Reply With Quote
Give Mahinmi some burn...
Tim Duncan played 40 minutes last night. It has come out that Tony Parker is injured. The Spurs are entering the second leg of a four games in five nights stretch.
Should Pop go balls to the wall and treat the game against the Thunder as a measuring stick type game and distribute the minutes in a way that gives the Spurs the best shot at winning? Alternatively, should Pop be cautious with the minutes as to not wear his stars against a younger, quicker team that will try to run the Spurs out of the building?
I'm torn. This would be a great win to pair with the victory against the Lakers. It could give the Spurs much needed momentum. Then again, with less than 24 hours between start times, it could definitely sap energy in quick order. We've seen in recent history how playing the stars big minutes in the regular season can cause them to wear out by the playoffs (Manu in 2008, Duncan in 2009).
What say you?
Give Mahinmi some burn...
I think TD can sit down. We can probably manage with a rotation of Dice, Blair, Ratliff and Ian in the front court... Maybe even give Hasilip some time, since we're playing against young fellas...
I would also limit Tony's minutes a bit if possible...
The rest should be able to play... Manu logged 25 mins or so... so he should be ok...
I think there will be plenty of games upcoming against sub 500 teams to get R&R. This game should be treated as the potential playoff matchup that it could very well be and the spurs should go after it.
Add in the fact that thunder have recently been a thorn in the side with their athletic players Durant and Green dominating them and its almost like a monkey on the back. I think if the spurs can solve the thunder it would give them a huge boost of confidence in beating those ultra athletic teams around the league (bulls/suns/blazers/cavs/etc).
I would limit Tim and Tony to about 2 quarters each. Start them, and run your regular rotations, but sub early and give the bench more minutes. Give Ian half of Timmy's minutes tonight.
i guess that "play it safe" means more Mahinmi. so, i say yes. i want to see what he can do after the game against the nets.
I'm not confident in Pop playing him big minutes unless he's in a "play it safe" mindset.
If Tim is to rest I hope Pop starts him but limits his minutes. IMO Having him come in later to play catch up pretty much defeats the purpose of resting him , because he would need to come in balls out instead of being able to pace his energy.
The win would be good but being it a back to back, and that OKC has our number, its a big possibility we would lose even while playing the big 3 for 30+minutes. So getting rest to our big 3 outweighs a win here I think.
Last edited by Chomag; 01-13-2010 at 01:20 PM.
We should play it safe and let some of our main guys having a bit more rest. Limiting TD and TP's minutes.
Parker should rest not Duncan. Limit Duncan's minutes sure
+1
This whole "resting strategy" is a complete joke and won't work if your just going to bring in the guys your trying to rest in an attempt to salvage the game.
It really just causes even more stress and strain on them to have to come in cold like Timmy did against the raptors and then try to dig his way out of a huge mess.
I have a hard time voting because I don't think you necessarily have to go one way or the other.
I think you stick with the same the lineup, just lean heavier on the bench minutes. If one of the reserves starts playing particularly well, adjust minutes to have them on the floor in crunch time instead of the starters.
Basically, see if the starters can put the bench in a position to win the game.
Play this game like Nets 2.0. Put in guys who aren't tired and who won't take the game lightly. Rest Duncan. Give Mahinmi some burn. Give Hairston 10-15 minutes and try him out on Durant. If RMJ gets hot, keep him in the game until he gets cold. Try to keep Hill's confidence high, and use his defense to the best of your advantage. Do little things to encourage Blair; maybe call 4-down for him a couple times or something. Make Jefferson the primary offensive option when Manu's off the court.
Totally agree with you.
Start your stars and build a lead, then sit em in the 4th. Exception might be Tony...a hobbled Tony and a healthy Hill aren't that far apart ability-wise, so Hill could take on a heavier load.
Also, the poll should actually read
1. Play to win
2. Lose 10 games on purpose...(quick glance at the sched shows that we have 10 b2bs left (including the one we're in the middle of right now).
Still a little early to be throwing games...sit Parker since he's banged up, but let the others play...the only way the big guns won't be banged up at playoff time would be to bench them from now until the last couple weeks of the season...
Do what he did vs Nuggets last season
Sit the stars
So you guys are ok with dropping this game in the name of rest... losing our momentum and giving a team that could easily be a 1st round playoff matchup even more of a psychological edge?
Sit Duncan and Parker.
Unleash the toros.
Just realized we have them on the second half of another back to back in March (following a game against the Hawks).
can't decide b/t the poll but mins have to be limited (if any) for TD and TP
dallas will most certainly lose tonight and we need to make ground on that one game....its now or never.
Dnptd
*sigh*
I'm not sure how Spurs can justify sitting TP already. He's had PF all season apparently.
TD had Plantar fascitis in 2006. He played all year through it. It takes a couple months-1 year or more to heal. So sitting TP out for one game makes no sense, especially against an important foe.
Spurs can't exactly be throwing away games so soon. The Spurs should just limit TP's minutes and lean on Hill more. TD's minutes should be limited as much as possible, but I don't think they should sit him out this entire game either. Spurs have plenty of bigs to sub for TD.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
