This time of year, everybody’s got something.
Busted fingers, balky backs, banged-up elbows. It’s the cost of admission to May and June basketball, which is the only basketball that should matter. I get that “Ringz Culture” is derided in our more advanced age of thinking. But we do this every year to find out who the best team is. It’s not volunteer/charity hoops. If you’re not hurting after damn near 100 games, including the regular season and playoffs, you probably don’t deserve to be playing for a championship.
That’s why no one here was all that surprised when Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith strapped up his sprained ankle and suited up for Game 4 against the New York Knicks.
Not just because the 25-year-old Nesmith is a tough cuss. Not just because physical therapy for injuries has never been more detailed or administered by more people on a team’s medical and therapy staff than ever. But because the playoffs require you, if you’re not dead or you don’t have a shredded ligament in your lower extremities, to give it a go. You won’t always win, and you won’t always play well. But you have to play.
Read more on Nesmith and the Pacers below.
GO FURTHER
In NBA playoffs, playing injured is the expectation. Aaron Nesmith has met the moment
