Fially . It is crazy to play you’re best player when the games are meaningless. Let harden rest till the Spurs away game and let him go against the Wizards , Blazers and the Thunder rested and get ready for the playoffs
They're not meaningless. The Rockets still have a magic number of 3 to clinch the league's best record. It seems like a forgone conclusion in the West with the Warriors given their health situation. But the Raptors still could theoretically win out(I doubt it, but it's possible). Play Harden against the Bulls and Suns and get those easy wins. At that point, D'Antoni can give him the occasional night off.
Houston has the first spot wrapped up. That’s all that matters . So now the time for player management has arrived
First spot in the West? Yeah, pretty much. Not the case in the East though. The Raptors are healthy and won't roll over. Just secure those easy wins over the Bulls and Suns this week. There's no need to put those in jeopardy by resting a bunch of guys. Then the magic number will be no more than 1.
I dont think it matters. There was an injury and the team is taking precaution. Same with Luc. Sometimes for some injuries, rest is the only solution. If it just came out of the blue it would be different. The league was really trying to prevent games like last year when they had their big Saturday night or sunday afternoon truly national broadcasts on ABC being snooze fests because everyone was out. I think if Paul or Harden sit the OKC game (which I think its the last ABC game Houston has this season) for rest then the league may issue a fine if there isnt proof of an injury (however small) from a previous game.
- MDA coach of the year 2016-2017 - Rockets having the best franchise record - Rockets are # 1 team in the league - Harden was playing 40+ min last season - Harden was playing 40 mins earlier in the season - Harden is now playing 30-35 mins a game in the last 15-20 games? - Harden is healthy and isn't complaining and the entire coaching staff including trainers doesn't knows more than us??? Yet there are nothing but sideline coaches in this group. lol Harden will get his rest & playing 30 mins is consider rest to him. So most of you should give it a rest yourself..
The Raptors are 6 games behind us with 8 games left. That means they need to win every game and we lose 6 of the next 8 . No it’s not happening
I don't think it's happening either, but let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. We have the Bulls and Suns at home this week. These are horrible teams that aren't even trying that hard to win. Play enough guys to actually win these games and then the #1 record will be all but a foregone conclusion(and possibly an actual conclusion if the Warriors and Raptors each lose by Friday) heading into the last week and a half of the season.
Harden is not healthy by normal athlete standards, also he never complains about injuries ever. We need to save him as much as possible
No one is 100% at this time of the year. He's certainly healthy enough to run the floor & threw down a few dunks last night. He know he gassed in the last couple playoff and most are pretty sure he's aware of that and he's been playing 30-35 minutes a game sitting out close to a quarter.... He has a lot more at stake than anyone of us so i'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing and that the coaching & training staff knows a lot more than us to give him the OKAY to continue to play at that rate..
Prediction: Harden will rest for the Friday Suns game. That allows him to rest from Wed-Sat and return for the Sunday SAS game. Also, I could see Harden playing the LA Lakes game (hometown) and then resting on the final Sac Kings game since that is a back to back with things locked up.
