Dilemma?

[keith]

To use the bench or not to use the bench? I'm sometimes guilty of being critical of Woodsons substitutions patterns,but it was clear tonight that the Celtics bench was the key to the game.Woodson hasn't developed a bench and he plays his starters too many minutes. After that Memphis game Woodson has basically abandoned the bench. He only plays the bench when he is forced to. Unless Law is hurt he should be getting some minutes. The Hawks offense stalls when Bibby is out and Childress is ask to play point, taking away from his baseline game. JJ is good but he isn't 42 minutes a game good. He needs some rest from time to time.Good teams have good coaches who trust their benches.

[Admin]

Well unfortunately Woody doesn't have a Sam Cassell, PJ Brown, James Posey, etc to bring off the bench. He has to be forced to play guys that are borderline NBA players instead of guys with championship experience. Sure he is guilty of leaving guys on the floor or off the floor for too long but I can't fault him for not wanting to play the guys we have on the bench. I do hope that Solo earned a few minutes going forward with his solid 2nd quarter play tonight.

[PureGreatness]

when salim comes in HE HAS TO GET OPEN

[keith]

Quote:

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Well unfortunately Woody doesn't have a Sam Cassell, PJ Brown, James Posey, etc to bring off the bench. He has to be forced to play guys that are borderline NBA players instead of guys with championship experience. Sure he is guilty of leaving guys on the floor or off the floor for too long but I can't fault him for not wanting to play the guys we have on the bench. I do hope that Solo earned a few minutes going forward with his solid 2nd quarter play tonight.

I admit that the Hawks don't have as deep a bench as the Celtics,but Woodson has to find a way to steal some minutes from his starters. The Hawks had five players with over 30 minutes,not including Smith who was in foul trouble. The Celtics had only one player over 30 minutes. If these two teams meet in the playoffs this can't happen or the Hawks will struggle with fatigue .Woodson played into Rvers hand,he thought that he could play his starters heavy minutes,because the Celtics were going to do the same thing. In the fourth quarter it was fresh celtics bench against the tired Hawks starters.