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The San Antonio Spurs were done as title contenders the minute they revealed Manu Ginobili was lost for the year. Boston might be, too, if Kevin Garnett can't return.The Spurs hoped to meet the Lakers, and the Celtics were expected to battle the Cavaliers in a marquee final four. Now maybe nothing can prevent a Kobe Bryant-LeBron James showdown in the NBA finals.
But watching Brad Miller spit out blood before shooting two crucial free throws, or a woozy Courtney Lee taken to a hospital after being clobbered in the head - by his own teammate, no less - was a reminder that even those presumed finalists from Los Angeles and Cleveland could be one mistimed injury away from becoming an ordinary team.
Or as Hornets coach Byron Scott warned before the playoffs: ''With the better teams, it probably comes down to who stays the healthiest. The farther the series goes, the more your best players can get hurt and the series can change quickly.''
And it happens often in the playoffs, when the hits become harder and there's less time between games to heal the injuries they cause.
Miami seized the home-court advantage in its series with Atlanta, then quickly gave it back when Dwyane Wade was in such pain from back spasms that he had to be helped from his seat on the bench.
Being good helps. Come playoff time, being healthy might count more.
''You just can't afford (injuries) when you play the best teams in the league,'' Houston coach Rick Adelman said. ''You can't afford it when you play them in a seven-game series.''
Adelman knows from experience, be it losing Chris Webber in the postseason to a knee injury when he was in Sacramento, or having to play without Yao Ming just last year in Houston.
Many NBA coaches have a similar story - sometimes even a few of them.
''There's an element of luck involved in winning a championship,'' Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. ''You have to have it, or at least can't be unlucky.''The former Phoenix coach can point to Joe Johnson's facial fracture that sidelined him late in the 2005 postseason, or even a freak cut on Steve Nash's nose that couldn't be contained, forcing him to sit out most of the last 2 minutes of a loss to San Antonio in the opener of a series two years later.
The one that stands out to D'Antoni was from the 2006 Western Conference finals, when the Suns' Raja Bell and Dallas forward Josh Howard were both injured in a Game 1 victory for Phoenix. Howard made it back for Game 2, Bell didn't, and the Mavericks went on to win the series.
''If it was just flip-flopped, if Raja Bell comes back 100 (percent) and Josh doesn't, then we probably could have won the series, which was a conference final, then been in the finals,'' D'Antoni said.
The Spurs were hurt the most this year, unable to overcome Ginobili's absence and eliminated by Dallas, ousted in the opening round for the first time since 2000 - when an injured Tim Duncan was sidelined with a knee injury.
The Celtics have to believe they could have eliminated the Bulls by now if they had not only Garnett (knee) but also Leon Powe (knee), his injured backup. Chicago could argue it could have already completed the upset if it had normal starting forward Luol Deng, out with a leg injury.
Already knowing they'll be without the suspended Dwight Howard for Game 6, the Magic could be in further trouble if they're also without Lee, whose status was unknown after Howard inadvertently hit him in the head while trying to block a shot early in Game 5.
Sometimes, the player doesn't even have to be knocked out to swing a game - or potentially a series.
Miller was bloodied on a drive to the basket after taking a shot to the mouth on a hard foul by the Celtics' Rajon Rondo with 2 seconds left in overtime and Chicago trailing 106-104. Clearly shaken even after attending to his injury, Miller missed badly on the first free throw, failed to hit the rim while attempting to miss the second on purpose, and the Celtics hung on to take a 3-2 lead.
All the injuries could not only leave the Cavs and Lakers as the best teams, but also the healthiest. With Ben Wallace returning for Cleveland and Andrew Bynum back for the Lakers, both are as close to full strength as a team could hope.
Unlike the Spurs.
''We're disappointed because we didn't have everything available to us come playoff time,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ''That's probably as important as anything, figure out a way to have best opportunity to have everybody healthy for the playoffs.''
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