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Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum joined a long list of injured stars in the NBA Playoffs on Monday. Fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard's injuries share one thing in common with Tatum's; they were all non-contact. Zach Lowe talked about the injuries around the league, drawing a connection between them and a long regular season.
Lowe spoke about the problem with Bill Simmons on “The Zach Lowe Show”. He also mentioned the fact that officiating in the playoffs is looser than the regular season. The argument he made stretches over multiple seasons. Jalen Brunson's injury last year in the second round due to the amount of minutes he played during the season.
According to Lowe, the NBA needs to re-evaluate its postseason in order to prevent future injuries.
“The rise of All-Stars getting injured in the playoffs, missing games in the playoffs, it’s Steph, Tatum, Dame, the Cleveland guys, and it’s been up the last few years and it was part of the conversation at the GM’s meeting yesterday, although it’s not overshadowed by other topics…” said Lowe. “You know, 82 games plus like we’re just going to completely change the rules of the playoffs to allow football basically. Plus, the rest gets shorter in the second round than it is in the first round. Plus, the game is just more spaced out, more movement, more cuts, more threes, more everything than it used to be.”
Tatum, Curry, and Lillard's injuries all put their teams in tough positions in this year's playoffs. The Celtics and Golden State Warriors are both one loss away from elimination. The Milwaukee Bucks went home in the first round and now could lose Lillard's co-star.
In addition to the change in officiating, Lowe brought up the fact that playing 82 games makes more money. In Lowe's opinion, playing that many games is unnecessary.
“It’s too anecdotal to draw firm conclusions but there is a discussion to be had here about how physical the games have gotten in the playoffs,” Lowe said. “It’s a third rail issue for the players union and the league but it’s time to talk about, is 82 games too many games. We don’t need 82 games other than that’s where they get the pool of money from.”
Lowe's changes could be a positive change for the league. For right now, the league's stars continue to struggle with injuries after a long regular season.
