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I hope Lakers lose tomorrow in SAC.
I still would have played the big three and McDyess.
If they get injured, they get injured. But I wouldn't hand a potential Finals opponent home court. Especially considering they've had it in their grasp all season and it's crucial in the Finals, because of the format.
I hope Lakers lose tomorrow in SAC.
If they get injured, then the EC Finals team means , dumbass.
I'm aware, genius. My point is, there's always the risk of injury. That shouldn't be the mentality when something as significant as home court in the Finals is potentially at stake, particularly when they've had it in their grasp virtually the entire season. It was a clear indication that this coach has no confidence in his team and believes they're fragile and only an idiot would think the decision was based on anything else.
This is just... no other way to say it... stupid.With a couple of days rest, the San Antonio Spurs head off to LA to play the Lakers in a nationally televised game… and I think the Spurs should play the starters their regular minutes in this game and play to win.
First, who cares that it's "nationally televised"?
Break down the decision. If you play your starters, you might win or lose. If you win, what have you got? A chance to get HCA against the Bulls IF you both make it to the finals. That's what, a 1 in 4 chance at best? Then there's a coin flip. So even if you do get to the Finals against the Bulls, you still have a 50-50 shot at getting HCA. So really it's a 1 in 8 chance that you get to the finals against the Bulls, AND you don't get HCA. This is even assuming that the Bulls win out and the Spurs win their final game, so the odds are even worse that this "bad" scenario plays out.
And, even if it does play out, it's only HCA. That's worth something... but not as much as you might think. The team with HCA has all the pressure on them to win the first 2 games. If they lose one, poof, HCA is gone. Also, the finals is a 2-3-2 format, so if the HCA team loses one of the first two, the other team can close it out at home!
If you lose, you've put more mileage on your starters on a back-to-back with possibly only 2 days rest before the playoffs start.
Plus there's the intangibles. Playing your starters gives the Lakers a chance to suck it up, win, and get some momentum by beating a playoff team before the playoffs start, and to get your players down by losing. Do you want to risk that?
Not to mention the chance of injuring one of your starters.
On the other hand: if you don't play your starters, you avoid all of the above risks, PLUS you don't allow the Lakers to get the satisfaction of playing well against a playoff caliber team. And... you just might show very well, or even win! How sweet would that be? PLUS you give your 2nd and 3rd units a great opportunity to play against one of the best in the league, get some experience in what it's like, and gain some confidence, hopefully, because you might need them in the playoffs to step up.
Seems like an easy decision to me. Lots of negatives on the play-your-starters side, and one small potential positive that actually has a small chance of even happening AND being meaningful. Lots of positives on the don't-play-your-starters side.
YoMamaIsCallin,
HCA was not the issue at all. It's not one of the arguments I made.
As for the back-to-back, I addressed that. My argument was that they should play all out against LA and wait to rest those guys against Phoenix because San Antonio has already beaten the Suns this year without everyone healthy.
Yes, there were fewer risks by sitting the guys like Pop did, but there was a higher reward if those guys had played and won. There are fewer negatives to your argument, but higher and better positives to mine. Both are solid arguments.
Of course, everything I said was invalidated by Andrew Bynum's injury and Pop ended up looking like a genius while the TNT guys sang his praises. Both Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr lampooned the Lakers for blowing their chance to clinch a higher seed during that losing streak which forced them to play everyone a lot of minutes against the Spurs, made worse by the fact that the reserved hung around and made the Lakers expend a lot of energy to win a home game that should have been a walk.
While it looks like Bynum won't miss any time, there's no way he's the same dominant force when he comes back.
If HCA vs. the Bulls is not the issue, what is? That's all that was at stake in the game for the Spurs.
"Momentum going into the playoffs" is not a thing. What matters is how you play WHEN you get into the playoffs. The players and coaches all know that the playoffs are a completely different season and you can toss regular season out the window.
I bet that Popovich starts his starters tonight but keeps them right around 20 minutes. Really tonight's game should be looked at like a practice.
Not to start a thread war, which I detest, but I've got to call you on simply declaring that "both are solid arguments". You've actually got to back it up with something.
I'd definitely rest the big three, and if that means losing the game, then so be it.
As has been said, the odds of a Bulls/Spurs final are pretty slim, and if the Spurs can't win one of the four games in Chicago during that series, were it to happen, then they don't deserve to be champions anyway.
Thinking about it a little more, the Spurs could play the big three tonight, win, and still would be at the mercy of a random drawing. Doesn't seem worth the hassle to me.
That said, I do think Jefferson and co. are capable of defeating the Suns.
Play the starters the first quarter to give them some rythym minutes and then rest them. Tony, Timmy, Jefferson, McDyess and Manu....all 5 out after Q1.
As we speak the Bulls are down 4 to the Nets with less than 7 minutes remaining.
Update: Bulls now up 2 with 3:36 to go. Looks like they may pull it out.
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