Managing their minutes

[MFFL]

West All-Stars
Kevin Garnett 40.6
Tim Duncan 39.7
Yao Ming 27.7
Kobe Bryant 41.9
Steve Francis 41.5
Stephon Marbury 40.1
Shawn Marion 41.7
Steve Nash 32.6
Dirk Nowitzki 38.7 (39.3 when the game that Dirk only played 9 minutes is thrown out)
Shaquille O'Neal 37.8
Gary Payton 40.8
Chris Webber 39.3
Peja Stojakovic 34.0
=====

Nellie is doing a great job of winning games and still not overusing Nash and Dirk (especially important for Nash - he seems to be on the fragile side).

[MavsFanFinley]

<< Nellie is doing a great job of winning games and still not overusing Nash and Dirk (especially important for Nash - he seems to be on the fragile side). >>



Exactly. Once Najera comes back, he might be able to find Dirk some more minutes of rest later in the season.

What's disturbing though, is that Nash's minutes are down and he's still looking worn out there. And he has nagging injuries once again.

[OutletPass]

Interesting stuff, MFFL. On ESPN, there was a discussion of guys who might wear down as we enter the stretch run because of their extreme minutes in the season's 1st half. I was really happy to see that no Mavs were listed in the article.

But I do share MFF's concern about Nash. There are times when he just flat out looks like death warmed over.

I'm wondering if Nellie is going to do even more &quot;managing&quot; in the next month or so, given that we've got a pretty decent lead over everyone. I really don't want to see Dirk or Fin overworked as we get close to April...IMO, I think Raja and Walt are going to be playing a bit more and I'm betting that Nellie starts throwing Leroy in more to get him acclimated. He hasn't looked very good in limited minutes, so I'm wondering if Nellie is going to put him in much more frequently to see if the results can be improved.

Also, I'm going to be interested to see all the &quot;jockeying&quot; that goes with the Kings, SA and Portland to avoid the Lakers in the first round. I really don't think it will be a concern for the Mavs as I expect the Lakers to finish anywhere between 5-7th in the conference. The whole thing could get pretty funny as we get real late into the season.

I really wouldn't mind Mike and Dirk getting a bit more rest as I'd like for them to be as fresh as possible for the playoffs.

After looking at your stats and the ESPN article, it looks like Nellie has done a pretty darn good job of managing their minutes.

[MFFL]

Did you post that article anywhere?