Glad the kid hit that shot. The problem with playing through pain is that while sometimes the injured part can't be hurt any worse, some players definitely are tempted (pushed?) to play when they shouldn't, the macho thing, and the result is often that the player is less effective than a replacement might be, or aggravates a problem that instead of costing the player one game, costs the player an unknown number of games beyond the one or two that might have been missed.
Of course, in pro sports, we have the modern phenomenon that the higher the player is paid, the less pain they are asked to play through because they are investments and not athletes. It is, of course, an upside down idea. You would think that the more a player is paid, the more would be demanded of them. Mickey Mantle would scarcely be seen on the field in modern baseball he was so banged up.
