If the coach won’t play a guy when up +24…

[Roy H.]

… in the 4th, they shouldn’t be on the roster.  We can’t keep running our guys into the ground.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

My guess is he's desperate for a win (which is understandable), and wants to do all he can to get it.

[Roy H.]

My guess is he's desperate for a win (which is understandable), and wants to do all he can to get it.

Except we’ve been playing this way all year.  Tatum is top-5 in minutes per game, and JB and Smart are both top 45.

Give the scrubs some time so the starters can get 3-4 minutes more of rest.

[Csfan1984]

Josh answered it. They wanted a win for the fans going into new year.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

My guess is he's desperate for a win (which is understandable), and wants to do all he can to get it.

Except we’ve been playing this way all year.  Tatum is top-5 in minutes per game, and JB and Smart are both top 45.

Give the scrubs some time so the starters can get 3-4 minutes more of rest.

Oh, I agree. Even if the Cs make the playoffs, they're likely to be burned out by then.

[liam]

… in the 4th, they shouldn’t be on the roster.  We can’t keep running our guys into the ground.

Agreed! You have to play guys. Miami is the master of this. If they can't play dump them for someone who can!

[csfansince60s]

Josh answered it. They wanted a win for the fans going into new year.

Honestly, I’m not sure they give a blank about the fans.

They needed a win to stem the severe, deserved criticism that they all  have been receiving.

Ime needs to play more of the roster so they will be ready for later in the year.

[Goldstar88]

They desperately needed the win and I think it was the right call to play only 8 guys. All the guys were under 40 mins, Al who is the only one I would really worry about getting tired out played 25 mins. Grant and Timelord are 23 years old, Smarts 27 and JB is 25. Not worried about them getting extended minutes.

The 3 bench players who did play in Richardson, Pritchard and Romeo seemed to be in a nice rhythm getting more playing time as well.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Ime seems to tend to stick to an 8-man rotation for whatever reason(s). Not necessarily the same eight each game, of course. Personally prefer 9/10-man rotations even if one or two of the players only get a handful of minutes. Ime surely has his logic/reasons, though.

[Roy H.]

They desperately needed the win and I think it was the right call to play only 8 guys. All the guys were under 40 mins, Al who is the only one I would really worry about getting tired out played 25 mins. Grant and Timelord are 23 years old, Smarts 27 and JB is 25. Not worried about them getting extended minutes.

The 3 bench players who did play in Richardson, Pritchard and Romeo seemed to be in a nice rhythm getting more playing time as well.

Like I said, if you can’t trust guys to play five minutes without blowing a 23 point lead, they should be gone.

[celticsclay]

… in the 4th, they shouldn’t be on the roster.  We can’t keep running our guys into the ground.

Who would you have wanted to see get some run here?

[GreenlyGreeny]

They desperately needed the win and I think it was the right call to play only 8 guys. All the guys were under 40 mins, Al who is the only one I would really worry about getting tired out played 25 mins. Grant and Timelord are 23 years old, Smarts 27 and JB is 25. Not worried about them getting extended minutes.

The 3 bench players who did play in Richardson, Pritchard and Romeo seemed to be in a nice rhythm getting more playing time as well.

Like I said, if you can’t trust guys to play five minutes without blowing a 23 point lead, they should be gone.

To be fair, the lead was against the best or second best team in the league having an off-night. Ime was probably rightfully concerned about them shaking off the cobwebs if we put some lesser players into the game.

[Roy H.]

… in the 4th, they shouldn’t be on the roster.  We can’t keep running our guys into the ground.

Who would you have wanted to see get some run here?

Any of the seven guys on the bench.  If they can’t help, they shouldn’t be playing.

Specifically, Parker was available.  Juancho.  If those aren’t NBA level players, get rid of them.

[Goldstar88]

They desperately needed the win and I think it was the right call to play only 8 guys. All the guys were under 40 mins, Al who is the only one I would really worry about getting tired out played 25 mins. Grant and Timelord are 23 years old, Smarts 27 and JB is 25. Not worried about them getting extended minutes.

The 3 bench players who did play in Richardson, Pritchard and Romeo seemed to be in a nice rhythm getting more playing time as well.

Like I said, if you can’t trust guys to play five minutes without blowing a 23 point lead, they should be gone.

I don’t trust Nesmith, but I don’t think he should be gone. He needs to mature and develop and Should probably be in the G-league getting reps. Same goes for Fernando, who turned 23 a few months ago. Kanter would have been a liability with how small the Suns were playing, but he is useful against bigger teams. The only other guys available were Johnson who just joined the team, Thomas who is a G-leaguer and Parker who is a liability defensively. Things got tight in the fourth and playing 3rd stringers even 5 minutes in this game could have changed the outcome. Better to be safe than sorry, IMO. Once Tatum and Schroder are back they can go to a 10 player rotation.

Edit: forgot about Juancho, he probably should be gone. Hopefully they are able to trade him at the deadline.

[celticsclay]

They desperately needed the win and I think it was the right call to play only 8 guys. All the guys were under 40 mins, Al who is the only one I would really worry about getting tired out played 25 mins. Grant and Timelord are 23 years old, Smarts 27 and JB is 25. Not worried about them getting extended minutes.

The 3 bench players who did play in Richardson, Pritchard and Romeo seemed to be in a nice rhythm getting more playing time as well.

Like I said, if you can’t trust guys to play five minutes without blowing a 23 point lead, they should be gone.

Don’t we need juancho and Parker for salary purposes in a trade? Some of the other guys like Johnson and the g leaguers will be gone