Why do people care about minutes pla

[dclock]

I mean WTF. Why does everyone always worry about people tiring out or whatever with minutes. In my mind, the only thing extra minutes might bring are increased chances for an injury to happen. Otherwise it's just ballers running up and down a court and shooting for 48 mins a night max. That's just a lot of cardio! It's not like these guys are fighting MMA style every night and need to keep minutes down. They are just shooting around a ball in a fairly low contact sport.

Do people just blind themselves because minutes played is a number? Ohhhh look! A number, it must have statistical value! Obviously every player only has a bank of 40x82 minutes. Anything more and they will be a barren shell come playoffs. -- F that!

Basketball players are among a special type of entertainment device known as organic life. You might have heard about it... self replication, healing etc. What the hell difference is 6 minutes a night for 82 nights really going to make? Are you kidding me? Humans HEAL AND REGENERATE. If your girlfriend cheated on you and made out(for the sake of not being too graphic) with some other guy almost all of his DNA would be gone from her inside her mouth in under 30 minutes. Minutes do not commutatively take their toll on a human unless it's INCREDIBLE stress.

Like, I could see how a Jewish slave during the holocaust might succumb to intense physical labor and mental stress for 16 hours a day for 5 years and finally putter out, but these guys are millionaire ballers with excellent medical staff and trainers that have to do cardio and hand eye coordination for at MAX 48 minutes a night for 82 games. Let's see, 3936 minutes / 60 = 65.6 hours... OVER ALMOST HALF A YEAR. 65.6 hours isn't even a full paycheck worth of hours for you bi-weekly folks.

I am just tired of the ridiculous arguments made against players playing more minutes. If anything, it's going to help them get more into a rhythm.

Has anyone actually taken MPG for a player and then run it in significance tests to see if it correlates with them getting tired or worn out for playoffs? Is there actual evidence of that? Where can I find an example of a super tired NBA player that's under 33 that has played 40 minutes of intense shooting a ball into a hoop and running up and down a court a night before playoffs and then went into shut-down mode.

Again, the only argument that can be made about playing more minutes is an increased chance of injury due to more scenarios in which an injury can occur.

[dwestside]

LMAO. Forgive me dclock but ... who exactly are you arguing with here?

[phoolishly_insane]

LMAO. Forgive me dclock but ... who exactly are you arguing with here?

I think Ray Allen... cos he played a lot of mins tonight.

[dwestside]

After trimming the fat on your post ... "Basketball players are among a special type of entertainment device known as organic life. You might have heard about it... self replication, healing etc. " ... sweet lord ...

Look at it this way, what have successful teams done? The Spurs have a history of pacing themselves throughout the season, and limiting Duncan's minutes during opportune times. It seems to have worked. I suppose that doesn't exactly prove you wrong, but is there really any harm in giving players rest time so long as it isn't at the expense of their own momentum, and I don't see Doc doing that. Why not air on the side of caution?

[GreenGrizz]

You don't want tired, injured, inexperienced or cold players.

[Cyclical]

First off, thanks for one very entertaining post. I mean, "That's just a lot of cardio!", "Basketball players are among a special type of entertainment device known as organic life", "almost all of his DNA would be gone from her inside her mouth in under 30 minutes" and of course the crowd pleasing Jewish slave reference... Gems like these don't come up every day. Golden.

Listen, hunderds of players and coaches throughout the history of the game have been talking about the effect of playing long minutes on their bodies throughout a long season, and accumulatively throughout a career. For example, here's a quote from Pierce from today's paper: "I think I am at the point in my career where any rest I can get is good... It's been a long season." Or, from a KG interview earlier in the year: "Minutes are an issue; 30 is definitely different from 45 or 40... to answer your question, yeah, it makes a big difference."

In conclusion, I'll take their word for it over an internet poster, as entertaining as the post may be.

[MyInsatiableOne]

The original post is one of the most bizarre, disturbing, and stupid things I've ever read in my life...at least on this board!

[tombattor]

WTF? Because those workers worked through hell in holocaust, we should replicate that here? What the hell was the point of that, except to draw some kind of response?

We're not trying to see how much these guys can play before they fall and die. We're competing against every other team who also has a very good medical staff, etc. Therefore, rest can only help. These are humans, not robots where you just plug them in for 2 hours and they are good to go.

Dclock, you are pathetic. Go away!

[gocelticsgo]

Maybe it's just me, but I never thought the idea of resting star players through a few meaningless regular season before the playoffs was such a horrible one, that draws comparison to some of the worst human-rights crimes in the last century.

[Pogue Mahone]

I hate to pile on but this seems like some bizarre game of Madlibs or a full-contact match of pin the paragraph on the basketball forum. I don't get it

[dclock]

These are humans, not robots where you just plug them in for 2 hours and they are good to go.

That's exactly what I'm getting at. They ARE humans. I'm sure they practice hours a day. So why do people get their panties all up in a bunch about an extra 6 minutes a game, especially at the playoffs. I think even Doc Rivers agreed about the minutes thing being a bunch of B.S. The best reason for Doc to lower the minutes of the starting 5 is that he probably wants the others to get more practice and rhythm for the playoffs so that Boston can be deeper. People use Dallas from last year as an example, but I saw no evidence that they were tired, they were just getting dominated by GSW all year and had the unfortunate luck of meeting them in the 1st round. GSW had some inside information and knew all of Dallas' weaknesses.

[dclock]

Oh, and I never implied to play NBA players into the ground. I was saying that you can't really grind down a lot of the sub 35 year old players with NBA minutes and physical contact because a lot are shining examples of being at the pinnacle of physical superiority over the average man.

And of course, if they are injured, then you definitely rest them until they are almost 100%!

[ParticleMan]

First off, thanks for one very entertaining post. I mean, "That's just a lot of cardio!", "Basketball players are among a special type of entertainment device known as organic life", "almost all of his DNA would be gone from her inside her mouth in under 30 minutes" and of course the crowd pleasing Jewish slave reference... Gems like these don't come up every day. Golden.

QFT!


anyway, i basically agree the minutes counting is kind of stupid. if you want to have players rest more, rest them in PRACTICE. guys practice a lot more minutes than they play in games. just because it isn't something that shows up on the stat sheet for us fans to read doesn't mean it's not important.

look at last season. dallas came in probably the best rested team, and got bounced cuz they didn't get their rhythm back. in football, the giants and pats played all-out to the last down, and they ended up in the SB (and football is a much rougher sport injury-wise).

[MyInsatiableOne]

I never disagreed with the premise of the original post, but its content (and those analogies) was so **** bizarre that I had to comment!

[tombattor]

The difference between resting during practice and during games is the intensity. During the games, most players are going at 100% and are extending a lot more energy. That's why they always say that you can't replicate real-game speed/intensity in practice.

Also, 2 hour practice means, 2 hours. When you play 40 minutes in a game, you are not playing 40 minutes. You are playing 40 minutes while the clock is running at a much greater intensity.

[sully00]

Not to agree with the new crazy person in the corner ranting about the holocaust but I will.

First of all this team doesn't practice, hello, hasn't anyone been paying attention. More importantly while KG's mins are something to monitor and Doc has I don't think it is universal.

A point that is brought up often is how the Spurs limit mins. While there is merit to the theory I think what is missed is that it is a hangover effect not a preparation issue. The Spurs are old with a ton of playoff mins on them. This is why big men rarely win back to back titles because the miles of the postseason add up. The Spurs are trying to limit mins, and sacrifice regular season wins to do so, to recover from last post season more than to taper down for this post season.

Even to that point as we enter the final weeks of the season Doc has done a great job of of limiting the 3 all stars mins as they are at or near their career lows, with KG playing less mins per than Duncan.

[Datruth345]

i also don't get the whole minutes hoopla thats been going on all season

these are professional athletes, there bodies are in tip-top maximum performance shape (yes even big baby ), the veterans have been in the NBA long enough to where there bodies are conditioned for the grind that is the NBA

yeah, we can all use a few days off, who can't, but to constantly harp on minutes this minutes that, i just don't buy into all that hype about minutes over the course of a whole season all the guys are playing career lows in minutes last time i checked, so they can;t possibly, in any way,be gassed for the playoff run, it's impossible

with all that said...as of right now, with the standings the way they are, i wouldn't mind a little rest before the playoffs, it might not help to have 1 or 2 out of 82 games off, but it can't hurt

my own conclusion i have drawn, or possibly made up, who knows
is that big baby has been seeing less minutes lately partly because Leon is the man, but also because doc is resting him up to unleash the wrath of baby in the playoffs and trying to limit the effects of the rookie wall

[GuyClinch]

Despite the OP crazy way of posting - I tend to agree with at least some of what he is saying.

I think fans can get a little caught up in minutes played - as it's not really correlated with health problems or wearing out. What you want to do is keep guys 'fresh" and yet give them enough minutes to keep their game working smoothly.

There is no magic number though - and some guys can really play alot of minutes and be fine. The style of player, his age and the competiveness of the game matter alot.

I think Doc has done a nice job - primarily because the C's are kicking the crap out of everyone...and guys aren't being overplayed.

Pete

[MalReyn]

It's a long season, especially with a team that has expectations of going deep in the playoffs.

Considering we lock up homecourt throughout with 1 more win, why NOT limit minutes in the regular season now? Even if it isn't a rest issue, the injury issue alone should be a reason.

But seriously, there's no question many players tend to hit a wall midway through the season. You see it more in rookies, but it happens to many players. These guys will be playing big minutes during the playoffs, they deserve some time with a lighter load before that time arrives.

[Bad-Thoma]