Before the first weekend of the NBA playoffs even concluded, we had a clear winner: Injuries.
Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant both were forced to exit their playoff-opening contests Sunday after taking nasty falls when opposing players sought to draw charging calls against them. With Antetokounmpo’s back ailing, and Morant’s right hand in so much pain that he couldn’t untether a balled-up pair of socks, the entire postseason outlook potentially shifts. Case in point: The Bucks and Grizzlies dropped their respective Game 1s to No. 8 and No. 7 seeds, respectively, following the injuries. (Miami’s Tyler Herro, last year’s Sixth Man award winner, also got hurt, breaking his right hand.)
The timing of the maladies called into question whether the NBA’s charge/block rules make sense anymore in a league where speed and athleticism are greater than they’ve ever been. The reality is they don’t; at least not as they are written for the moment. Too much is riding on the shoulders of the star players who make these sorts of plays possible in the first place. There shouldn’t be an incentive for defensive players to position themselves in a way to invite that sort of highly risky contact several times per game.
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