re:Subject: Fwd: [Celtics' Stuff -"I left guys on the court a little too long,..

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

"First, the quote on the 22nd is irrelevant. We all read and understood 
O'Brien's message,  that they both would play 40 minutes against Dallas." -JB

  Making the quote on the 22nd irrelevant would certainly boost your theory, 
however I don't see how it could be irrelevant since he clearly did say that 
he would play them 40 minutes in the final two games, not just Dallas. He has 
been questioned more than once about players minutes and more than once he 
has said he believes he needs to play them to keep them in game shape and 
that he doesn't worry about injuries and such.  You could argue with his 
reasoning, as I have, but you can't deny that is what he has been saying all 
preseason long.

  As I said in my original response, I could be wrong, but after reading both 
quotes again I think it would take some serious reading between the lines to 
get anything about limiting minutes for Walker and Pierce for final preseason 
game out of what was said.
It could even be argued that when he was talking about leaving players in too 
long and substituting sooner he was talking about players other than Pierce 
and Walker since they were not singled out.  Either way, changing 
substitution patterns and lessening minutes are two separate things.

This is really such a minor matter.  I probably wouldn't even have responded 
if I hadn't been goaded into it.  The season starts tomorrow (Wednesday for 
us) and we shall soon see whether O'Brien thinks we now have enough weapons 
to play our stars shorter minutes.  My guess is right now he's worried.