Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
The Jamal Murray injury has changed everything for the Nuggets.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Chiu/AP.)
So Jamal Murray tore his ACL and is deemed out for the rest of the season. And ACL tears are nothing to mess with; Murray will likely be out at the start of next season should it start in time (which would be around October or even early November). But he won’t be THE Jamal Murray until probably late next season.
It’s another event to pile on all these negative things that have been happening this season. Murray hurting his knee late in a game that was pretty much over gives us flashbacks of Derrick Rose getting injured late in a playoff game in 2012, which happened to be that compressed season after the NBA was locked out.
It was already dangerous enough that the league is happening in the middle of a pandemic (and we still are). But the league decided to compress a 72-game regular season in a tight window so they could start in time for the 2021-22 season.
Still, the NBA’s schedule this season couldn’t avoid things that they had been trying to avoid the last few years and that’s mainly back-to-back games as well as four games in five nights for a lot of teams. I don’t have all the data but John Schuhmann had this for NBA Dot Com last December.
Unfortunately, the league’s run of five straight years of reducing the number of back-to-backs is likely over. Last season’s schedule (which wasn’t completed in full) had teams averaging 12.4 back-to-backs, down from 19.3 in 2014-15. In the first half of the schedule this season, teams will average 7.0 back-to-backs. Related to that, there are 32 stretches of five games in seven nights, compared to 19 in the entirety of last season’s unfinished schedule.
And it’s resulted in many stars either getting hurt or resting on the second game of a back-to-back. That’s not even counting the teams affected by COVID. We saw what it did to the Miami Heat. And the Boston Celtics. Like I had said before, this is the closest the season can get to an asterisk. People complain about the Spurs in 1999? That’s nothing compared to players being in and out of the line-up because of injuries and a pandemic. It’s just not fun to watch as a fan and it’s just not fun for players to go through. We’re not even including the Toronto Raptors being kicked out of Canada and having to play their games at Tampa. They’re essentially a road team the entire season.
I’m sure the postseason will be pretty good. They usually are. But you can’t help but think of the what-ifs. What if Jayson Tatum never caught COVID. What if Jamal Murray didn’t get hurt in a game that was already put away? What if most of the players in the Heat didn’t sit out a lot of games?
I said before that I couldn’t wait for it to be the postseason. But honestly, I can’t wait for the season to be over. Still, it sucks that a lot of stars won’t get ample time to recover considering we still have the Olympics coming up AND they’ll have a shortened break once again.
Bullet Passes
Tatum did score 32 points in a close win against Portland. Suddenly, the Celtics have won 6 of 7 games and are a game behind the Hawks for the 4th spot.
The Lakers got a much-needed win as they beat the Hornets who have fallen to 7th as they’ve been up and down the last few weeks.
Still, the Jazz (who recovered with a win against the Thunder) and Suns keep winning to stay on top of the West. It’s tempting to say they could be the faves but I’m still sticking with the L.A. teams. I have the Jazz as my, uh, third favorite.
Lu Dort scored 42 points against the Jazz. He was such a revelation for OKC in the postseason. Teams still don’t respect his 3-pointers but he is not bad at .342. He made the Jazz pay just a bit with 7-for-11 from 3.
The Nets/Wolves game was played on Tuesday to make up for Monday. Maybe they should’ve never played it since… well… the Nets piled all over them.
The Clippers have won 6 in a row. That’s a great momentum boost but again, the Jazz and Suns have kept winning as well.
NBA Scoreboard
Apr. 13, 2021
Watch This Play
There were some pretty good facial jams on Tuesday but this Solomon Hill full court inbounds pass to Kevin Huerter for the buzzerbeater is INCREDIBLE.
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
I mean, we have a hard enough time believing full court shots but full court passes are just as impressive. The strength, the vision, and the precision. Awesome.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.