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Billups
2007: 36.2
2008: 33.2
Difference: -3.0

Hamilton:
2007: 36.8
2008: 34.3
Difference: -2.5

Prince
2007: 36.6
2008: 33.9
Difference: -2.7

Wallace
2007: 32.3
2008: 31.5
Difference: -0.8

5th Starter (Webber vs. McDyess)
2007: 29.7
2008: 30.3
Difference: +0.6

At the very least, if you get ousted early, we cannot claim it's because we are tired.

It seems to me our guys have looked so worn down in the playoffs more because the bench has never had a solid point differential. Our guys were playing much harder during their 35ish minutes than this year. We will see in a few weeks how it plays out with Max, Stuckey & Hayes all playing bigger roles in the Playoffs.

being tired was nothing more than an excuse for losing to better teams

Our*

Rasheeed!!! wrote:being tired was nothing more than an excuse for losing to better teams

I agree fatigue is an excuse.... but I disagree that Miami and Cleveland were better teams.

I don't know if its the minutes now as opposed to those during the playoffs. We need the bench to play good enough to get the starters some rest during playoff conditions!

What are the odds of our players not being in shape to play 40+ minutes in the playoffs, then?

Liqourish wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



I agree fatigue is an excuse.... but I disagree that Miami and Cleveland were better teams.

well they didn't have much problems dismantling this team when it counted, and i'm pretty sure that makes them better.

Flip still doesn't trust the bench when things are going bad. The starters can come out flat in the 3rd quarter, blow a 15 point lead and Flip will leave them in there.

And I'd bet our starters have logged around 38-40 minutes against other top tier teams.

But, it's an improvement non the less and I'll take it. I said at the start of the year all I wanted was for Amir to get 5 meaningful minutes in the 2nd quarter with a chance to earn more. For the most part he's gotten that the 2nd half of the season. Unfortunately Theo sorta convolutes the bigman rotation, and I think Maxiell needs to be moved in the off-season but that's not Flips fault.

I've noticed the past few games, Flip will plays Amir 5-6 minutes early in the first half and then doesn't play him at all in the second half... even if he plays well.

I guess he gets the minutes out of the way so he doesn't get questioned by fans and the media for not playing Amir, but won't actually let him earn minutes.

Liqourish wrote:I've noticed the past few games, Flip will plays Amir 5-6 minutes early in the first half and then doesn't play him at all in the second half... even if he plays well.

I guess he gets the minutes out of the way so he doesn't get questioned by fans and the media for not playing Amir, but won't actually let him earn minutes.

Well he has been working in Theo who has a much better chance making an impact this year than Amir does.

Remember Flip is essentially in a contract year right now, dude isn't going to blow a chance a ring because he had pressure from fans to play a high schooler.

I believe that Amir's brief appearances are unplanned. It seems everytime Rasheed or McDyess get into foul trouble that Amir finishes out the quarter/half for them, with Maxiell's role/minutes preserved.

Cutting down our starters minutes for example of 2 minutes over a game will be beneficial come playoff time. It also has to do with a lot of other things besides just that, mental toughness, coaches decisions, injuries and many more things could be a factor