05-02-2025, 10:03 AM
(04-21-2025, 05:43 PM)vfromlmf Wrote: That point hasn't been talked about much but I agree 100%. Kyrie was going as hard as he could when he got hurt, just like AD did in his first game. Kyrie always amazed me with his easy 25pts and he usually seemed to save his energy for the 4th quarter. There's no way to know for sure but I'm doubt he barrels into the lane at full speed in a normal March game against the Kings if Luka was around. Kyrie was just trying to keep the ship afloat.
Yeah, it's one of those things some astute basketball observers can see clearly, but you can never say factually what sort of things increase the risk of injuries. Its kind of you know it when you see it.
I've said since very early in Joel Embiid's career for example that his style of play was and IMO remains his major problem. Just consider his style of play for his body type and size compared to someone like Jokic or even to the great one Dirk Nowitzki. The increased risk of injury is obvious with the types of moves consistently made, general fitness level, body types etc. etc.
Kyrie for example was attempting a difficult Euro step move directly into traffic! While he makes awesome nimble driving moves regularly, more often than not as he was playing off of Luka he was able to do that much less frequently and rarely needed to press quite that hard for a single bucket.