I dont know if Avery is trying to send Don Nelson a big gift by playing most of his bench and benching Dirk, Stackhouse, and Jho. I know Avery said it after the Mavs clinched 1st spot in WC that he wouldnt play Dirk, Stackhouse on the road. But, come on, Clippers and Warriors are fighting for the last playoff spot. So, at least play your starters for 24 minutes to be fair to the game and to the sport. What Avery does is totally lack of respect to sport. I totally lose any respect for him.
It will be funny to watch Avery lose it in the press room if the Mavs choke against the Warriors. That's always a playoff highlight.
Seems like he picks and chooses when he wants to play and not play. He could've played against Utah, and chose not to. He could've rested against the Spurs, but he chose not to. Teams he has helped: Utah, Phoenix, and Golden State Teams he has screwed: Houston, San Antonio, LA Clippers
You're making the assumption that Avery made those decisions, if any of it was deliberate. Sounds like Cuban, to me. If there's anything to it. Which I doubt.
Suns are playing hard against the Clippers with all the regular starters playing big minutes. Mavs are really screwing the Clippers big time.
Avery hasn't brought his stars on many road trips since they clinched. The games they have played, like San Antonio was a home game, and one of their last that was a sellout, its different at home. Avery, a former player decided that as the 1 seed, it shouldn't matter who they play they should win, and rest is much more important than rythym because as the 1 seed they should be able to get their rythym back during their first round win. I dont think Avery is afraid of Golden State at all and is not getting caught up in the hype. Plus he gets to watch GSW starters play their game and get an upclose gameplan.
The Clippers screwed themselves by choking against Sacramento. The Mavs don't owe the Clippers absolutely nothing. They've earned the right to be on the safe side and rest their starters if they choose to. The Clippers on the otherhand put themselves in this predictament. Besides, the Clippers and their fans should bite their tongues. The Clippers last season tanked games to get a more favorable seed to avoid Dallas.
Avery's job ain't to help the clippers. The clippers don't deserve any help after that ridiculous excuse for a 1st half they had on sunday. They don't deserve to be in the playoffs with that kind of an effort. The warriors have been on the come up for a little while and if they make it, they deserved to.
Do you want him to risk injuring his star players for a meaningless game? The Mavs are on a quest to win it all, they don't care about worthless bottom-dwellers like the Clippers or even the Warriors for that matter. With the Spurs, they might have very well been TOLD to play their best players against the Spurs, for it was a nationally televised game after all. I don't blame Avery one bit for not taking any risk with his guys. Heck, I don't want Mac or Yao to play at all in the game tomorrow, and I could give a hoot about whether or not JVG was being 'unfair' to some other teams had we been in the same situation; we should never concern ourselves with that kind of stuff. If anything, the Suns' coaching staff is the one needlessly risking their playoff hopes by playing all starters in meaningless games.
There are many coaches wont do that. JVG, your coach wont do that. Pop, LB wont do that either. They will play their starters for limited minutes just to be fair to the game. I am sure in some previous seasons there was a coach who said it before game he would play starters for limited minutes just to be fair to the teams fighting for playoff spot. I just forget who and when.
How is playing them limited minutes "fair to the game"? If you wanted to be fair to the game, you'd have to play them regular minutes. The benefit of clinching early is that you get to make decisions best for your team. The penalty of not clinching until the end is that you're subject to the whims of other teams. That's the Clippers' problem, not the Mavs'.
And he doesn't seem to learn. Nash got completely worn out in the playoffs last season, and he is playing his 8-man rotation back to back against two desperate teams in nail-biting games. He even had Nash taking a charge on T-mac yesterday, who got sandwiched between T-mac and the floor. He is nuts.
So GSW and the Clippers won tonight. I think both teams still have another game left. Who do you think will make it? The Clippers need to win their game and they need the GSW to lose, which I think will give them a tie in which case the Clippers have the tiebreaker...right?
