If losing All-Star forward David Lee for the remainder of game
one versus Denver wasn’t enough, well, now Lee is out for the remainder of the
postseason with a torn hip flexor.

David Lee went down with a hip flexor injury, but the severity wasn’t
known at the time of the injury. All you could hope for was that he would be
healthy enough to play game two. But he certainly isn’t healthy enough and you
could tell as he yelled in pain saying “it popped.”

There are three grades of hip flexor injuries: grade 1 (strained), grade
2 (partial tear), and grade 3 (complete tear) and Lee has a tear. More about
Lee’s injury will be discussed about when the Warriors open up more information about the injury to the media.

Lee was a key player for the Warriors all season long. While he scored
just ten points in Saturday’s game, he did contribute 14 rebounds and became a
crucial player in the paint.

Carl Landry will have to now take over Lee’s starting role for the
remainder of the postseason. Landry is a good player off the bench, but he can’t
contribute in the ways Lee can. David Lee scores more consistently and is a
better all-around player. Landry is a good all-around player, but he doesn’t
provide the consistency that Lee does.

Not only was David Lee a great contributor, but he was probably the most
aggressive player to the rim. He would attack the hoop with force and knew how
to draw fouls, and when he went to the line, he was basically automatic.

The injury to Lee also gives the Nuggets the ability to put all emphasis,
at least most of it, on defending the Warriors’ dominant backcourt in Stephen
Curry and Klay Thompson. Both can score loads of points, but the Nuggets were
defending Curry tough and made him force up shots. Curry started out the game
0-for-7 from the field and showed how tough the Nuggets’porous and quick defense
was to get through.

There was a lot of emphasis put on defending David Lee. Lee had trouble
scoring (10 points while going 4-for-14 from the field), and without Lee, the
Nuggets have les to worry about in the frontcourt. Yes, there is big-man Andrew
Bogut who has been increasing his production throughout the season, but he can’t
match up with Denver’s athleticism. Denver is too quick and you could tell. 
 
Ty Lawson is a very quick guard. While he scored just 12 points, he had
three steals and showed a lot on the defensive end. 
 
Golden State has trouble defending quick and athletic-type guards. Curry
and Thompson are good, but they have had trouble defending quick and athletic
guards. For example, take a look at what happened back when the last time the
Warriors played the Utah Jazz. Utah features an extremely quick guard in Mo
Williams. Williams scored 25 points in that game on April 7th (the Jazz won that game against the Warriors in Oakland 97-90), and forced the Warriors to wait one
more game to clinch a playoff spot.

Not only is Lawson tough to defend, but Andre Miller showed how tough he
is to defend. He hit the winning layup with 1.3 seconds left and scored 28
points with five assists. 

In the regular season, David Lee averaged a double-double every game
(18.5 points and 11.2 rebounds). Without him, there is one less dimension to the
Warriors’ offense. If the Warriors end up winning two games in the series, it
would almost be a series win considering how big of a blow it is losing David
Lee. Curry and Thompson can score a lot, but with the way Denver has pressured
Curry, there is very little chance the Warriors end up winning the series.

Eastern Conference
#1 Miami Heat vs. #8 Milwaukee Bulls: Heat in 4
#4 Brooklyn Nets vs. #5 Chicago Bulls: Nets in 7
#3 Indiana Pacers vs. #6 Atlanta Hawks: Pacers in 6
#2 New York Knicks vs. #7 Boston Celtics: Knicks in 6
Western Conference
#1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. #8 Houston Rockets: Thunder in 4
#4 Los Angeles Clippers vs. #5 Memphis Grizzlies: Clippers in 7
#3 Denver Nuggets vs. #6 Golden State Warriors: Nuggets in 6
#2 San Antonio Spurs vs. #7 Los Angeles Lakers: Spurs in 5

If the 10-1 drubbing by the Tigers on Sunday didn’t show why
Jarrod Parker is struggling, you need to look back at his previous two
outings.


In Parker’s last start against the Angels on April
9th, Parker pitched just 3 1/3 innings. While he only gave up two
earned runs, he was lucky that that was all he gave up. He gave up nine hits and
threw just 74 pitches. Luckily, for him, the A’s ended up winning that game. 


Parker’s latest outing proved to be no better. He gave up eight
earned-runs in just 3.1 innings to increase his ERA from 6.48 to a staggering
10.80. Parker never seemed to get much velocity on his pitches. His
highest-recorded pitch, based on velocity from what I saw, was around 92 MPH.
Most of his other pitches were in the mid-80’s and Detroit batters were all over
him. Austin Jackson hit two singles and a homerun off of Parker. When Parker got
the nod from manager Bob Melvin to be taken out of the game, some of the fans at
O.co Coliseum booed.


The first start for Jarrod Parker wasn’t one to be considered
“good” either. Parker gave up four runs in five innings and recorded a loss. 


This season, Parker is 0-2 and keeps on getting destroyed by the
opposing hitters. Parker has struck out just four batters all year and walked
eight batters. He has averaged throwing just under 82 pitches per game and has
become the worst pitcher in the A’s rotation, and he is the number-two pitcher
in the starting rotation for Oakland.


Being the number-two pitcher for most teams is great, and being
it for Oakland is a very good thing due to the fact that there rotation is
loaded with young talent, excluding Bartolo Colon, an experienced veteran. But
if you have a 10.80 ERA, that shows that you don’t deserve to be the number-two
pitcher and none of Parker’s starts have been quality starts.


But it isn’t time to start overreacting yet because we have seen
Jarrod Parker’s potential, especially last season as he was a key part in the
Oakland rotation down the stretch to help lead the A’s to their first AL-West
Division Title in six years.