Revived wrote:Mulhollanddrive wrote:Clippers game is arguably more important so play everyone unless Paul is sore.
Why is it more important?
I think catching Utah will be nice but not entirely necessary. I don’t think Lakers will fall below #6 seed. But regardless there’s so many games left that we can still catch Utah with remainder of the schedule.
I know none of the players will want to sit out or be open to the idea much but I think James Jones and Monty need to look around the league and see what’s being done and rest them. For sure Chris Paul (43 mins) but I’d do Book (almost 44 mins) and Ayton (41 mins) as well.
I don’t think the next game is as important as their health and not saying they will get injured for sure by playing but playing on heavy tired legs supposedly increases the chances. I’m not so sure Utah beats Portland tomorrow either. Blazers are coming off a loss in which Lillard shot like ****. He’s gonna come out on fire. But Utah also only had 1 guy playing even 40 mins on their team and that was Mitchell.
Any game against a playoff contender with us is important. But this would give us separation in the standings and poteial round 2 HCA....and with Dallas' loss to Houston last night along with the Lakers win over Toronto on the road, those were nice untnexpected finishes...to keep that separation at 3.5 games, which gives us that potential LAL/LAC matchup in round 1, as those teams are the ones I fear most with Kawhi and LeBron willing their teams to championships in the past.
Though Denver may catch the Clippers...still, though, that likely would be a Clippers/Denver 1st round followed by that winner facing Utah in the 2nd round.
Best case for us obviously would be the 1 seed, likely avoiding the Lakers if they drop to 7 and avoiding them in the 1st and second round as they likely take out Utah and then the Clippers or Denver in the 2nd round...while we would get the 8 seed (probably Memphis, but maybe SA, GS, or longer shots Sac or NOP)..then we'd get the other of Clippers/Denver in the 2nd.