Here’s an underrated statement for this season’s version of the Los Angeles Lakers: they have not been the luckiest of bunch in terms of injuries suffered, from top to bottom.
This team was tagged as the undisputed best team in the league before playing a single game together. Obviously, that has been far from the case. It’s easy to say that the team simply hasn’t gelled – which is true – but they certainly would have been much better than what they are now, which is fighting for the eighth seed in the Western Conference, had they not missed so many games from key players.
Steve Nash, who has never missed more than seven games since the 2000-2001 season, broke a bone in his leg in just the second game of the season, causing him to miss 24 games. That’s more than half the number of games he has missed in the last 11 seasons combined. Steve Blake missed 37 games with an abdominal injury. Jordan Hill hasn’t played the last 3 months due to a torn labrum. Pau Gasol has missed a whopping 33 games due to a variety of injuries. Dwight Howard hasn’t looked like himself for most of the season, and even Kobe Bryant missed a few games with a sprained ankle.
They’re certainly not the only team to have been cursed with a litany of injuries this season (see Minnesota Timberwolves), but this is the Lakers we’re talking about. This is not a team that has suffered such bad luck over the years, so it’s new to many of us.
Luckily for them (or so we thought), most of the team has been reassembled in time to make a run for the playoffs, until this bombshell of a news broke about Metta World Peace – the one player you can usually rely on to stay healthy. Mark Medina of Daily News has details:
Aw, man, Metta’s out for the season? Then yes, we are truly over and done this year. What defense we do play is due to Metta and Dwight mostly. Now we’re just going to get run off the floor.
Get better soon Metta and see you next year hopefully recovered.