Kyle Lowry's Elbow Injury - to rest, or not to rest...

[KeonClark]

A swollen/bruised/whatever elbow? Rest. Ice. Compression. There is absolutely 0 chance that "rest makes it worse" that's ridiculous.

It would almost be comical to come this far and have such a succesful year, rest lowry and random games and blow them, and then when he's actually hurt with 2 weeks to go, run him into the ground. Not surprising, but comical.

If we get rolled in the first round again with a useless lowry and a non existent carroll, it's past casey, I start losing faith in the WHOLE management team.

[JWash]

Nobody said rest makes it worse so I'm not really sure what you're quoting, Kyle said the rest isn't helping so the only logical solution at that point is to play through it and try to stay in game shape.

[JWash]

Kyle on whether rest would help

I don't think so. We tried to do the rest, we were precautionary in Boston ... then it got hit a couple times and it flared back up. Like I said, tonight we took care of it ... we've got a day in between (games) to get some treatment and hopefully it goes down and I can get back to my normal self.

[DanH]

If Lowry kept himself in better shape last year he wouldn't have gotten hurt.

Chris Paul is having to carry the Clippers without Blake right now and he's doing just fine. Is Doc Rivers a coaching savant?

Chris Paul is averaging 33 minutes on the year (lowest of his career), and 34 minutes per game (would be second lowest of his career) since Griffin went down. And he's doing just fine, you say?

Well, how is that any different from our PG, carrying our team? He's playing the same number of minutes on the year (37 is the same as 33, right? Only adds up to about 400 extra minutes played this year. Also, his career high!). And he's only played 39 minutes per game since the ORL game when he hurt his elbow, that's definitely better and completely comparable to Paul's near-career-low minutes since Griffin went out!

Doc Rivers, coaching savant, or just reasonably competent? You decide!

[DanH]

Kyle on whether rest would help

When did they try to do the rest? For a couple days? Woo! Nice try guys, didn't work, let's just reaggravate the injury instead.

[JWash]

Chris Paul is averaging 33 minutes on the year (lowest of his career), and 34 minutes per game (would be second lowest of his career) since Griffin went down. And he's doing just fine, you say?

Well, how is that any different from our PG, carrying our team? He's playing the same number of minutes on the year (37 is the same as 33, right? Only adds up to about 400 extra minutes played this year. Also, his career high!). And he's only played 39 minutes per game since the ORL game when he hurt his elbow, that's definitely better and completely comparable to Paul's near-career-low minutes since Griffin went out!

Doc Rivers, coaching savant, or just reasonably competent? You decide!

Yes because 400 extra minutes in the context of a season is career damaging. Makes almost no difference whatsoever.

Guys used to play in excess of 40 minutes per game and not get hurt. These guys are professional athletes and should be able to handle the workload.

[Barolt]

By 'we tried to do the rest', what he means is he got two games off.

Let's look at those.

Situation 1: Detroit game. Played 42 minutes two days earlier, played 40 minutes two days later.

Situation 2: Boston game. Played 40 minutes 3 days earlier, played 41 minutes two days later.

That's not rest!!

That's like finding a guy with a gaping chest wound and giving him an aspirin.

[DanH]

I didn't say a Lowry injury would have no effect on our playoff performance? How about reading what I actually write instead of creating points and making assumptions? I said the exact OPPOSITE earlier. The hope is that he will be fine for playoffs. He said that rest isn't helping the issue, so the logical move is to keep playing and try to at least get the benefit of being in game shape for the playoffs.

Yeah, just like last season. He was hurt basically the entire second half of the year, waited way too long to rest his injuries, didn't recover in time, and voila! Playoff magic.

[JWash]

By 'we tried to do the rest', what he means is he got two games off.

Let's look at those.

Situation 1: Detroit game. Played 42 minutes two days earlier, played 40 minutes two days later.

Situation 2: Boston game. Played 40 minutes 3 days earlier, played 41 minutes two days later.

That's not rest!!

That's like finding a guy with a gaping chest wound and giving him an aspirin.

Well Kyle seems to think it's rest and considering he's directly interacting with trainers and coaching staff, I'd like to think he knows what he's talking about.

[JWash]

Yeah, just like last season. He was hurt basically the entire second half of the year, waited way too long to rest his injuries, didn't recover in time, and voila! Playoff magic.

Don't see how this is like last season at all, but sure.

[DanH]

Yes because 400 extra minutes in the context of a season is career damaging. Makes almost no difference whatsoever.

Guys used to play in excess of 40 minutes per game and not get hurt. These guys are professional athletes and should be able to handle the workload.

There's a reason players are seeing their minutes reduce every year - training staffs are getting smarter. We used to dye our hats with mercury and line our pipes with asbestos too, but we don't do that anymore. We got smarter.

[JWash]

There's a reason players are seeing their minutes reduce every year - training staffs are getting smarter. We used to dye our hats with mercury and line our pipes with asbestos too, but we don't do that anymore. We got smarter.

Why does DeMar never have any issues then? He has almost the same career mileage (17K vs 19K minutes) as Lowry and basically never gets hurt. You gotta be able to handle what you're asked to do.

[Barolt]

Why does DeMar never have any issues then?

There's exceptions to every rule. They aren't reducing minutes for every player in the league because everyone used to get hurt, but because it increased the chances of guys getting hurt.

Preventative medicine isn't a new practice.

[KeonClark]

This is pretty cut and dry imo. 2nd seed is all clinched. Health >> wins. But surely it's important to win a few games and go into the playoffs with momentum right? Well here's the thing: starting "injured kyle lowry" leads to losses anyways. And it increases the chance that injured kyle lowry is still here in the playoffs. Why not sit him for a week to 10 days, get him 100% healthy, and then get beast mode kyle back for re last 3 or 4 games as a tune up and to get that winning momentum, firing on all cylinders? Heck we could get lucky and get healthy kyle, healthy Carroll, and last night is like a bad dream.

It's like driving your car and hearing engine problems and going "ah it's nothing" hoping it will fix itself, instead of taking it to the shop take the bus for a few days and have the car humming beautifully before a big road trip.

[JWash]

There's exceptions to every rule. They aren't reducing minutes for every player in the league because everyone used to get hurt, but because it increased the chances of guys getting hurt.

Preventative medicine isn't a new practice.

No, because he stays in the shape required to produce and not get hurt.