A Coach Must Protect His Players

Somewhere in Miami, the organization is already popping champagne bottles after hearing that Derrick Rose tore his ACL in the final minutes of their opening game against the Philadelphia 76ers.  Rumor has it that they are passing around a thank you card for everyone to sign and will send it express to Tom Thibodeau for keeping last year's MVP in the game so late, despite the fact that victory was in hand.

The analysts, players, former coaches and everyone else seem rather split on whether Thibodeau made the right decision to have Rose in so late in the game.  But it seems like a no brainer to me.  Rose had no business remaining on the court and at that stage in the game, it is Thibodeau's responsibility to sit his star and give his body a little more time to recover for Monday's game.

Instead of preparing for game two as a full squad, Rose will not be with the team.  His ACL is in pieces now, much like Chicago's already fragile chances of reaching the NBA finals.

Sure, it was a twelve point game still with a little less than a minute and a half to go.  Sure, the 76ers had made a small run late in the game to close the gap of a former twenty point lead.  And sure, it is the playoffs so starters will see a few more minutes than usual.  But Thibodeau clearly must have forgot that Rose only played in 39 games this year due to a variety of injuries.

Who could have foreseen an injury of this magnitude for Rose?  Certainly nobody expected his campaign to end short with this serious of a result.  But ask this question instead: how likely is it, given his injury history this season, that Rose would have sustained an injury of any type that would set him out for a prolonged period of time?  When the question changes, the odds skyrocket astronomically.

The Bulls could not have expected an ACL tear.  But at that stage, why take the chance to let him re-sprain his ankle, tweak his sensitive back, or suffer some other type of injury that would shelf him for part of or the entire playoffs?  The game was well within hand, so save the "the game was still within reach" argument.

If we want to keep playing the odds game, are the odds higher that the 76ers close the 12 point lead with 1:20 to go despite no crunch-time scorer or that Rose suffers any type of injury during that time?  Thibodeau made an error in judgement and now the Bulls must face the consequences.

The only thing that stood in the way of the Miami Heat was the Chicago Bulls with a healthy Derrick Rose.  Now, the Heat have their path to the finals cleared (sorry, Boston, I do not like your odds in a seven game series).

On second thought, Miami should at least send something bigger to Thibodeau.  And whatever it is, maybe they can at least send a set of crutches for Rose.  It certainly was a selfless gift from Thibodeau.

On the First Day of His 36th Year, He Played Again

Seriously, how much longer can this keep going?  Year after year the national media rains down stories about how this will be the end of the Spurs as we know it.  Tim Duncan cannot keep up the pace; his knees are too weak and have too many miles on them to be effective; the aging power forward is the oldest of an ancient core of Spurs players who have run out of time.

Duncan does not strike me as a humorous individual, but I picture him sitting back, laughing at each story that discusses how he is too old and has slowed down too much to make a difference.  That is a lot of laughs over the years.

Tim Duncan turns 36 today.  He has been in the league as long as I have followed basketball and he is arguably the most accomplished player during that span.  Two-time MVP, three-time Finals MVP, four NBA championships, twelve first and second team All-NBA teams, and thirteen first and second team All-Defensive awards.

Sure, most of those came at a time when Duncan posted double-doubles the way Charles Barkley used to put down double-cheeseburgers.  But at 36, Duncan averaged 16 points, 9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and averaged an astonishing 22.64 PER in just 28 minutes per game.  With Duncan's leadership, the Spurs stand at 48-16, tied for the best record in the league and appear poised for a deep playoff run.

Fourteen years in the league and his San Antonio Spurs still remain at the top of the league.  Something tells me that as Duncan blows out the candles on his cake, he isn't wishing for his knees to hold up for one more year.  At this point he knows they will.  And until he calls it quits, I will simply dismiss every story about how he simply cannot continue.

It appears that Duncan really will get the final laugh as he continues to make fools of us all.