NJ_YANKEE_45 wrote:Not saying Thibs isn't a damn good coach, but the amount of minutes he forces guys like Noah, Boozer, Deng, etc. will be their downfall, with or without Rose
I think the greater reality is that when a team plays their starters so much, it means that we are seeing basically their max potential. If you play your starters 32 MPG, it means that we can see the high level of play that your starters bring for at least another 6-8 MPG if they outproduce your bench by a decent margin. Over a whole game, that make a difference. So in the post-season, unlike teams who play their starters less during the regular season, and play them more later, a team that is already playing the starters a lot doesn't have a much higher level to go.
This is kind of what I think people would incorrectly interpret with Boston recently in terms of them "being a playoff team". It was true in a sense, but more in how many minutes their starters played than anything else.
Their ability to play better in the post-season had a good amount to do with 6 more MPG of Garnett on the floor, which meant 6 more MPG of the team playing elite defense as opposed to good, or some years, just average defense with him on the bench. 6 more minutes of elite defense every game, that makes a huge difference in the scoreboard, not to mention a few more minutes of the other starters. There was no "magic" behind it, but KG (31.1 MPG to 36.9 MPG), Pierce (34.0 MPG to 38.9 MPG), and Rondo (36.9 MPG to 42.6 MPG) meant that you had your best players on for longer, but Garnett's increase due to his impact was the "other level" they had in the post-season.
