OFFICIAL 2022 Playoffs round 1 Jazz and Mavs

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

It's still a balancing act either way. Guys like Kawaii and KP are babied to death with their injury concerns and they still get hurt. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions that might impact a player's health. If this was next season and Mavs were serious contenders do you still bench him no matter what?

I also don't want to jeopardize Luka's long term health, but we are pretty much in the dark about how bad his injury is. Based on his progression, it doesn't look THAT bad. He seems to be ramping up to eventually play.

I don't think this is like Kawhi or KP though. Those guys are incredibly injury prone no matter what. This is about protecting Luka from a very specific injury under a very specific set of circumstances. You do NOT fuck around with an achilles.

Now if this were next season and the Mavs were serious contenders for the title, then I probably would have him play. A championship is worth a high risk. But that's not relevant. It isn't next season, and the Mavs are not serious title contenders at the moment. A first round victory against Utah just for the chance to lose to Phoenix is not worth risking an injury to Luka that could derail his entire career.

At the end of the day though, amateur opinions don't matter. The team doctors are the only people whose opinions actually mean anything. If they say Luka can play then that's enough.

[mac222b]

Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson

I don't think this is like Kawhi or KP though. Those guys are incredibly injury prone no matter what. This is about protecting Luka from a very specific injury under a very specific set of circumstances. You do NOT fuck around with an achilles.

Now if this were next season and the Mavs were serious contenders for the title, then I probably would have him play. A championship is worth a high risk. But that's not relevant. It isn't next season, and the Mavs are not serious title contenders at the moment. A first round victory against Utah just for the chance to lose to Phoenix is not worth risking an injury to Luka that could derail his entire career.

At the end of the day though, amateur opinions don't matter. The team doctors are the only people whose opinions actually mean anything. If they say Luka can play then that's enough.

I’m with you on this. No rush to see him back. We should have our eyes on a bigger prize than winning a first round series against the Jazz. I think this should be slow played and to be honest Luka sort of made his bed here. He’s at least partly responsible on some level for playing meaningless minutes in a meaningless game. I hope he learns from this.

No way we are getting past a healthy Suns team and then GS and then Boston, Brooklyn, Philly, Miami or a Milwaukee in the East. If Luka comes back our best case is we win round 1 against a Utah and he doesn’t get injured any further. Worst case I don’t even want to ponder.