As the NBA regular season winds down and the playoffs loom closer, teams are praying that their key players escape serious injuries. Unfortunately for a few squads last week, these prayers went unanswered.
The Philadelphia 76ers lost star shooting guard Allen Iverson for the next four weeks with a broken bone in his left hand. Iverson, who leads the league in scoring with 31.4 points per game, fractured the bone in his non-shooting hand during the first half of a March 22 victory at Boston. The reigning MVP is expected to return to action for the playoffs if the hand heals according to schedule.
Without Iverson, however, Philadelphia is not even a lock to qualify for the postseason. Although the team currently resides in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, with a mediocre 36-32 record, the Sixers will have trouble winning without Iverson in the lineup. Philadelphia is winless in eight games without Iverson so far this season.
Furthermore, injuries to other key players will ensure that the void left by Iverson will not be well filled. Guard Aaron McKie has been battling a sprained left ankle for nearly two months, hasn't played a game in March, and still does not appear to be back in playing condition. Forward Derek Coleman, whose 15 points and nine rebounds a game have provided surprising boosts to the Sixers this season, has torn cartilage in his knee and will be day-to-day for the next month. If the team does not want to fall out of playoff contention in Iverson's absence, Eric Snow and Speedy Claxton will have to dramatically increase their offensive production.
One team that could have capitalized on Philadelphia's late season misfortune is the Toronto Raptors. But the emphasis is on "could have" - Vince Carter decided last week to undergo surgery on his left knee, which will sideline him for the rest of the year. Despite their 31-38 record, the Raptors were just 4.5 games out of the final playoff spot, but will likely be unable to surge into the postseason.
The Raptors have been the worst team in the league since the All Star break, losing 17 of their past 19 games after starting 29-21. Although seven of those losses came without Carter in the lineup, even Air Canada himself could not stop the club's drastic fall from third to eleventh place in the East. Having conceded the remainder of this season, the Raptors did not want Carter to risk further, possibly chronic injury.
Although the Raptors have deferred their playoff dreams for another year, the Washington Wizards clearly still hope they can salvage this season. Five days before Michael Jordan was scheduled to make his return from knee surgery, his Airness was back in action last Wednesday. Coming off the bench for the first time since 1986, Jordan scored seven points on 2-9 shooting in only 16 minutes of action.
The choice to bring Jordan back prematurely was an indication of the urgency felt by Washington's management. On the eve of his return, the Wizards stood 2.5 games behind Indiana for the final playoff spot in the East, having gone just 4-8 in Jordan's absence. While the team can win the occasional game without its leading scorer, it simply needs Jordan playing in order to win consistently. The confidence that Jordan provides his teammates is invaluable, even if it does come with him as a bench-player. This is the role that Jordan will assume until his health approaches 100 percent, but his presence on the floor should give the Wizards the lift they need to make the playoffs for the first time in five years.
In the Western Conference, Denver Nuggets' guard Tim Hardaway broke his left foot Saturday in a contest against the Seattle Supersonics. With the Nuggets having been eliminated from the playoffs since November, the injury is actually a blessing for the 12-year veteran, who will be fortunate enough to miss the remainder of the team's games this season. Traded from the playoff-bound Dallas Mavericks to the lowly Nuggets in February, Hardaway has already let frustration with his new team surface. On March 15, Hardaway heaved a TV monitor onto the court after he was ejected from a game against the Orlando Magic for arguing with the referees. The monitor, having escaped serious damage, will be auctioned for charity. Hardaway, on the other hand, received a two-game suspension and a $10,000 fine.
