Is the NBA Now a War of Preservation? Haliburton Injury, NBA Schedule & more. - OFFICIAL REVIEW - video Dailymotion

Athlon Sports

This Finals ended with a trophy… and a lot of what-ifs.

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00:00Welcome to the official review presented by Athlon Sports.

00:09Last night was game seven of the NBA Finals, Thunder Pacers, and out of the gate,

00:15it looked like it was going to be an all-time classic. Thunder Pacers trading haymakers back

00:19and forth, but with just seven minutes into the game, Tyrese Halliburton tears his Achilles,

00:25absolutely took the energy out of the game. Thunder ended up winning 103-91, but the main

00:31storyline from the game is the Halliburton injury, I would say. First off, do you think the Pacers

00:36win that game if Halliburton is healthy? I think they definitely have a chance. I mean,

00:39it was looking kind of good, and they're making the shots that I think you need to make if you're

00:43going to upset a team. Like, Neymar hit a big shot, Siakam was hitting random big threes,

00:49Halliburton came out hot right out the gate, and when he does that, he typically continues to do

00:53that. I saw some stat when he misses his first shot versus when he makes it. Like, the Pacers

00:57are just way better. So I do think the Pacers had a good chance to win that game, and the moment you

01:02saw Halliburton in the replay screaming, I did, I did, like, you knew it wasn't just he was in pain,

01:08it was he knew that he was going to be out for that game. That was terrible. Yeah, I think the

01:12Pacers definitely had a chance to win that game, but I will say it still would have been a really

01:18tough task for them to be able to pull it off just because the Thunder have been so dominant

01:23at home. I think the two home games that they've lost at home have been both, like, insane buzzer

01:32beaters from Halliburton and then Aaron Gordon in the second round. So it still was going to be a

01:38tough task, but yeah, part of the tragic part about Halliburton was, like, he was on a heater and was

01:44clearly feeling him. So he's, like, barking at the crowd before he went down. I mean,

01:49obviously they responded in the first half and were leading by one at half, but we're playing

01:55at a talent deficit at the entire game. Would you have played in that game if you

01:59were Tyrus Halliburton knowing you had a calf strain, which is what KD was diagnosed with before

02:04he tore his Achilles? You gotta. You have to play that game. It's game seven. You don't know when

02:09you're all going to be back there. Pacers' championship window may have just closed in on itself

02:13while it was still open. Like, I don't think we've ever seen that before where championship

02:17window is closed after the game ends because who knows what this team will look like a year from

02:24now, you know, when Halliburton can finally come back. But you gotta play. It wasn't a bad decision.

02:29You have to play. And he was looking good. I mean, he hit three or four from three. He had nine

02:33points in seven minutes. And he won game six. Like, he was hurt before game six and he played well in

02:37that. So I agree. You definitely, I think the bigger question was, would you have played in game six?

02:41He did. He was fine. 100% you play in game seven. But like, dude, injuries just are low key. One of

02:48the things killing the NBA. You just never know when a guy's going to pop his Achilles, tear his ACL.

02:52You know, people go back and forth on if calf strains directly lead to Achilles tears. Obviously

02:57that happened to Kevin Durant. To your point, Steve, it does connect into a larger point about

03:01if the NBA season is too long, if they need to cut it down from 82 games to 70 games. I just can't see it

03:09happening because it's just going to hurt the bottom line. Um, at least in the short term that

03:14the players had just have so much wear on them by the time you get to game seven of the NBA finals,

03:20that stuff like this just happens, I guess. What's different now. I mean, obviously the

03:24biggest differences are how players train, but players have been playing 82 games and playing

03:30playoff series. You know, this is how the NBA has been. This is the third Achilles tear this

03:35playoffs from star players. I have a theory. Look at the guys here in their ACLs. It's guys

03:40who go on long playoff runs and also play international basketball in the summer. Tyrus

03:45Halliburton, Jason Tatum, both on team USA, despite being benched, they were training.

03:49They basically did not have an off season. So yeah, you can blame the 82 games, but it's not

03:54like these guys after those 82 games are just done playing. They're either playing very long

03:58in the playoffs, which is basically a half a season, or they're playing on team USA basketball.

04:03So I think maybe that's something to look into. How many guys are tearing their Achilles that

04:06weren't on, you know, playing in the Olympics or, you know, in the off season, obviously

04:11the guys play a ton of basketball and there's a ton of miles on their legs by the time they

04:16reach where they are. But I think the larger point is like, if you look at tape from like

04:21the early two thousands of the nineties, uh, most of the possessions are just like guys standing

04:26around and, and then, you know, obviously there's a ton of more post-ups, but just generally

04:30speaking, there's like less off ball movement. There's less dynamic kind of guys running off

04:37screens and doing pick and rolls where, you know, there's like multiple different actions

04:43in, in, uh, one possession. And I think that just all of this lends to more cutting and changing

04:51of direction and just more strain on ligaments. Really. That's sort of why we're, we're seeing

04:58this stuff, even with, you know, science around load management and injury prevention being

05:05so much ahead of where it was in the nineties. It's just like, guys are just moving more.

05:10It also appears to make a best player injury too. Like it's like the guy who's running the

05:14offense is the one getting hurt. It's not like, you know, a bunch of Andrew Nembhards are tearing

05:18their Achilles. It's like, it's the star players. It's the guys who have the most to do on the court.

05:24So whether or not they're the ones handling the ball and running the offense, like when

05:28they're not, like you said, like the NBA is a lot different now, you know, Tatum's running

05:31off screens. He's running around, he's covering five positions. Halliburton's doing a bunch

05:35off the ball as well. Maybe there's just too much activity by these guys.

05:40It's, it's weird. It's a weird time in basketball because you've had so many recent playoff runs

05:47where the best team remaining is just so happens to be the team. That's the healthiest. I mean,

05:52this Thunder team going back to the champion, they managed to win without a significant injury

05:57in the playoffs. I mean, obviously check was out for most of the year this year,

06:00but he stayed healthy throughout the playoffs. SGA stayed healthy. They, they really didn't lose

06:05anyone is the finals now just about who can stay healthiest. I mean, you look last year with the

06:09Celtics, you know, their path to the finals was riddled with injuries on the other end, you know,

06:15playing a Halliburton less Pacers, playing a dominant Mitchell, a dominant Mitchell less calves.

06:20Jimmy Butler was heat. Jimmy Butler was heat. Is that the only thing that really matters in the

06:25NBA now is staying healthy throughout the finals. It kind of is, which is why you see all this load

06:29management and like people kind of make fun of load management and like, Oh, you can't get awards

06:34because of it. But then it's like the NBA championship is the number one thing you want.

06:38So like, how are you going to make an argument against load management? Just make less games.

06:42Like it doesn't hurt anybody, but the body hurts the bottom line, like Sam said, but as a fan,

06:46I wouldn't mind 12 less games. I'd be more interested in the games that happen. Yeah,

06:50it just increases the importance of each game. And then that would stir more people to be watching

06:57more of the games. And, you know, you might lose some of like the ticket prices stuff for those 12

07:02games or whatever. But I feel like in the long run, it's just better for the health of the league.

07:06Literally. The group that gets screwed over the most in that scenario is the fans. If they lose 12

07:11games of revenue, you know, that ticket prices are going up. You know, that concession prices are going

07:16up. You know, that league pass is going up. All these prices are going to increase to try to match

07:20that revenue. So it's not necessarily what's in the best interest of the fans. Really? The product

07:25itself on the court is going to be better potentially, but the outcome for the fans in terms of financial

07:30outcome, it's going to be way worse. Ticket prices are going up anyway. Concession prices are going up.

07:36Anyway, the league pass is going to go up anyway. Like, I feel like that stuff is already sort of

07:42built in. Fundamentally, you know, what's worse is when you pay a bunch of money for a ticket and

07:48to go see like Steph Curry, who's coming into your town and then he's getting sat for load management

07:55because the regular season is so devalued right now. And I feel like just from a fan perspective,

08:01you do want less games, even if you have to pay a little bit more. Yeah, because if less game equals

08:07less load management, then there's a better chance when you go see a Warriors game or a Bucs game

08:12or a Lakers game that LeBron, Steph Curry and Giannis are going to play.

08:16So the ticket value is actually better in like that sense.

Is the NBA Now a War of Preservation? Haliburton Injury, NBA Schedule & more. - OFFICIAL REVIEW

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