Does anyone know, given Orlando at the two spot, what our path would be? I know #3 plays #6, so as is right now, we'd avoid Atlanta and Milwaukee in the 1st. But do we play the winners of that series in the second or the winners of whoever Orlando plays?
 

Quote from: vinnie on March 23, 2010, 12:01:46 PM

I might be the only one on Celticsblog.com who believes this, but I highly doubt that playing 4 or 5 less minutes a night now, with only 12 games left in the season, is going to make one bit of difference come playoff time. Now is the time to start buildng momentum and to win some games. If you really want to rest guys for the playoffs, then they should be giving guys 1,2 or even 3 games off before the playoffs start. And, that means they should win the next 7-9 games and try to win the third seed so they can give their key players full games off to rest their weary bones and muscles, right before the playoffs begin.

I agree with everything you said in that post.

It would seem that the team's master plan heading into the playoffs would be to chase down Orlando, secure the second best overall record in the east and secure homecourt advantage against everyone but Cleveland.

The thinking would go that "homecourt advantage is always a good thing to have come playoff time." And I still think it is, even if we're playing just as good or better on the road this season.

But when you look at the box score and see the minutes played in the last game of a road trip with a day off and the next game at home, and you see:

Pierce: 30 minutes
KG: 26.13 minutes
Ray: 30.10 minutes
KP: 23.52 minutes..

You would think you'd go "all in" to get this one, then focus on putting together another streak with a string of upcoming home games...

To the contrary, it seems the main goals are:

1. Continue resting the starters ( particularly the big three) from now through the end of the regular season, let them work off the remaining nagging injuries, and get to 100% and fully rested heading into the playoffs.

2. Maintain the 3rd position in the east with homecourt against everyone but the Cavs and Magic.

This is where I expect they will land, 3rd position.

Does anyone know, given Orlando at the two spot, what our path would be? I know #3 plays #6, so as is right now, we'd avoid Atlanta and Milwaukee in the 1st. But do we play the winners of that series in the second or the winners of whoever Orlando plays?

And what are your thoughts? Do you think we are plyaing for 3rd spot, taking as much rest as we can, while keeping our grip on the #3 spot?   

 I don't think that, aside from possibly KG, Doc goes into games with minutes in mind. I think that he tries to milk his bench play to get the starters rest so he leavres them in longer if they aren't stinking up hte joint.