David Stern on Spurs sitting Duncan, Parker, Ginobli and Green

[iceminers26]

6 game winning streak on road, guys in their mid 30's so boss gives them a day off... don't see what's wrong here

[Tomasaurus]

How can Stern sanction the Spurs in this situation for putting out a poor line up one night, when the Bobcats did it every game last season

[FrozenMAN]

well the nba schedule w this game made no sense after the long spurs road trip and such...stupid...again the nba is a joke and the 82 games during the year are useless...only summertime bball matters

[brainfreeze0]

These tweets on Stern had me cracking up

http://inagist.com/all/274364785305468929/

[marcoloco]

Stern needs to be gone already

[hawley]

In fact, Twitter quickly dug up comments from deputy commissioner Adam Silver to NBA.com last April condoning the practice. “The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams,” Silver said. “And Gregg Popovich in particular is probably the last coach that I would second-guess.”

[marcoloco]

What other teams rest players in the middle of the season?

Nash did it alot last season, on almost every back to back game he sat out.

[hawley]

Nash did it alot last season, on almost every back to back game he sat out.

Nash and Hill.

[Roadtrip635]

Pop is a crafty SOB. He saw this schedule, his small market team playing 4 road games in 5 nights, ending with a nationally televised game against the reigning Champs and Face of the NBA (Lebron). Stern and the NBA was taking a shot at the Spurs with this set-up of a schedule, almost trying to insure Lebron a win against a team the NBA doesn't want in the Finals because of their small market ratings.

Pop knows how this game is played, and not just on the court, and saw that set-up and basically flipped Stern the bird. Pop just showed, if you're gonna screw with us, I'm gonna screw with you.

[Frisco]

These tweets on Stern had me cracking up

http://inagist.com/all/274364785305468929/

By far my favorite: " David Stern will referee the final two minutes of this game."

[Tomasaurus]

Just wondering, if you were to make a rule legislating against this what would it look like?
How can you differentiate between the skill of players in the rule book, like a team will hardly ever play their 10,11 and 12 men but if they rest "big names" thats a fine?
Or what about if a player is sanctioned by a team formally (say missing practice) or informally (e.g. Bynum jacking up a 3 last year and being benched by Mike Brown), if you sit a star in those circumstances is it ok?

[Cuse0323]

Stern is a joke, hopefully the league can get back some integrity when this idiot is gone.

[Roadtrip635]

Just wondering, if you were to make a rule legislating against this what would it look like?
How can you differentiate between the skill of players in the rule book, like a team will hardly ever play their 10,11 and 12 men but if they rest "big names" thats a fine?
Or what about if a player is sanctioned by a team formally (say missing practice) or informally (e.g. Bynum jacking up a 3 last year and being benched by Mike Brown), if you sit a star in those circumstances is it ok?

EXACTLY!

Does every player have to get into the game, like pee-wee ball? Does every player have to play every game, how do you determine who MUST be played? Will there be a minimum limit on how many minutes they will have to play? Does this mean, any time after today, that when a player sits out a game, that team will be "sanctioned"?

What will be the "substantial sanctions"? Would it be ironic if Stern suspended Coach Pop for a game or two? Pop would get punished by getting benched for a game, because he benched players? If that happens will Stern make an announcement to the fans, apologizing for Coach Pop's absence and then sanction himself for benching the league's best coach?

[lunchbawks]

one of the best matchups all season ofcourse stern is pissed, because the fans are pissed

[Goat Milk]

imagine if you flew out to watch that game. expecting a great matchup. i would rage.

[Jimmy0607]

Since when does a coach have to check with this pos to see who he can play

Man i hate this cokksucker

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spurs-playing-without-4-regulars-001405051--nba.html

[tto827]

I wish they had won, how the fuk would Stern have weaseled his way thru that one. If they lost by 50 then maybe Stern could have said/done something, but to do so before tip was foolish, not that that's surprising from him.

[Untied]

Imagine if the Heat played like arrogant, unprofessional, sandbaggers.

[No coincidences]

Pop is a crafty SOB. He saw this schedule, his small market team playing 4 road games in 5 nights, ending with a nationally televised game against the reigning Champs and Face of the NBA (Lebron). Stern and the NBA was taking a shot at the Spurs with this set-up of a schedule, almost trying to insure Lebron a win against a team the NBA doesn't want in the Finals because of their small market ratings.

Pop knows how this game is played, and not just on the court, and saw that set-up and basically flipped Stern the bird. Pop just showed, if you're gonna screw with us, I'm gonna screw with you.

Smartest man in the NBA by far.

Stern's just mad because of this. He's getting mind fvcked by a coach.

[ramones951]

What other teams rest players in the middle of the season?

What other teams have won 4 championships since 1999? Other than one other extremely successful franchise?

Think about what you're trying to defend here....

[ZetaPsi808]

Stern just cares about money.

[ZetaPsi808]

Specifically TV ratings and viewership

[Speedy88]

Stern's a dictator. Can't wait until that bum retires.

[Naz18]

This happens in soccer when teams field back up players when they know they will lose.

[dnguyen258]

Not allowed to rest players stern? Oh ya?

[Big Bear]

Hahaha

he should penalize the bobcats for
not having a super star

[lunchbawks]

Safe to say stern is the most powerful man in american sports?

[amarius87]

i dont know what stern is complaining about... that game just proved that miami is a bunch of fools who think they are way better then everybody else. and i cant even say these guys didnt even try. when i saw the score in the first quarter when they were up 17-6 I was like ok.. this might be a long night for spurs.. but after that the heat were just trying win! obiously when 5 bench players are playing they are gonna put in 100% effort to make the impression. and its not like they suck or anything. majority of the starters have played for their countries so its not like they are crap. not saying the countries are stacked but still. the heat are the most overrated team. and i cant believe the notion that they play to the level of their opponents. you see these guys sweating it out. and how many times will ray allen win it for them? THE GUY IS CLUTCH. These guys would be shitting the bed without him. the heat piss me off. and im happy pops played the bench, so they people could see how over-rated the heat are.
you can not sit there and tell a coach what to do. the commish has no right to control who plays and who doesnt play. thats what a coach gets paid to do. duncam,gino,parker are all having solid seasons and each and everygame majority has tried to fade them on the road and they have basically covered spread in every game. thats what you call a team. i got to say that i dont like the spurs, but for the last decade and half almost they have been the model franchise just like the wings in hockey.
i just found it so funny when haslem was called for the foul in the final minute and it turned into a 1 point game. the guy was sweating it out. even the heat coach was prolly like holy shit. the heat every win they get they act like they win the world championship and it pisses me of.

[onacloud]

Thats the whole problem. People pay money to see these players not scrubs.

I've never been to a NBA regular season game, but the last two years I have gone to playoff games and I don't think I would ever buy a regular season ticket in my life unless of course I bought season tickets.

[Mocknroll]

People pay to watch teams, not players. You don't purchase a ticket to 'the Lebron James show'. Yes it would be great to go to a game and watch Duncan and Parker play together, but it's not the Spurs obligation to jeopardise their season or health of stars because 'the people demand it'. There cannot be any claims of tanking when the Spurs cover the intitial spread that was out before Pop rested 4 of his stars, so where is the issue?

If this happened on a card of 12 games then Stern would not give a shit. Pull this on a 2 game card and he threatens with sanctions. I am absolutely 100% in agreeance that the head coach is allowed to make decisions that better the team for the season. I placed a bet on Heat -5.5 prior to the 4 being out, and I have no problem in the result. It's sport.

Maybe next time this happens Pop would be best saying "I put the players on the court who I thought could win us the game, and I don't think Parker, Duncan, Ginobli and Green would have got us any closer than our team did tonight". They nearly won this thing FFS.