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Too much? One game where these guys play around what the average quartet of star players play many a night and they get the fatigue excuse? So many Spurs fans have been brainwashed by this rest nonsense. Don't get me wrong, as a general rule, I'm all for it. But this was against one of the Spurs main rivals, at home, the team has struggled all year against quality opposition, so what was wrong with playing the so-called big four extended minutes? If they guys can't handle that the odd game (keep in mind, none of them even played 40 minutes), then this team can forget about competing for a championship for the duration of the Duncan-era.
I'm still baffled as to why Jefferson, for example, can't play even more minutes. For the first time since Duncan was younger, it looked liked the Spurs finally had a quality scorer that could log major minutes at least semi-regularly without a significant drop in his play. Instead, Pop is treating Jefferson like he's Finley. Let the guy play his natural position, call his number more and play him more minutes. After a slow start, his play has been solid. He's generally done a stout job in defense of significantly bigger players, his shooting percentages are up across the board and for all the talk about his lack of rebounding, keep in mind who he's playing with.
The biggest disappointment, now by far, has been McDyess. I knew he was better suited to third big status, but after his performance in the second half of last season it looked like he could still at least do a reasonable job masquerading as a second big. I don't know if he left his heart in Detroit or what, but outside of Pop's obsession with playing small (after he watched his own, more traditional team, repeatedly squash a team that tried to win a championship that way, which makes this decision even more baffling), nothing is killing this team more right now than McDyess's sub-par play.
