Tom Thibodeau and not resting Rose/Noah/Boozer

After the Bulls clinched the No. 1 seed in the East last night, Tibbs told the media he was going to stick to his regular rotation for the final games of the regular season. That seemed to create quite a stir, especially amongst the Chicago media. My question, is a coach better off giving his players a little time off to gear up for the playoffs or do you think it is a better idea to keep them in their groove? I can see both sides and, besides, they still have an outside chance to catch San Antonio for the best overall record. Any thoughts on this?

 

Maybe not sit them, but cut significantly into their minutes. Instead of 38 minutes a night for Rose, for instance, maybe 28-30 or so.

Thibs just wants to maintain rhythm, which I can't fault him for. But he does need to severely limit minutes. He needs to keep their legs without overextending them.

 

Yeah, that's how I feel. Honestly, Boozer and Noah have missed time because of their various ailments so I'm more worried about Rose than anything else. Although worried is overstating things.

 

They're still fighting the Spurs for home-court in the Finals. Since both teams have a winning percentage of .875 at home and .600 on the road, that would appear to be a significant advantage.

 

Rose did look a little flat against Cleveland...but that probably had more to do with who they were playing. Plus, it was the second game in a back to back and they played the Celtics the night before. Noah, by the way, is playing like an animal. His stats might not show it but he has been everywhere on the defensive end lately.

 

Funny you should say that about Noah. I feel like he hasn't quite gotten back up to speed yet from where he was earlier in the season, defensively. That's why I would keep playing him. He needs the minutes to get all the way back into basketball shape.

It'll be interesting to see if the minutes change if/when San Antonio clinches the top spot overall. Right now, it's a 1 1/2 game lead for the Spurs with three games left for the Bulls and two for San Antonio.

 

It might have been that he was playing in Cleveland. That always seems to bring out the best in him because of the history there (him bashing the city during the playoffs two years ago). But he and Ryan Hollins were beating the shit out of each other down low. Noah ended up with six blocks as well.