Quote: Originally posted by ncmusician_7 on 2/26/2010tarheel1991, why didn't u play ur better players more mpg in the playoffs?
I had Malone set for 40+ minutes from game 2 on, but he kept falling short - foul trouble and randomness, I guess? He was set for 47 minutes in game 6 and played. He still played 38 min a game in the playoffs, though, right at his real-life numbers. Wouldve liked for him to play more like 40-41, but as good as my other post players are that shouldn't have made a real difference.
Outside of him, I'm not really sure who you mean by "my best players" - not a whole lot of difference between my backups and starters in their per-minute production. I gave Muresan, Barry, Pack, and Ward more minutes than the regular season, which I intended. I meant to give Jayson Williams more minutes, but he only got 21 a game instead of the 23-24 I intended. Weatherspoon really got shorted on playing time because of foul trouble. The thing that irked me is that the SIM kept giving Weatherspoon's foul trouble minutes to Chris Mills, instead of giving them to Malone (who was behind Weatherspoon on the depth chart) and giving more minutes to my good post players. But once again, with how good my backups were (and considering that I ran the table on Detroit in the regular season with my best players getting basically the same minutes) it shouldn't have mattered.
Overall the story of the series was that I turned it over an absurd amount (over 5 a game for Malone), and despite being loaded across the board in defensive ratings (especially in the post) my defense was constantly shredded (over 51% FG). Over the course of the season it's clear that my defensive ratings were important, with the 2nd lowest opponent FG% in the league (43%), but in a 6-game series they clearly meant nothing.