National Basketball Association

Bosh latest in rash of NBA injuries

Published May. 15, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Add the Miami Heat to an ever-growing list of NBA playoff teams that have succumb to a nameless, faceless foe.

The cruel, out-of-nowhere, stun-you-silent injury bug.

On Sunday, in Miami’s Game 1 win over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, All-Star power forward Chris Bosh bulled to the hoop and dunked with venom late in the second quarter, straining a lower abdominal muscle in the process. The team has no timetable on his return as the series resumes tonight, and Bosh even admitted after the game that “this season has to be extended for me to play again.”

Abdominal strains are tricky for an NBA player. Some have returned from the injury after a week, in other cases it takes a month. Such an ailment also limits one’s explosiveness and reach — critical qualities to the 6-foot-11 Bosh’s game.

“I’m not sure,” Bosh replied when asked about his return yesterday. “You know, there are so many curveballs thrown in my career, throughout this season, nothing would surprise me. But I want to be out there and play with my team. That’s the most important thing.”

Bosh is the latest injury casualty in this season’s playoffs. Chicago’s Derrick Rose (knee) and Joakim Noah (ankle), and New York’s Iman Shumpert (knee) and Baron Davis (knee) — and even Amar’e Stoudemire, whose cut on his hand was self inflicted — have all missed games. The L.A. Clippers’ Chris Paul (hip) and Blake Griffin (knee) are walking wounded.

Perhaps the compacted, 66-game NBA schedule was the cause of all those bug bites. The regular season, which began on Christmas, was a prolonged sprint with little recovery time. Clubs played an average of two extra games per month.

“The one thing I do know, we’ve had more lost games because of injuries because the compressed schedule takes away a day of rest for a minor injury,” NBA commissioner David Stern told the CBS Sports Network. “And therefore the player is kept out by his coach for what is a game that would have been an off day before."

The severity of Bosh’s injury could have an impact on teammate LeBron James’ legacy. James, a three-time NBA MVP, is 0-2 thus far in the Finals. He is trying to get the monkey of his back this season as the Heat looked like the prohibitive favorites to win it all. Bosh’s injury certainly impacts those chances.

“We’re moving on as if he’s not going to return in this series, but we’ll see,” James told reporters yesterday.

Bosh is sometimes the overlooked member of the Heat’s Big Three, which includes James and guard Dwyane Wade, who already won a ring with Miami in 2006. With one of the legs of that tripod now kicked out, the pressure — fair or not — will be on James to keep the team upright.

The knock on the Heat is that those three stars — who came together presumably to dominate all challengers — are not enough to beat a team that plays all-for-one basketball. Just last June the Dallas Mavericks upset Miami in the NBA Finals, winning in six games, by feeding Dick Nowitzki and out-foxing them with a deep, savvy roster.

Now, it’ll be James and Wade completely leading the push if Bosh can’t return. Of the two, it’ll be up to James to fill more of Bosh’s void. Miami will use Udonis Haslem, Ronny Turiaf and Joel Anthony for stretches, but James can create mismatch problems offensively at power forward. Shane Battier, a superb defender on the wing, could then cover at small forward and guard Indiana’s Danny Granger.

Still, Pacers All-Star center Roy Hibbert will now be an issue. Tough frontcourts await should the Heat advance, too, including the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference, and the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.

If the Heat are to survive, James will need to play bigger than ever before.

“It does stink,” James said, “but we look forward to the challenge.”