As it so happens, the Western Conference’s top two teams find themselves in positions where they may not rest their starters ahead of the playoffs.
Golden State’s perfect home record is kaput, but time is also running out for the Warriors to surpass the 1995-96 Bulls’ regular season record of 72-10. After losing two of their last three, Golden State needs to sweep its final four games to go 73-9. Two of those games come against the Spurs.
And, on that note, San Antonio might not rest its starters for Thursday’s game in Oakland. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich already played a majority of his key players in Monday’s win over the Utah Jazz.
“I think we’ll play,” Tony Parker told ESPN.com. “Utah, I thought he was going to rest everybody. But we played Utah, so I don’t see any reason we’re not playing Golden State.”
That approach, obviously, would be counterintuitive to what the Spurs normally do. It’s customary for Pop (and most of the assured playoff-bound teams) to rest his players this time of year. “That’s why we play hard throughout the season, trying to win the most games possible, to find ourselves in this situation of luxury,” Parker explained.
It’s an interesting move. Fatigue is rampant this time of year and neither Golden State nor San Antonio have anything to prove. Furthermore, an injury would be costly. It’s possible Pop will play his starters for part of the game before pulling them, but from Parker’s comments, it sounds like no one’s sure what he’s going to do.
It’s at least understandable if Golden State does everything it can to finish strong. For the Spurs to do the same, however, would raise some eyebrows. After all, they don’t even care about their own perfect home record.
Then again, it could be that Pop is making sure no one gets rusty before the playoffs. Odds are San Antonio and Golden State are going to meet again before this thing is all said and done.
(Via ESPN.com)
