It all comes down to his ill-fated dunk attempt. Unfortunate? Certainly. Unnecessary? Definitely. Surprising? Maybe not. Avoidable? Maybe. A lot of people would disagree with me on those last two. So let’s take a closer look.Was the injury surprising?
It’s safe to say that no one expected Tony Allen to get carried off the court after missing a dunk in the third quarter of last night’s game. However, is it that inconceivable that he could get hurt dunking a basketball? It wasn’t even a full week ago that I was talking with a coworker about how amazing it was that Allen did not sustain an injury while dunking against the Grizzlies. Watch how he lands. Even at his best there is a certain amount of chaos in Allen’s game. Which brings me to the second question.
Was the injury avoidable?
I completely understand the point of view that Allen had no business going up for the dunk. If your watch the clip again it’s clear that everybody but Allen has conceded that the play was over. And it’s not like Tony is above showboating. You could even argue that he’s all for it. However, I believe there’s something more at play here. Allen is the type of player who approaches every aspect of the game the same way. Just last night Mike Gorman marveled at Tony’s boundless energy on the court. Unfortunately Allen has not quite figured out how to turn down that intensity. Some guys never do. (See Kevin Garnett). So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the same fire that propels him to record seven steals in one game may also lead him to try dunks at meaningless times. Ideally with age and maturity a player learns when to turn it on and off. However, I’ll always take Tony Allen and his occasionally misguided exuberance over guys who don’t seem to care at times.
In conclusion, lay off. You think Tony won't be running that play through his head over and over again for the next however many months? This was a guy who was finally establishing himself after 2 plus roller coaster seasons. And in the blink of an eye it's over.
2 comments:
Tony's injury is the most depressing thing to happen to the Celtics in quite some time. I watched the replay of the game yesterday just to get a feel for how well they were playing before his fall. The promise Danny made of a youth movement seemed to be blossoming against the pacers, Al, Gerald, Tony and even Sebastian and Perk seemed to be realizing their potential. Very upsetting. I just hope that the rest of those guys continue to grow, we get a great draft pick, trade west & wally and come back next year with some real identity.
Good point. At this point I'd love to see Bassy get regular minutes and take off as a player.
Post a Comment