Injuries That Doomed Championship-Caliber Teams

Ten years after former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress inconceivably shot himself in the leg while carrying a loaded gun in a Manhattan nightclub in November 2008, ESPN's Jordan Raanan detailed everything that went right for Big Blue ahead of that evening and all that went wrong for Plax and the Giants after the gunshot heard 'round the club. The Giants, reigning Super Bowl champions that fall, won 10 of their first 11 games heading into Thanksgiving weekend, and quarterback Eli Manning seemed poised to defend his Super Bowl MVP crown. 

Burress' crucial lapse of judgment that finished his season and, ultimately, his Giants career left a void in the team's offense. Manning lost his favorite red-zone target and down-the-field safety blanket, someone who couldn't be replaced by a December signing. New York defeated the Washington Redskins in the club's first game without Burress, but the Giants lost three of their remaining four regular-season contests, and the division rival Philadelphia Eagles eliminated the G-Men from the playoffs in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It's the title and opportunity that got away from a Giants franchise that legitimately could have evolved into a dynasty.

After Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley torched the Detroit Lions for 132 rushing yards and a pair of scores in December 2018, Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times quipped that the 24-year-old ball carrier was "back in the running." Mr. Klein spoke too soon. Gurley topped 100 rushing yards in his team's playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, but he was downright anonymous in the NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints. Many, including Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports, speculated ahead of Super Bowl LIII that something was off. 

Sallee and others were correct. The Rams managed only a field goal in their 13-3 loss to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, and CBS Sports' Dave Richard confirmed in June through Gurley's trainer that the back is playing through an "arthritic component to his knee" that stems from the torn ACL he suffered in 2014. Gurley tallied a paltry 35 rushing yards on 10 carries against the Patriots during a game that was tied after three quarters. Logic suggests he could've altered football history if healthy.

The 2018 Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid featured a pair of high-powered attacks. On one side, the Spanish giants possessed stars and goal-creators such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Karim Benzema. Liverpool, meanwhile, started Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and 2017-18 Premier League Golden Boot winner Mohamed Salah. Salah's impact on the game ended abruptly, however, after he suffered a serious shoulder injury, as described by BBC Sport, following a clash with Real defender Sergio Ramos in the 26th minute. 

A healthy Egyptian King may not have prevented Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius's horror show, and Salah likely could have done little to keep Gareth Bale's second-half wonder strike from hitting the back of the net. But Salah had no fitness concerns when the Reds downed Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 European Final, suggesting that Liverpool might have been going for back-to-back titles if not for Ramos' questionable and potentially red-card worthy defending the previous spring.

It's one of the most famous plays in MLB history that gave us a gift of a call from legendary broadcaster Vin Scully: "Little roller up along first. Behind the bag. It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it." When Mookie Wilson's routine ground ball went through the legs of Boston Red Sox infielder Bill Buckner in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, the error cemented an incredible comeback that night for the New York Mets, and many blamed Buckner for years, even decades, after the Amazins won Game 7 at Shea Stadium.

It's now public knowledge Buckner wasn't 100 percent and probably shouldn't have been standing anywhere near first for that pivotal moment. In October 2011, ESPN's Mike Simon explained the veteran infielder was playing with "a severely injured Achilles" which had bothered him for over a decade. It's possible a healthy Buckner would've easily bent over, gobbled the grounder, and extended a 5-5 game further into extra innings.

The official record book contains no asterisk next to the 2019 Toronto Raptors, as Toronto defeated the available Golden State Warriors roster in the Finals. Nevertheless, skeptics will always wonder what the Raptors would've achieved against a fully healthy Warriors squad. Two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant missed the first four games of the series because of an injured right calf, and he looked like the player of old in Game 5 until a ruptured Achilles ended his postseason.

That's only the beginning. Center DeMarcus Cousins suffered what head coach Steve Kerr told reporters was a "significant quad injury" on April 15. While Cousins played in the Finals, he visibly wasn't at his All-Star best. If all of that wasn't enough, sharpshooter Klay Thompson tore his ACL, per ESPN's Nick Friedell, right as he was activating "Game 6 Klay" mode. 

Clearly, some force or being out there did not want the Warriors to three-peat and win a fourth title in five years. Maybe Michael Jordan works in mysterious ways.

Hockey players are notoriously tougher than the rest of us. As Tarik El-Bashir of NBC Sports Washington pointed out, Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik lost part of his pinky near the end of Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, but he had that sucker reattached and kept on playing without missing a second of a game. Not to be outdone, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara told reporters that he played the last three contests of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final against the St. Louis Blues with "multiple fractures in his jaw" after taking a puck to the face in Game 4. 

There's more. Per The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa, Chara "was mostly on a liquid diet" from June 3 through June 12, the last day of the series. Looking at the numbers provided by ESPN, one can see Chara's on-the-ice time was slightly affected, but he heroically played through the rest of the Final and even scored in Boston's must-win Game 6. A good steak might've been all Chara needed to carry the Bruins to yet another trophy-raising ceremony, but, alas, the Blues drank from Lord Stanley's chalice after taking Game 7.

Any unbiased observer who watched the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final between the United States and the Netherlands could see by halftime the Americans were the better and deeper side. U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher had little to do other than serve as a spectator throughout the encounter, and Rose Lavelle's goal in the 69th minute expanded Team USA's advantage to 2-0 and essentially put the match to bed. With that said, Holland possibly could have put up more of a fight had Dutch midfielder Lieke Martens, the 2017 UEFA Women's Player of the Year and 2017 FIFA Best Women's Player, begun the game healthy. 

As ESPN's Graham Hays wrote, a foot injury limited Martens' availability to only a half of action in Holland's semifinal win over Sweden, and her impact on the Final was minimal minus a couple of transitional attacks that went nowhere for the Oranje. As much credit as the U.S. back line, a unit with several questions hovering over it ahead of the tournament, earned for its play during the competition, Martens had in the past shown she possessed the athleticism and on-the-ball skill to challenge that defense. Instead, a Netherlands attack that left much to be desired in each stage of the World Cup ran out of gas facing arguably the greatest women's team to ever win a major tournament.