Game 81 | Cavaliers vs. Magic | April 11th, 2010 | 1:00 PM (EST)

[calleger]

Cleveland has already locked up the No. 1 seed in the East, while the Magic are anchored at No. 2. The two teams squared off in the East Finals last spring with the Magic winning 4-2 to advance to the NBA Finals. But much of the drama could be sapped out of this likely Eastern Conference Finals preview by the Cavs’ insistence on holding out players.

Cleveland coach Mike Brown rested James, Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams in Friday’s loss in Indiana and said that he might hold out James for the rest of the regular season for precautionary reasons. Shaquille O’Neal is still out following thumb surgery and isn’t expected back until next week.

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy has no plans of resting Orlando’s stars. Orlando still has hopes of passing Los Angeles for homecourt advantage in a potential Finals rematch. And Howard, who is on pace to play all 82 games for the fifth time in his six-year career, said that’s the way he likes it.

``I’m not jealous of those guys sitting out; we’re trying to get ready for a playoff push here and I want to play,’’ said Howard, who had 25 points and 13 rebounds in Friday’s rout of the New York Knicks. ``The guys can rest if they want to. Last year we rested and this year we’re not going to rest.

``Stan’s motto is that you can rest when you are dead.’’

Howard laughed when he talked about Van Gundy’s hard-driving ways. But Van Gundy was serious when he said he wanted to try and win Sunday in Cleveland, Monday in Indiana and at home on Wednesday against Philadelphia in hopes of getting the Magic to No. 2 in the standings.

Plus, Van Gundy said he had no plans of coaching to avoid injuries down the stretch. The Magic limped to a 5-5 finish last season while resting various players and Van Gundy thinks that it had a negative effect in the first-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s determined to not let the same thing happen this time around.

``If you are going to coach worried about injuries then don’t play your guys at all ever,’’ Van Gundy said. ``Sit them for 82 games, don’t have them practice or play. Do their injury chances go up playing them now as opposed to last week? Every time you play there’s a chance of getting hurt, but I’m not going to sit a guy for 12 days (before the start of the playoffs). Injuries are a part of it and I’m never going to run in fear of injuries.’’

http://www.nba.com/magic/news/denton_preview_041110.html

 

[Kid A]

I wonder what Stan's opinion would be if they were the ones in 1st place with the best record and HCA locked up.

 

[The Special One]

Brian:

LeBron will not play vs. Magic. Mo Williams & Antawn Jamison to start. Daniel Gibson cleared to play but Anthony Parker will rest.

Magic will play starters, they still have some playoff positioning to fight for.

Antawn, who is fairly banged up, is starting, yet LBJ rests for the 3rd straight game. Bravo Mike.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Damn, If you're gonna sit LeBron, I'd sit everyone. Let the Takeover get it done.

At least Weaksauce will get some rest. Finally.

 

[Adam]

How the gods of irony would laugh if a key magic player picked up an injury by accident, does stan know about tempting fate.

 

[Zog]

Damnit, just rest Mo and Antawn as well. No reason to risk injury and it would make the money line to be an extremely easy pick.

 

[Clinton91]

Damn, If you're gonna sit LeBron, I'd sit everyone. Let the Takeover get it done.

At least Weaksauce will get some rest. Finally.

I agree, especially with Antawn......he's an injury begging to happen. I disagree with Mo though, he is a rhythm player and he has been hot the last week or so. Lets keep that going. It also wouldn't hurt if Mo has a great game against the team he struggled against last year.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

We're obviously going to get wrecked by Howard today with J.J. and Z defending him.

I vote that we defend him with hard fouls. Very hard fouls.

 

[Clinton91]

If we had jiggles still I would want him to foul out today....

 

[Zog]

We're obviously going to get wrecked by Howard today with J.J. and Z defending him.

I vote that we defend him with hard fouls. Very hard fouls.

Should have kept DJ for solely this purpose.

 

[Adam]

powe can do jiggles job tonight

 

[wuck]

I thought Jamison would sit (and perhaps he still will, since Brown has sometimes pulled players right before the game). I assume that means the foot injury really wasn't much of anything. He better not play 30+, though...

I don't blame the Magic for playing everybody because they want HCA vs. the Lakers. I hope they play their starters 40+ and lose.

 

[Randolphkeys]

Resting LeBron and a few select veterans against quality competition forces certain players to "step it up" in real game situations. In the last three years, Cavs were all too ready to stand around and let LeBron take over in pressure situations. Let's see what a Mo and Twan PnR can do in the fourth quarter. Let's see what Delonte can do with the ball in his hands with one minute to go.

 

[Vlad]

I don't want to see Mo and Antawn play more than 24 minutes.

 

[MYoung23]

It's Game 81, it's meaningless but Keys still brings the A game.

I am so disinterested in watching this game I'm going to watch the R5 of "The Bounty Hunter" since I wasted "Cop Out" on yesterday.