I know, I know. Something seems wrong if the Heat-Spurs rivalry turns into a contest to see which team can show the most disdain for the other by sitting the most stars.
Or course, it was ever thus for visionaries ahead of their time.
Not that theirs is a vision the NBA is happy to see get out, but there’s a method to the madness of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and Heat president Pat Riley.
If this is a shock to those forking over $2,500 per courtside seat in our swankier arenas, the NBA’S dirty little secret is that its regular season is hardly all-important to the elite teams, other than getting a good seed and preparing for the playoffs.
This isn’t a new development. Coaches of veteran teams have always rested key players down the stretch, with lots of complaints about no-shows in the last week or two.
Before this season, however, it was never done so nakedly and it never started so early. Like November when Popovich expressed his dismay at having to play in Miami at the end of a long road trip by sending home Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, for which the league popped the Spurs $250,000.
Last week, Riley riposted with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers sitting out the “eagerly awaited, nationally televised rematch in San Antonio.”
In typical Riles fashion, it was done by the numbers and didn’t cost the Heat one penny, since the three players had been listed with nagging injuries. I don’t know that it came from Riley, but I’d guess a decision like this may be above coach Erik Spoelstra’s pay grade.
For good measure, the Heat beat the Spurs, anyway, on Chris Bosh’s game-winning 3-pointer.
The next night in Memphis, Popovich then rested Duncan, who had gone for 17 points and 12 boards in 35 minutes, and the Spurs lost that one, too.
Meanwhile, with the best record all but locked up, Miami stiffed TNT Tuesday, sending out a starting team of Rashard Lewis, Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, Norris Cole and Chris Bosh for the “eagerly awaited” game against the Knicks.
Personally, once I realized the genius involved, here’s my only complaint about what Pop and Riles are doing: It doesn’t go far enough.
How about letting the top teams dump the entire regular season? Here’s how:
The teams with the top 10 records get byes for the next season. The other 20 play 82 games (or perhaps more to make up some of the lost revenue) to fill out the last six slots in the playoffs. With the elite teams out of the fray, imagine the excitement when they begin the postseason!
Of course, I’m kidding. The real purpose of the season — aside from the one they talk about – is to enrich the owners and players to the greatest extent possible, which requires elite teams to play as many games as everyone else.
Well, almost as many.
I’m with you, Pop and Riles. They can’t stop us from dreaming.
On to the rankings.