Did it lead to him losing eventually because he was gassed in the playoffs?

What about the big 3 in Boston? Those guys played essentially every game - even as they aged - and didn't get injured because of it or lose because of it.

The example we point is the 73-win Warriors - but they an outlier and got flanked by GOAT 1(b) in a manner that only 1 of 2 players in NBA history could achieve - but essentially all the great players/teams have played consistently great basketball throughout the regular season, keeping their foot on their opponents' throats and playing as consistently as they can - and they've won it all and injury hasn't been the inevitable result, at all.

What's likely here is that Kawhi has some real unique and unfortunate issue with his body that is unique to him, to where he has to manage his minutes and time to prevent bodily break-down. But that's just unique to his durability and not something that you can apply to other players throughout the game's history.

It's only been this year that we've implied that being an Iron-Man is somehow synonymous with injury and unsound judgment.
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