5 injuries with the greatest impact on the playoffs
Player injuries are the most unfortunate accidents in any sport. They deprive fans of watching the best possible contest, and they put a lot of psychological pressure (in addition to the physical pain) on the player during his injury layoff.
This season, the playoffs paint a much different picture than they could've due to a variety of injuries to star players - even franchise players in some cases. Certain teams are going to be a lot weaker due to these injuries, while their opponents become that much more likely to win a playoff series against the team with the injured player.
Here, we rank the top 5 most consequential player injuries by separating their team's ceiling with them to their ceiling without:
#5 Stephen Curry
Duration of injury: Misses 1st round of playoffs
Expected impact: Warriors lose 2-3 games against the Pelicans/Wolves/Spurs, whereas they could have swept them with Curry present in all games
Stephen Curry was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain of his medial collateral ligament (MCL) in the 3rd quarter of a game against the Atlanta Hawks on 24th March. Doctors gave him a minimum of 3 weeks out from the game - the reevaluation is set for 14th of April.
In the best case scenario, Curry gets back before the first round of playoffs. But this best-case scenario is unlikely to play out, because Curry will need sufficient time to first go through no-contact shooting, then to 3-on-3 practices, then to no-contact 5-on-5s and finally he'll need to be cleared for full team practice.
So far, Curry has not joined the team, so he'll most likely miss at least 2 more weeks.
The Warriors are still a great NBA team without Curry, but it is quite possible for them to drop two or even three games against the likes of the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs or the New Orleans Pelicans. The easiest road for the Warriors in the first round would be against the Denver Nuggets, who hold the tiebreaker against the Pelicans.