Is tough Juice becoming Orange Juice?

[Ji]

This guy is becoming larry hughes like fragile...its getting very frustrating.

[no D in Hibachi]

More like prune juice, and there has been nothing tough about his play of late. Last year and this year his play down the stretch has really taken a step back. I think he needs to pace himself throughout the season so he has something left for the end of the year. His play as of late has been less than inspiring.

[miller31time]

The scary thing is that he's having all of these injuries while he's young (27 or 28 ).

Doesn't bode well for his future. He will only get more fragile as he gets older.

[NetsForce]

It's hard to pinpoint why he keeps getting hurt as well. He seems to be in good shape, and by all accounts takes care of his body, I guess it's just bad luck and / or has something to do with the nature of his body.

[no D in Hibachi]

how long is he out for anyways?

[LyricalRico]

how long is he out for anyways?

I'd sit him until the playoffs. He's been terrible the last two games anyway.

[Rafael122]

He plays the game too hard. He still has to learn when to take it easy so to speak. The difference between Larry and Caron is that with Larry, if you pushed him, he'd pull a groin. With Caron, he breaks his hand b/c someone slapped it while dunking, or he bumps knees with someone. It's a mixture of just **** happens and his style of play.

[Soup's Uncle]

I don't think it's anything that we can prevent. He hurt the hip on a fall, the hand on an attempted block.

The knee probably was bothering him since after the bump with Songaila, and probably got worse after bumping into Stuckey.

It sucks, but it seems like its more of a coincedence thing...or a curse perhaps? jk

[hands11]

More like prune juice, and there has been nothing tough about his play of late. Last year and this year his play down the stretch has really taken a step back. I think he needs to pace himself throughout the season so he has something left for the end of the year. His play as of late has been less than inspiring.

Not sure he had a choose since GA was out. CB has a ton to do with why we are where we are.

Remember what happened when he didn't play?

Well, now that GA is back, CB gets to rest.

Don't ever question Touch Juice. He laid it on the line this year. So did AD and DS.

Things could have been a lot different if we were able to sign a player more then once for 10 days.

So again. I know teams like to shorten the bench come playoff time but we can't afford to do it as you saw tonight. We need to get our starters as much rest as possible while still winning. I think the best thing for this team is to play everyone short of OP in a blowout because we are still beat up.

[Rafael122]

Besides, giving Butler the rest might clue him in that in order for us to be successful in the playoffs, he needs to be like Chris Paul.

[hands11]

I hadn't thought about resting him but reading that...hmmm .. yeah.

Why not?

With all him injuries he pilled up, he could use the extra rest. Last time he got some, he came back strong. Actually AD comes back strong after rest also.

Rest him for the Indy came and go deeper into the bench.

Any word on Etan?

He has been practicing, right? I haven't heard boo between him and Haywood - LOL

[RickRoll_inDC]

TJ will be fine. We can beat Indiana w/o him and maybe even Orlando. Bring him back for the playoffs when we need him. Even if we lose both of the next 2 games, Philly would have to win the rest of theirs to catch us. Besides, i think we have the tie-breaker with them.

Butler still gets the "T" in front of his name. It is a bit of a concern with how big the Philly game was for him not to play. Usually one of your best players would play with a minor injury in such a huge game.

[hands11]

TJ will be fine. We can beat Indiana w/o him and maybe even Orlando. Bring him back for the playoffs when we need him. Even if we lose both of the next 2 games, Philly would have to win the rest of theirs to catch us. Besides, i think we have the tie-breaker with them.

Butler still gets the "T" in front of his name. It is a bit of a concern with how big the Philly game was for him not to play. Usually one of your best players would play with a minor injury in such a huge game.

Yeah but it was the same knee is smacked in practice last week.

We need a 2 week break before the playoffs.

Now TOR is right behind us.

TOR has 3 games - @ DET, MIA, @CHI
I guess if they loss to DET tomorrow we are in the clear.

Then Phili needs to beat CLE and CLE needs to loss to DET

Then we are in 4th

An extra home came against CLE could go a long way to keeping the refs out of influencing who wins. Not that I'm worried to much about that. We have our stars also.

[zardsfan]

I would like to see EJ rest Caron, Jamison, AD and Stevenson until the playoffs. Let Gil continue to knock the rust off while running the show with the young pups... I bet the Zards would still win at least one of the last two games anyway.

[WaltCulver]

The 76ers can't catch us anymore -- we're 2 games up with 2 to go, have tied the 76ers head-to-head for the season, and we have the better conference record. So our seeding is between 4th and 6th.
Toronto has a long-shot chance of catching us for 5th by playing out of its mind and we falter. But if we keep winning and Cleveland falters, we make 4th.
So, while not the only question out there, the likely question on the table is whether you rush Butler back to gain home-court advantage over Cleveland.

[Kanyewest]

Injuries or not, I still consider Caron Butler tough as indicated by his nickname. Basketball, contrary to perception out there, is a very physical game and Caron gives 100% when he's out there. I wish the best for Butler for a speedy recovery and return.

[Cramer]

I can't believe you guys are having this discussion, but if it's going to be had, I'm certainly not surprised Mr. The Sky is Falling started it.

[doclinkin]

He plays the game too hard. He still has to learn when to take it easy so to speak. The difference between Larry and Caron is that with Larry, if you pushed him, he'd pull a groin. With Caron, he breaks his hand b/c someone slapped it while dunking, or he bumps knees with someone. It's a mixture of just **** happens and his style of play.

The rest of the difference: Caron actually plays games with his broken thumb and doesn't tell anybody he broke it until the season is over (2 years ago). Anyone can catch an injury, toughness is about willing your way past the obstacles, whatever they are. I suspect the team made him sit out, because the fact is he always wants to be on court no matter what the pain is.

Still tough.

[omarvelous]

He plays the game too hard.

Does that make any sense though. They're in the NBA. It's their job to play hard. Sometimes players just have that kind of luck. But I think this will be a short term kind of thing (it didn't sound that bad) and he'll be back soon.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Hes injury prone and he shouldn't be called Tough Juice if he can't stay on the court for 70+ games a season. He's tough on the court, but he's becoming more and more fragile.

The good thing is that he doesn't take time to get in rhythm after coming back from injuries. Still either he needs a new workout plan or this team will continue to hover around regular season mediocrity if he can't stay on the court.

I love the guy on the court, but hes more like Grant Hill part II than Tough Juice.