What’s more important — earning the top seed in your conference or having players rested and ready for the postseason? For Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, the idea of playing a potential Game 7 at home doesn’t matter all that much.
The Cavs possess a 1.5-game lead on the Toronto Raptors, who hold the tiebreaker, for first place in the East with 13 games remaining. Lue said in the past that winning the conference was a priority, but that has changed. From ESPN:
“We definitely want the No. 1 seed if we can get it, but I think we have to rest our guys also,” Lue said after the team’s shootaround Monday morning. “I think health going into the playoffs is more important than the seeding. If we’re fortunate enough to get the No. 1 seed, it will be great for us. But if not, then we just got to play through it.
“I think all championship teams have to win on the road anyway. So, [the No. 1 seed is] important to us, but also being healthy going into the playoffs is more important.”
It’s not the worst strategy. The Cavs will have assuredly home-court over the first two rounds, but there’s the possibility they’re on the road to start the Conference Finals, should they meet Toronto. They’ll definitely be on the road to open an NBA Finals against either Golden State or San Antonio, but would have homecourt against Oklahoma City or Los Angeles — at least if the playoffs started today. So really, Lue is deciding to rest players instead of going all-out in an effort to win a place in the standings that would give them home-court over one team they may not see in the Eastern Conference Finals anyway.
When the Cavs reached the Finals last year, they did so as the No. 2 seed. They beat No. 1 seed Atlanta in four games, so if it didn’t matter last year, maybe it won’t matter this year.
(ESPN)
