Why so few minutes for Krstic last night?

[Roy H.]

In a 53 minute game, Krstic played 16.  Why so?

I figure it can be one of several things:

* Doc sees Krstic as the de facto starter if Shaq can't make it, and wanted to get him rest;

* Doc has a lot of faith in JO, and wanted to get him extended minutes in case he's needed in that role in the playoffs;

* Krstic is in Doc's doghouse, and he sat him because he wasn't playing well;

* Krstic has a nagging injury

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

[wdleehi]

JO played well.  Let him roll and build momentum. 

[Who]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

Agreed -- I think it was that the defense was fairly miserable while Krstic was on the floor. That Troy Murphy + Nenad Krstic partnership was very weak.

I was surprised Doc didn't mix the big man combinations more. Leave BBD out there alongside Krstic for longer and try to put Murphy alongside Jermaine. There was no way Krstic + Murphy were going to be able to field an effective interior defense.

Anyway, I thought Murphy + Krstic were both punished because of that -- because of their inability to play alongside one another defensively + Doc's unwillingness to mix and match his big man combinations + their individual defensive weaknesses.

[ballin]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

Agreed -- I think it was that the defense was fairly miserable while Krstic was on the floor. That Troy Murphy + Nenad Krstic partnership was very weak.

I was surprised Doc didn't mix the big man combinations more. Leave BBD out there alongside Krstic for longer and try to put Murphy alongside Jermaine. There was no way Krstic + Murphy were going to be able to field an effective interior defense.

Anyway, I thought Murphy + Krstic were both punished because of that -- because of their inability to play alongside one another defensively + Doc's unwillingness to mix and match his big man combinations + their individual defensive weaknesses.

How s BBD + Krstic supposed to be any better, at all, as far as interior defense is concerned?

[Who]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

Agreed -- I think it was that the defense was fairly miserable while Krstic was on the floor. That Troy Murphy + Nenad Krstic partnership was very weak.

I was surprised Doc didn't mix the big man combinations more. Leave BBD out there alongside Krstic for longer and try to put Murphy alongside Jermaine. There was no way Krstic + Murphy were going to be able to field an effective interior defense.

Anyway, I thought Murphy + Krstic were both punished because of that -- because of their inability to play alongside one another defensively + Doc's unwillingness to mix and match his big man combinations + their individual defensive weaknesses.

How s BBD + Krstic supposed to be any better, at all, as far as interior defense is concerned?

BBD is a much better defensive player than Troy Murphy.

It is still a weak combination (BBD + Krstic) but it's better than Murphy + Krstic.

And a JO + Murphy combination is much better than a Krstic + Murphy combo.

[Marcus13]

I think we're planning on starting Kristic during the playoffs so he rested him with the other starters

[Spilling Green Dye]

I think the answer lies less with Krstic and more with Jermaine O'Neal.  Jermaine had yet to play any significant or meaningful minutes this season, and this game was the perfect opportunity to see what kind of shape he's in and how productive he can be.

[Spilling Green Dye]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

Agreed -- I think it was that the defense was fairly miserable while Krstic was on the floor. That Troy Murphy + Nenad Krstic partnership was very weak.

I was surprised Doc didn't mix the big man combinations more. Leave BBD out there alongside Krstic for longer and try to put Murphy alongside Jermaine. There was no way Krstic + Murphy were going to be able to field an effective interior defense.

Anyway, I thought Murphy + Krstic were both punished because of that -- because of their inability to play alongside one another defensively + Doc's unwillingness to mix and match his big man combinations + their individual defensive weaknesses.

How s BBD + Krstic supposed to be any better, at all, as far as interior defense is concerned?

BBD is a much better defensive player than Troy Murphy.

It is still a weak combination (BBD + Krstic) but it's better than Murphy + Krstic.

And a JO + Murphy combination is much better than a Krstic + Murphy combo.

I'm not disagreeing that Davis is a better defender than Murphy, but the Krstic + Davis combination has shown to be so atrocious defensively that I hope we never see anything like it in the playoffs.  Same goes for Krstic + Murphy. 

[cman88]

I think doc wanted to see what JO can do(i.e. how many minutes he can handle), and build his confidence..JO looked great out there...taking charges, blocking shots, scoring, grabbing rebounds..


if JO can give doc 25-30minutes in the playoffs, and then we get 15-20minutes fro mshaq...we're golden at the C position

[Cman]

I think its a mix of wanting to get extended minutes for JO and Krstic not playing well.

[Who]

If I had to guess, I'd say it's a sign that Doc doesn't have a lot of faith in Krstic, and wanted to get minutes for JO.

Agreed -- I think it was that the defense was fairly miserable while Krstic was on the floor. That Troy Murphy + Nenad Krstic partnership was very weak.

I was surprised Doc didn't mix the big man combinations more. Leave BBD out there alongside Krstic for longer and try to put Murphy alongside Jermaine. There was no way Krstic + Murphy were going to be able to field an effective interior defense.

Anyway, I thought Murphy + Krstic were both punished because of that -- because of their inability to play alongside one another defensively + Doc's unwillingness to mix and match his big man combinations + their individual defensive weaknesses.

How s BBD + Krstic supposed to be any better, at all, as far as interior defense is concerned?

BBD is a much better defensive player than Troy Murphy.

It is still a weak combination (BBD + Krstic) but it's better than Murphy + Krstic.

And a JO + Murphy combination is much better than a Krstic + Murphy combo.

I'm not disagreeing that Davis is a better defender than Murphy, but the Krstic + Davis combination has shown to be so atrocious defensively that I hope we never see anything like it in the playoffs.  Same goes for Krstic + Murphy. 

Me too ... with Garnett, JO and hopefully Shaq back ... Doc should be able to avoid that easily enough.

[Chris]

I think this probably was just because Doc wanted to push JO a bit, and see what he can do.  That didn't leave a ton of minutes for Krstic

I also think we know that Krstic will be the 3rd center if everyone is healthy, and while he still needs to continue to be integrated into the system, playing him with end of the bench guys might do more harm than good.  If he is going to play, he should be playing with the guys he will be on the floor with in the playoffs, to get used to them. 

I think we will see Krstic play a lot of minutes on Wednesday though, where they will have him playing with the second unit guys (who will be starting).

[theswitch]

First CB post!

I think Chris is correct here. Doc knew he didn't want to play JO on Wednesday so the plan was big minutes for him tonight and big minutes for Nenad/Murphy on Wednesday. Gotta keep him relatively fresh for that if we are sitting JO as well as the starters.

[2short]

its all speculation 'til doc tells us
in my green world jermaine went to doc and said let me play starters minutes i feel great!
really nice job last night by jermaine, green and west, all important cogs to us doing well, shame dwest is injured (again    )
side note, bradley...he still shows nothing

[Chris]

First CB post!

I think Chris is correct here. Doc knew he didn't want to play JO on Wednesday so the plan was big minutes for him tonight and big minutes for Nenad/Murphy on Wednesday. Gotta keep him relatively fresh for that if we are sitting JO as well as the starters.

Well, I don't think it was about keeping him fresh, because frankly, if Krstic wasn't fresh on Wednesday even playing 25 minutes, then there's a problem. 

I just think it was more of the type of thing they do in the preseason.  They will look at one guy in one game, and play him similar to game conditions, and then do the same thing with the other guy the next game. 

It just is more effective than playing them both smaller minutes in each game, where one of them would be playing in a role they wouldn't really be in during the postseason.

its all speculation 'til doc tells us
in my green world jermaine went to doc and said let me play starters minutes i feel great!

According to Sherrod Blakely on the radio this morning, JO has been telling that to Doc since he returned.  Apparently he has been lobbying for more minutes, and really wanted to play the back to backs, but Doc wanted to be more conservative.  So, it sounds like Doc finally gave in, and let JO really show what he can do one time before the playoffs.