Anyone know why Oden didn't start the second half last night? He only had 3 fouls. I was at the game so I don't know if the TV/radio guys had any insight. Thanks.
Oden has started the 2nd half in other games with 3 fouls. It's not typical for coaches to bench guys in the 2nd half for having 3 fouls.
Maybe McMillan was actually planning on keeping him in for more than a couple of minutes at a time. If you start Joel and put Oden in with 4 or 5 minutes left, he MIGHT be able to play into the 4th.
I thought maybe Nate was going to put him in when he normally puts in Joel, that way if he picked up his 4th foul it would be close enough to the 4th quarter to just let him play. But when this scenario played out, he still pulled him and put Joel back in.
In the post game interview, Nate said that with Oden's foul situation, he thought holding him out to start and bringing him in when the Hornets took Paul out, would let him stay on the floor longer.
What Greg and Joel bring individually evens out at this stage. I'm not opposed to Joel starting in the second half and having Greg come in for him instead of the other way around if Greg is in foul trouble. Then at least one center can be assured that he's getting a rest instead of coming in one minute into the third quarter for the other when he gets a fourth foul.
