You’ve had a chance to rest guys late in the season, but you really can’t do that this year. Are you playing down to the wire for the third spot?
I’m not. I’d like to have it. I think it would be great for us to have. If you polled our players I think it would be split. I don’t think they care who they play in the first or second round, they really don’t. That’s a good thing in some ways, I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing, but rest is more important for my team.
We have to be right and that’s why in the Cleveland game I extended minutes. Last night only two guys [Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen played extended minutes]. We’re going to play our guys, but we are absolutely going to try to find rest for them in games. That’s why you extend the minutes with the bench at times. That’s more important for us to be rested and ready than it is for us to be in the third or fourth spot.
We've said it before, we'll say it again: The higher seed only matters if you're going to beat the team you play in 4 or 5 games. If you take it to 7 games, who cares if you're playing the Cavs or a pack of Cub Scouts?