Injuries are an entirely individual thing. They vary in type, severity, discomfort and impact on an athlete’s ability to compete. One player’s plantar fasciitis, in other words, is another player’s sore foot, and there’s nothing to be gained from comparing and contrasting.
So the fact that Chicago forward Pau Gasol (strained left hamstring) is expected to miss his second consecutive game in the Bulls’ Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Cavaliers is unrelated to Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving‘s decision to keep playing on a sprained right foot that has led to tendinitis in his left knee.
Gasol, 34, a savvy veteran of 10 NBA postseasons and 114 playoff games, is being cautious with an injury that, if aggravated, could lead to a much longer layoff.
Irving, 23, has a whole eight postseason games under his belt, knows his team already is down one star (Kevin Love) and can’t fathom sitting out when teammates such as LeBron James (ankle) and Iman Shumpert (groin) are playing hurt.
“I can’t do it,” Irving told reporters at the Cavaliers’ facility on Monday. “Mentally, I can’t do it. I can’t look myself in the mirror and sit on the bench or sit in the locker room while I watch my teammates go out there.
“I’d rather give 30 percent, 40 percent, rather than give none at all. I just literally can’t do it. I can’t sit on the bench and be hurt and be OK with that. And still, I still know I can be effective.”
That’s open to debate, with Irving shooting 5-for-23 the past two games, contributing a combined 23 points and two assists.
And if his foot doesn’t heal quickly, the pain in his left knee could worsen, because that’s how compensating injuries work.
“We’ve tried almost everything to get this feeling right,” Irving said. “When the right-foot injury happened, what I was most nervous about was what’s happening now: my left leg just compensating for my right one. It’s just my body talking to me. My mind just has to be stronger, and it is. I’m just going to continue to will myself through these playoff games the best I can.”
Gasol has done only rehab work, nothing on the court, since exiting Game 3 and having his hamstring injury verified by an MRI exam on Saturday. The skilled 7-footer scored 21 points in Game 1 of the series, taking advantage of Cleveland’s defensive inattention. The Cavs subsequently adjusted, holding Gasol to a combined 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting in Games 2 and 3.
But the Bulls still missed his knack for easy scores in the paint and his versatility to pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop with mid-range jump shots. Without Gasol as a threat, Cleveland was able to challenge other Bulls sources of offence, such as Mike Dunleavy (1-for-7), Taj Gibson (2-for-7) and Nikola Mirotic (1-for-9).
The offence endured a drought of nearly seven minutes in the second quarter when Chicago got outscored 16-0. Then, across the third and fourth quarters, the Bulls were outscored again over a span of seven minutes, 16-2.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau felt his players’ concentration in finishing plays and seeing the ball into the basket wasn’t sharp on Sunday. “We’ve got to make shots,” Thibodeau said after Monday’s film session. “We missed a lot of open shots and we missed layups. And I thought late, we didn’t run. We’ve got to make sure that we run late. We got some good looks that we’ve got to make.”
Story by Steve Aschburner
It first appeared on the NBA.com website
