Game 68 of 82: Toronto Raptors @ Cleveland Cavaliers,

[Zak24gege]

Might be nice to give Lowry the night off but I guess we don't play again til thursday and it would be tough without FVV. Should be a good one but they should keep the result of last night's Warriors-Suns game in the back of their minds

I would think with a healthy FVV, Kyle would be sitting for games like this. When Fred returns Kyle will get plenty of opportunities to rest if he so chooses.

[planetmars]

We have 2 strategies at once. We're ultra preserving Kawhi cause regular season doesn't matter. And we're running Kyle into the ground cause regular season is everything.

Kyle is averaging under 35mpg this year. It feels like he's always out there, but he's only played in 6 games above 40 minutes. The longest was close to 50 but that was a 2OT win against Washington.

Even in this stretch without Fred, he's averaged only 36.8 mpg. And that will go down once Fred's back.

[Zak24gege]

We have 2 strategies at once. We're ultra preserving Kawhi cause regular season doesn't matter. And we're running Kyle into the ground cause regular season is everything.

Yeah looks like they have different strokes for different folks? My take is with FVV out, Kyle is our only true PG with the others more combo type guards. Also JLin has very limited knowledge of playbook. Kyle will rest when FVV's back.

[KeonClark]

Kyle is averaging under 35mpg this year. It feels like he's always out there, but he's only played in 6 games above 40 minutes. The longest was close to 50 but that was a 2OT win against Washington.

Even in this stretch without Fred, he's averaged only 36.8 mpg. And that will go down once Fred's back.

I could flip it the other way and say hes had one game all year under 29 minutes played. Hes ranked 14th in the league and 4th among players over 30.

I do agree it's a tough spot with fred out but a night like tonight for example, you could keep Kyle close to 30. No reason to have play Kyle and lin together a ton against the Cavs

[planetmars]

I could flip it the other way and say hes had one game all year under 29 minutes played. Hes ranked 14th in the league and 4th among players over 30.

I do agree it's a tough spot with fred out but a night like tonight for example, you could keep Kyle close to 30. No reason to have play Kyle and lin together a ton against the Cavs

I don't really know what the optimal strategy for load balancing for someone like Lowry. It seems that the more days he takes off his game suffers. He's a rhythm guy so I'd like to see him play than sit. As for the amount he's playing... to me 35 is not that much but I grew up watching ball in the late 80's and 90's. 14th highest in the league seems high. But even Kawhi averages 34.4. GSW is stacked and don't need to prove anything in the regular season, yet KD is averaging 35.4. Steph's at 34.4.

We don't have as many blow out wins as last year so that obviously doesn't help.

Personally I'm fine with how we're playing Kyle. But yeah with Fred coming back soon and the soft schedule we have coming up.. I could see Kyle's minutes just dropping naturally.

[Scraptor]

Kyle is averaging under 35mpg this year. It feels like he's always out there, but he's only played in 6 games above 40 minutes. The longest was close to 50 but that was a 2OT win against Washington.

Even in this stretch without Fred, he's averaged only 36.8 mpg. And that will go down once Fred's back.

36.8 is a lot. That would rank third in the NBA on the season.

The rest strategy or lack thereof is really puzzling given Kyle really struggled with those back problems earlier this season.

[Scraptor]

Yeah looks like they have different strokes for different folks? My take is with FVV out, Kyle is our only true PG with the others more combo type guards. Also JLin has very limited knowledge of playbook. Kyle will rest when FVV's back.

Resting when Fred is back won't do us any good if Kyle gets hurt.

Games like this one, vs a crap team on the second night of a B2B, are ones where we should be resting guys in advance of the playoffs.

[GLF]

Resting when Fred is back won't do us any good if Kyle gets hurt.

Games like this one, vs a crap team on the second night of a B2B, are ones where we should be resting guys in advance of the playoffs.

I agree but I also agree that Kyle has shown that when he takes games off he loses his rhythm. Even if it's just one game. And then he has two days after this game off before we play Lakers. I think he should continue to play if he's healthy but just lower his minutes in game when he does. Taking games off doesn't help him in terms of rhythm and with how well he's shooting right now I don't want him to lose it. When he loses his rhythm he takes a few games to get it back usually. I think he knows that as well, that's why he doesn't like to take days off if he's healthy. I say just lessen his minutes tonight. But if they do let him sit I won't be mad at that either.

[golden]

Resting when Fred is back won't do us any good if Kyle gets hurt.

Games like this one, vs a crap team on the second night of a B2B, are ones where we should be resting guys in advance of the playoffs.

Interesting note is that Lowry needs to play at least 65 games to meet his performance bonuses (ASG, Conf. finals + NBA finals, All-NBA + All-Defense, NBA champ), which I believe are all $200K each. Mrs. Lowry won't be allowing any load management until he reaches 65.

[DanH]

Guys, resting Lowry isn't going to happen. It's just not in Lowry's character. He'd just hurt himself trying to claw his way onto the court.

I'm all for keeping his minutes lower. Stagger units properly and run the starters for shorter stretches and he could be playing 32 MPG pretty easily.

[MixxAOR]

Either Lowry gets heavy minutes or we just accept the fact that bench is going to lose us some games. Siakam + bench or Gasol + bench even Kawhi + bench just doesn't work as well.

[Zak24gege]

Resting when Fred is back won't do us any good if Kyle gets hurt.

Games like this one, vs a crap team on the second night of a B2B, are ones where we should be resting guys in advance of the playoffs.

I agree with you, I'm sure if Kyle felt like sitting out, he wouldn't play. Getting injured is a risk for all the guys so I'm sure that these decisions - rest / play - take a bunch of factors like that into account.

[DanH]

Either Lowry gets heavy minutes or we just accept the fact that bench is going to lose us some games. Siakam + bench or Gasol + bench even Kawhi + bench just doesn't work as well.

Siakam + bench works great when they actually give Siakam the ball. When they run the offence through Lin, yeah, it's bad. But that's not some barrier that should prevent them from easing up on Lowry a bit, that's ridiculously easy to fix.

[G__Deane]

Hopefully we saved a few 3-balls for tonights game...An irritating trend - listening to other play-by-play guys around the NBA, when their team hits on a three, I'm hearing them loudly say BANG!

Our "bottom of the well" call from Paul Jones I think it is, was getting pretty tired

[Zak24gege]

Our "bottom of the well" call from Paul Jones I think it is, was getting pretty tired

Does Jonesy use it too?