Did Stotts make a crucial miscalculation?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Shooter, Apr 9, 2015.

  1. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    And now are working on a second of a B2B with Utah back at home. They need these 3. Then they go on the road for 2 more OKC and Dallas.
    Boob no More just made my point. What was the chance of winning out with that schedule?
     
  2. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    While dont disagree with that the logical is a little off because then it wouldnt matter if we lost all of the rest of our games or 1 games (BKN) because we would still have the 4th seed w/o HCA. So why not just rest more players more often the rest of the year?
     
  3. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    Portland has lost 27 games this year. They are about exactly where many figured they would be. 53-55 wins. They were going to lose just under 30 from the very beginning. Playing and second guessing the standing is crazy at this point.
    This team needs to be healthy and playing well. From all evidence i see that is exactly what they are doing.
     
  4. kjironman1

    kjironman1 Well-Known Member

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    The same reason Golden State is not sitting their players. You want to play them around 30 mins a game and keep the units sharp. There is also the Lillard streak that comes into question.
     
  5. dviss1

    dviss1 Emcee Referee

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  6. oldfisherman

    oldfisherman Unicorn Wrangler

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    Resting players “may” mean one more loss in the regular season. (Pure speculation, and so what)


    HOWEVER, resting the players may also mean winning a playoff series.


    I will take the players being rested and giving them a better chance to win a playoff series over one more regular season win, and so will Coach Pops.


    Stotts did what he thought was the best way to prepare his players for the playoffs. Key rotation players got much needed rest. Younger bench players got meaningful game minutes and experience that may also play dividends in the playoffs.
     
  7. Boise Blazer

    Boise Blazer Thread Lightly

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    That makes sense. I will be curious to see how they play the starter minutes tonight. Might be a good indicator of their thought process. As in if you are going to do it then do it right based on the minutes and not the outcome of the game.
     
  8. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    By throwing in the towel against BRK, we guaranteed we wouldn't win out. My point is, what if we win tonight against GSW (who has lost two in a row and may decide it's time to start resting some of their guys) and win our remaining games. If so, the BRK loss would have cost us HCA.

    Prior to the BRK game, we controlled our own fate - win them all and we get HCA. By losing to BRK, now we need help from other teams to get HCA. We still have a very slim chance for HCA, but now we MUST win out and hope somebody else falters (HOU and MEM, for example).

    BNM
     
  9. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    It was a make up game from a cancellation earlier in the season. Flying to NY and back does not normally happen during a NBA season. That's spending 13 out of 20hrs cramped on a plane. If they were all three uninjured I'm sure they would have done it but I bet it was more the training staff recommending the players not make that trip.
     
  10. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    Having HCA may also mean winning a playoff series. Most articles I've read on the subject claim HCA is worth about 4.5 points per game in the playoffs. As close as the games are, that could be a huge difference.

    How much rest do they need before the playoffs? Last year, we played only one playoff game in the 6 days after our last regular season game. We had three days off, played one game, had two more days off and then played the second game a week after the regular season ended - with no travel in between. Did Aldridge not look well rested in Games 1 and 2 against HOU last year. Our regular season ends on a Wednesday again this year. So, look for a similar schedule for round 1 this year.

    BNM
     
  11. Pinwheel1

    Pinwheel1 Well-Known Member

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    Flying back and forth across the country in a 48 hour time frame after a long season can take a toll on the body. It does for me. So I can see the reasoning with a back to back coming up right after the return trip. The one thing that makes me question it is maybe GS was the better trip to skip, where the odds of winning are less.

    But there is absolutely no guarantee that we would have won the game in Brooklyn even with those three. So flying all that way and not winning...we would still be second guessing them.
     
  12. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Lillard and LMA said they were gassed when they faced the Spurs.
     
  13. Boob-No-More

    Boob-No-More Why you no hire big man coach?

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    Maybe they wouldn't have been so gassed if we'd had HCA against HOU...

    BNM
     
  14. BlazerWookee

    BlazerWookee UNTILT THE DAMN PINWHEEL!

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    The benefit of the rest for the vets plus the benefit of the experience for the kids outweighs HCA, and I don't think it's even a little close.
     
  15. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    The decision was made for the logical reason of getting more rest for three players who were pretty dinged up. Getting them healthy for the playoffs is more important than earning HCA at the expense of the team being gassed at the start of the series. We can pick nits all we want around here (and seem to love to), but the decision is in the rear view mirror.
     
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  16. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Maybe, maybe not.
     
  17. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Blazers should fire Stotts, then we give each player an ipad. They can follow the game thread and we can tell them what to do.
     
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  18. HomerLovesKoolAid

    HomerLovesKoolAid I have a well-known member.

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    ^PAY ATTENTION PAUL^
     
  19. Shooter

    Shooter Unanimously Great

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    "Win out"? What does this mean?
     
  20. SlyPokerDog

    SlyPokerDog Woof! Staff Member Administrator

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    Win the remaining regular season games.
     

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