The injury bug has completely ruined the Eastern Conference playoffs and Tyrese Haliburton is the latest to get bit

Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Mike Sykes

Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you’ve got a great weekend ahead of you. Those Memorial Day cookouts are about to be popping!

Hopefully, we get some good playoff basketball to go along with that in these Conference Finals. That might be tough in the Eastern Conference, though.

Things were already starting to pull away against the Pacers in Game 2 of the ECF against the Celtics, but then everything unraveled after Tyrese Haliburton left with a hamstring injury.

That’s the same hamstring he injured in January in January against the Celtics. It’s been plaguing throughout the season. For it to pop up again now, at the worst possible time, is just awful luck.

That’s generally how it’s been going in the Eastern Conference, though. Six of the eight teams in the playoffs have seen key players either miss time in the postseason with injuries or be severely hampered by them.

• New York Knicks: Jalen Brunson (fractured hand), OG Anunoby (strained hamstring), Mitchell Robinson (Stress fracture)
• Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Calf strain), Damian Lillard (Achilles soreness)
• Cleveland Cavaliers: Donovan Mitchell (calf strain), Jarrett Allen (pierced rib)
• Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring strain)
• Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid (knee soreness)
• Miami Heat: Jimmy Butler (MCL Sprain)

Obviously, health isn’t a factor anyone can control. It’s always a big part of the conversation in the playoffs — the teams that can stay the healthiest are the ones that usually make the deepest runs. That’s why it’s not shocking to see Boston, Minnesota and Dallas playing as well as they are right now.

But, man. What happened to the East this year is just plain weird. Hopefully, we’ll have better luck next year.

How is Lonzo Ball walking?!?

I’ve been wondering what’s going on with Lonzo Ball for a while now.

It’s been two full NBA seasons since we last saw him on a basketball court. Obviously, his knee injury is the reason why. But I’ve always wondered just how the injury got so bad that it required him to rehab for this long.

Well, folks. Now we know.

Ball gave us the nitty gritty on his knee injury on his new “What an Experience” podcast with his friend, DMo. And, well, yeah, I get it now, Zo.

Here are the details from Ball himself:

“To make a long story short, ultimately, it started with a meniscus tear. It basically started with the Lakers when I tore it the first time. Tore it a couple more times to a point to where there was no more meniscus left. Bone on bone was rubbing. So the cartilage was gone and the bone was messed up. So I had to get new meniscus from a donor, I had to get a bone allograft and I had to get some new cartilage put in as well. All that healed up and now I’m back on the court.”

Fam. It sounds like the doctors essentially rebuilt Ball’s knee. That’s rough. That’s why he’s been out for so long. All of that is going to take a while to recover from.

I hope we get to see Ball on a basketball court soon. But, more than that, I hope his knee is good after all that. Sheesh.

Shootaround

— Could Bronny James be a first-round pick? Bryan Kalbrosky has more here.

— Jaylen Brown doesn’t care about the All-NBA team. He’s got bigger fish to fry with the Celtics.

— Donovan Clingan has some fans in Atlanta’s front office. Watch out for him at No. 1.

— Robert Zeglinski wrote about this awesome NBA TikTok trend that makes role players look like stars. I love this so much.

That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for rocking with us today! We appreciate you. Have a fantastic weekend. Peace!

-Sykes ✌️