As we move into the final quarter of the season, we’re going to see the experienced coaches with veteran teams — Gregg Popovich, for example — rest some players. After what David Stern did to the Spurs earlier this season we may have a lot of guys “injured” for a night, but the idea will be rest.
Doc Rivers is thinking that in Boston. His team is going to be the road team all playoffs and have a real uphill battle without Rajon Rondo.
So he’s looking at rest over better seeds for his players, he told ESPNBoston.com.
“Listen we’re not going to be a 1 seed, we know that, so we just want to be a seed,” Rivers said before Friday’s game in Phoenix… “The neat thing is that we are very close to the fifth seed… But [the focus is] going to be health now for sure for us.”
Boston has 18 of its last 30 on the road, so rest is going to matter. Hopefully the league will let the coaches coach their teams and not try to dictate who plays when as the season winds down.