I don't think Rip should be playing 40+ min. AA should be playing at least 10.

I don't see why they both can't play.

ESPN - Cleveland vs. San Antonio - Box Score - June 07, 2007
ESPN - Cleveland vs. San Antonio - Box Score - June 10, 2007
ESPN - San Antonio vs. Cleveland - Box Score - June 12, 2007
ESPN - San Antonio vs. Cleveland - Box Score - June 14, 2007

Those are the box scores for the SAS/CLE Finals

Brent Barry
Manu Ginobli
Tony Parker
Jaques Vaugn

all played more or less depending, but each got close to 10 min or more.

The question is do you want the Pistons to go out in the first round? Without Afflalo and his D, we will. They better find room for him.

Not that I don't appreciate and respect both of your views, I don't think you two are being very realistic for a playoff rotation.

I am starting a new thread on this call Playoff Rotation where hopefully we can get some discussions going on this.

I think a lot depends on how games will flow: when starters are able build a lead then bench gets more PT cuz there is more room for errors. But when they fall behind early or some starters struggle do not expect flip to try whether bench can cope better or replace struggling starters. In tough cases I'm afraid,flip still relies heavily on starters in spite of fact how badly they play.

Any team that wins 58 games ( which they should ) and is 2nd in the league in pt diff can't be that bad.

I know, some are even pessimistic with first round but I believe that in this year starters play up their capabilities and they'll reach far. And when starters play well, bench follows it.

I disagree. DET pads their stats against a lot of bad teams and by going full throttle strategy-wise during the year when they play good ones.

Their D is not nearly as good the rankings would make you think. (And it is not good enough to overcome their own offense against good teams.) They are fundamentally flawed in that they don't have a defensive mindset that says I, the individual, am responsible for guarding this man. This is especially true on the perimeter and it leads to the breakdowns that have become the norm for this group.

I hate to bring this up, but the antithesis of this was how DET guarded Shaq under you know who. Ben Wallace could not guard Shaq 1 on 1. At times he got help, but for the most part it was his responsibility to take him. That sense of accountability spread to the entire D. Guard your man. Role players didn't bury them back then. Watch Sheed the first play of almost any game and he will not even be looking at his man. It could be LeBron he's watching or it could be Blake Ahearn. DET might shutdown Mike Redd or Joe Johnson in January, but they haven't stopped anyone the last few Springs.

sorry to burst your bubble.... but thats how all teams get there stats..... you are always better against bad teams then you are againt the good teams..... at the end of the year detroit will have played the same schedule as cleveland, and basically the same as boston. so to compare there stats is a true showing of how they compare to other teams... as much as you can do really