuries is a sprained ankle suffered when a player jumps, then lands awkwardly on another player's foot. Rarely do you see a 21-year-old rookie crumple to the ground while simply dribbling up the court. That's what happened to Shumpert in a separate game just a few hours after Rose went down. The diagnosis? Torn ACL, just like Rose. Needless to say, Shumpert will be watching the rest of the playoffs from the sidelines.
The casualties were equally as telling. Not only was there no contact involved, these two players are young and some of the most athletically gifted people in the world. Yet their knees just gave out on them? It sounds absurd. Almost as absurd as squeezing nearly a season's worth of games into a time frame three months shorter than usual.
The standard 82-game schedule for each team is already a burden. The NBA shaved off 16 games this season, but also had a narrower window in which to fit the remaining games. A single basketball game is rough on a player's body, which is why the "back-to-back," or two games in two nights, is dreaded around the league. Due to the shortened season, every team had to engage in at least one "back-to-back-to-back." On top of that, the lockout eliminated preseason training camp, which is mainly utilized for physical conditioning.
Players have been dropping like flies all season, and the playoffs will last into the middle of June. Not to wish injury on anyone, but it would be far from surprising to see another player fall victim to the schedule in the coming weeks.
Nick Ostiller is a sophomore communication major and editor of the Sports section.