I don't know where you're getting any of this from. What he did happens ALL THE TIME (see NFL football). His teammates sure as shit don't seem upset about it so why are you?
And yeah, KD caught a flight to NYC that night.
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I do think the Warriors downplayed his injury. That his Achilles was involved in addition to his calf. Either way, calf strains can lead to disruption of the Achilles tendon so in a medical sense there's an important distinction but in practical sense it's a distinction without a difference if one or the other is not allowed to heal.
I guess you can call that a conspiracy, but as others have noted it's par for the course for teams to engage in gamesmanship.
The larger point is that KD was cleared to play before he was ready.
Players play with injuries but few players do it facing as much scrutiny as KD. A lot of the negative criticism for not playing from Warriors fans came in concert, perhaps coincidentally, with leaked stories from the Warriors organization downplaying the injury.
Don't mistake sportswriter conjecture with genuine leaked information. Kawakami is known as a bit of a hack around these parts. Sometimes he's really good, but he can be a complete fuck-head too.
This thread has become almost unreadable in the last 24 hours with the absurd takes.
And for once it isn't TahoeJ. ;)
You guys see the Raps fans screaming at Sonya Curry? That + their fucked up reaction to KD going down somehow has me closer than ever in my life to cheering for the Warriors. Fuck. This reality makes no sense.
I have to laugh about whether the team was honest with the public re the injury. We're lucky the NHL even tells us upper body bs lower body. Guy smacks his head on the ice and is knocked out and it's "upper body injury".
That story a page or two back about the HS FB player staying on the bench with a torn artery is scary. Not the risk of bleeding to death--those popliteal artery injuries shut off circulation and you don't have much time to fix it. A shocking number of those injuries result in amputation because docs waste time getting tests. Kid was lucky not to lose his leg.
I do ok.
Samuel Johnson famously said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." If here were writing today I reckon he'd add: "Insults are the last refuge of an asshole who is wrong on the internet."
Blowhards like Stephen A. and Costas will prattle on about "momentum" and "inspiration" because it gives them something to talk about when they have nothing else to say, which is pretty darn often. It's what they're paid to do. Players parrot such nonsense when it's convenient. It's not that Lillard was lying, it's that he was saying the easy thing that the press wanted to hear. He could have said "Yeah I saw Nurkic on the bench. That was nice, I guess, but what really matters is my focus and preparation." But then the blowhards would make up some BS about how he's selfish or a bad teammate and folks like you would buy it. Focus is what really matters, and preparation allows athletes to sustain that focus in the moments when the pressure is greatest. We saw Cousins lose focus repeatedly last night down the stretch. His teammates didn't and saved his ass.
The notion that athletes as accomplished as Steph, Klay and Draymond would perform at a higher level because of the emotional boost of seeing their injured teammate sitting on the bench is pretty insulting, really. These guys aren't dumb jocks. They are legends because they are very smart and very dedicated. They showed it last night. Their motivation extends so far beyond what we see on the court. When motivation and inspiration really comes into play is when players decide watch extra video even though their vision is going blurry from staring at a screen, or squeeze in a workout even though they are exhausted. The best evidence we saw of that last night was the timing of Iguodala doubling Leonard, and Draymond fronting Gasol on the last play. It was perfect. That comes from hard work and intelligence. Not from “feeding off the crowd” or any other rah-rah BS.
Beyond that, we're talking about one of the great sports Dynasties of our lifetimes. I'm no Warriors fan. I'm rooting for the Raptors. But I have enough self awareness to avoid pretending I know best how these guys should handle themselves on and off the court. I'm pretty sure they know what they're doing. They've pretty much proved it. They are the model of professionalism and success. Not the fucking plucky Blazers. But despite their success, they have to deal with a daily barrage of Stephen A and a bunch of fat old white dudes telling them who they should be, how they should act and how they should play. Durant's move to play for the Warriors sure wasn't the bravest move of all time, but I respect and support the way he treats reporters like idiots when they deserve it. I wonder how he'd reply to your expert opinion.
*mic drop*
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You seem to have a keen insight on Nurkic (who the fuck even is that?) versus KD. And their respective responses to injury.
I was just curious if you were a professional sports journalist...or just an unemployed blazers blowhard who relies on his wife for an allowance.
cool)))
Happy to clarify. You were blabbing about Nurkic's response to his injury and comparing that to KD's. So you are talking about their 'respective responses to injury'. Does that help?
And in the context of KDs catastrophic injury, you're focused on whether he sits on the bench or not.
I'm guessing unemployed trophy husband blazers homer, not sports journalist.
The Athletic has reported that Kyrie Irving will turn down his player option on July 1st and become a free agent.
Jesus Christ. I like how KD is somehow criticized for leaving the arena early and is therefore a wuss / selfish and the Warriors are simultaneously criticized for letting him play.