Being that Houston won tonight, Denver now needs to win Wednesday to assure themselves the 2nd seed. This should be ample motivation for them to play hard Wednesday. Had Houston lost, Denver may have rested their starters, or simply rested on their laurels. Of course, Houston's game on Wednesday should be wrapping up just as our game with Denver begins. So it's possible that Houston loses and Denver knows its playing for nothing. I wish Denver had nothing to play for Wednesday, but that doesn't look like the case. Oh well, bring them on!
They (and we) will all know the scenario come tip off on Wednesday. The three meaningful games start at 5:00 and should be over around 7:30. I expect Denver to start everyone, but if they look up and see Houston lost, I don't see any reason they'll risk their starters much longer. Likewise, if we look up and Houston has won, but San Antonio has lost, there is no real reason for us to play Roy as we'll be locked in the 4 seed.
Right. I mentioned that above. I may be wrong here, but I seem to remember a lot of past games where teams know if they have something to play for, based on the results of a game just ending, and still go out there and play all their guys anyway. I think it is a bit of a different scenario than knowing a day in advance. Maybe the coach doesn't want to change his gameplan, or something, but I think more often than not they still play hard under these circumstances. Of course, I think if we just play our game, it won't matter. I just don't want to drop to 5th and no HCA!
All of the teams in the three important games (SA-NO, Hou-Dal, PDX -Den) have something to play for. It will be great to watch.
