I am sorry but I still don't get it

[SamuelAdams]

It is good to throw water on the sparks.

This, I think, is Doc's point in returning starters. 

I also think Doc is very cognizant of the stat totals of his all-stars. It is fact that the Big Three have lowered their career stat averages to win a ring. I think Doc gives the Big 3 chances at times to pad the books a bit.  And the players appreciate it alot.

[Greenbean]

It is good to throw water on the sparks.

This, I think, is Doc's point in returning starters. 

I also think Doc is very cognizant of the stat totals of his all-stars. It is fact that the Big Three have lowered their career stat averages to win a ring. I think Doc gives the Big 3 chances at times to pad the books a bit.  And the players appreciate it alot.

Interesting thought. I tend to think that our group of players is over their stat padding days but they certainly dont feel bad about scoring more. I dont think so but something to ponder at least.

[CelticG1]

I would love for someone to show me one team that they thought had the perfect amount of minutes given to their starters. I think the Celtics right now pretty much are perfect as far as MPG for their starters. I guess you can argue a minute here or there but that is just ridiculous. Look at all the other top teams in the league and their starters are playing a lot more minutes than ours. Especially early in the season like this when we are trying to get our rhythm. Do we really want some of our players to only play 20 min just because we are blowing some team out? What happens when they need to go 40+ min against a good team and they are huffing and puffing in the 3rd quarter?

I think that Doc has managed the starters minutes as good as anyone could in the early part of the season. He is letting them play enough to get in good "game" shape but is not running them ragged. With this we are still tied for 1st in the eastern conference. Also if you are going to complain about them getting too many minutes then don't complain when we are losing either. Doc could easily be playing those guys 40 min in some of those games just to get the win but he's not.

[Tai]

Man, I'd forgotten how much I've missed the "too many minutes in blowouts" threads, because they mean there's officially nothing better to complain about!  TPs all around!

Heh, TP for reminding us all of this. Apparently it's all good and the neighborhood, and that's dope. 

And to say how I feel about this topic: I simply rolled my eyes the first time I saw this.

[bucknersrevenge]

Here's the box score for the game:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291201030

Player         Minutes Played
Garnett                  26
Pierce                    34
Perkins                 30
Allen                      36
Rondo                   32

House                   17
Wallace                16
Daniels                 22
Williams               21
Hudson                02
Giddens               02
Scalabrine           03


I really don't see any player that was player too many minutes. I think it is pretty obvious that Doc is going to go with a 9 or 10 player rotation(ten when Baby returns) and that his philosophy is going to be to try to get those players the regular minutes they would otherwise play game in and game out so that they get to best prepare themselves both physically and mentally to be their best during the time they will be playing.

I don't see anything wrong with that nor do I have a problem with the way Doc has managed the teams' minutes either tonight or any other night all year long. The averages speak for themselves. No one is averaging more than 36 MPG. KG's minutes are about 30, Rondo's about 33, Perk's about 27, Allen and Pierce around 35, Daniels about 20 and Wallace about 23. Everyone else is putting up much smaller amounts of minutes on average.

Nick, I think you said this perfectly.  I do think that 36 minutes in a blow out for a 34 year old Ray Allen might not be necessary, but that being said, I don't think its a big deal at all.

TP.

You can always give more minutes to a healthy Ray Allen because in those minutes he generally doesn't take the kind of banging around that Paul and KG do in their minutes. Add to that the ridiculous conditioning regimen Ray keeps and he can certainly handle an extra couple of minutes. I'm in complete agreement with nick here. There's nothing to talk about here.

[scoop]

Actually the Bobcats made a run in the 4th, 15-2 to bring down the scoring difference to 15 points with almost 5 minutes to go.

[guava_wrench]

Actually the Bobcats made a run in the 4th, 15-2 to bring down the scoring difference to 15 points with almost 5 minutes to go.

Donny mentioned the run as the reason for returning the starters in the broadcast. Some people clearly weren't paying attention.

[Roy Hobbs]

My completely arbitrary number for "too many minutes" is generally 37+, so I don't have a problem with anyone's minutes.  More logically, I think last night was the first really good game we've had in a long time.  Regarding Ray, he had his stroke going, and Doc probably wanted him to keep his rhythm.  Overall, I don't see any real room for criticism.

[gpap]

Maybe it is just my pet peeve, but I still do not understand why doc plays his starters late in blowout games. Whatever happened to garbage time? Would the sky start to fall if Lester Hudson got more than a 2 min stint in a blowout?

If I am coaching I rest all the starters in the fourth (especially with a date with Tim Duncan in 2 days). Show some faith in your bench as well as develop/find out if some of the youngsters can play. 

We are up big late in the 4th and Pierce and Garnett are still in the game? One question - WHY?!

Maybe it's my pet peeve, but why does it bother you so much that Lester Hudson and JR Giddens don't play much?

As a Celtics fan and as a basketball fan, I can't get enough of seeing Pierce, Ray Allen, KG and Sheed. Even if the Celtics were up by 68 points in the fourth quarter, I would still love to see the starters in there.

What happens if you put your C squad in and then they blow the lead and lose the game?

[Chief]

Actually the Bobcats made a run in the 4th, 15-2 to bring down the scoring difference to 15 points with almost 5 minutes to go.

Donny mentioned the run as the reason for returning the starters in the broadcast. Some people clearly weren't paying attention.

I think that's because nobody respects Donny. Well, at least I don't.

[Prof. Clutch]

Here's the box score for the game:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=291201030

Player         Minutes Played
Garnett                  26
Pierce                    34
Perkins                 30
Allen                      36
Rondo                   32

House                   17
Wallace                16
Daniels                 22
Williams               21
Hudson                02
Giddens               02
Scalabrine           03


I really don't see any player that was player too many minutes. I think it is pretty obvious that Doc is going to go with a 9 or 10 player rotation(ten when Baby returns) and that his philosophy is going to be to try to get those players the regular minutes they would otherwise play game in and game out so that they get to best prepare themselves both physically and mentally to be their best during the time they will be playing.

I don't see anything wrong with that nor do I have a problem with the way Doc has managed the teams' minutes either tonight or any other night all year long. The averages speak for themselves. No one is averaging more than 36 MPG. KG's minutes are about 30, Rondo's about 33, Perk's about 27, Allen and Pierce around 35, Daniels about 20 and Wallace about 23. Everyone else is putting up much smaller amounts of minutes on average.

Nick, I think you said this perfectly.  I do think that 36 minutes in a blow out for a 34 year old Ray Allen might not be necessary, but that being said, I don't think its a big deal at all.

TP.

You can always give more minutes to a healthy Ray Allen because in those minutes he generally doesn't take the kind of banging around that Paul and KG do in their minutes. Add to that the ridiculous conditioning regimen Ray keeps and he can certainly handle an extra couple of minutes. I'm in complete agreement with nick here. There's nothing to talk about here.

Yeah, that's why i said I didn't think it was a big deal at all.