I know that 7-10 minutes isn’t going to make a huge difference but it just illustrates Thibs’s disease. He can’t help himself and eventually, his teams will always break down, because they always have.

Nailed it.

OG + Thibs is a dangerous combination. He’s like the Thibsiest player in the world, but he’s brittle. It’s gonna be a cycle of OG playing great, OG playing too many minutes, OG getting hurt, OG getting rushed back and re-injuring himself, OG finally coming back healthy, OG playing too many minutes, OG getting hurt, OG getting rushed back and re-injuring himself, lather rinse repeat.

I don’t want to be pessimistic about this, but it’s hard to imagine all of that NOT happening.

This has already happened twice in 4 months. But Anthony Edwards played 45 minutes once so it’s fine.

if it was a 5 point deficit how long should Brunson have played, given every minute over 26 is insanely reckless?

There was no minutes cap if it was close. No one complained after game 3. If it was a competitive game playing Brunson 35+ minutes would have been fine. But it wasn’t a competitive game and never was. Somehow Indiana managed to keep all their players under 30 minutes even though this game was actually more vital for them to win and they are much less banged up. Yet, Thibs cannot seem to keep his injured superstar under 31 minutes even though it was never closer than 20, and often much worse than that, for the final 30+ minutes of the game.

Congrats on the most insane take of the day. Yes, 31 instead of 27 minutes will be the difference between health and looking gassed. Because that’s what the difference is – you don’t pull your star at halftime even down 30.

I don’t expect Brunson to be 100% and don’t even think he would be 100% if he had completely sat out the game. But that is the point, if he is not 100% then there is no excuse for Thibs running him out there for 31 minutes in a wire-to-wire blowout.

And it wasn’t five minutes of overuse it was more like ten. Thibs played Brunson for over 21 minutes in the first half, which was too much, and then played him an additional 10 in the 3rd quarter, which was also too much. Seeing how the game was going and knowing Brunson was hurt he should have played more like 15 minutes in the first half and then been pulled after like 5 in the 3rd quarter. There is no way he should have played more than 20-24 minutes max in this game. I know that 7-10 minutes isn’t going to make a huge difference but it just illustrates Thibs’s disease. He can’t help himself and eventually, his teams will always break down, because they always have.

It’s a straight line. Thibs has a reputation for his players breaking down and getting injured. Then he moves to a new team and his players break down and get injured. You can point to many of the injuries as not his fault but there is a clear correlation between Thibs and injuries.

I don’t want to be pessimistic about this, but it’s hard to imagine all of that NOT happening.

Durant got the max while everyone knew he would be missing the first year of his new contract. There is a major supply and demand issue for players as good as OG.

Agree on supply/demand but OG is not KD. However, OG is very very rare elite role player who clearly effects winning WHEN HEALTHY and he fits like a glove so, – I’m really not sure exactly how they will determine his value…but I don’t think he’s near a max level player.

I’ve seen people say OG is making money by getting hurt again but shouldnt he be losing money by showing how he cant stay healthy?

Durant got the max while everyone knew he would be missing the first year of his new contract. There is a major supply and demand issue for players as good as OG.

I’ve seen people say OG is making money by getting hurt again but shouldnt he be losing money by showing how he cant stay healthy?

I have no doubt they will find a way to resign him. They have his bird rights so it shouldn’t be a big blow on the salary cap. The big concern is not his contract but whether he can stay healthy when he is needed the most.

If Brunson is 100% next game and the rest of our starters are well rested then no harm but if Brunson is limping around or our starters look gassed then that is a serious blunder and directly Thibs’s fault.

Congrats on the most insane take of the day. Yes, 31 instead of 27 minutes will be the difference between health and looking gassed. Because that’s what the difference is – you don’t pull your star at halftime even down 30. You see whether you can make a run in the third. They couldn’t, and Brunson was pulled. I would have pulled him a few minutes earlier, but come on, we’re talking about 5 minutes at absolute max. Who gives a shit what the media says? They’re idiots. You can’t even say Brunson wasn’t healthy enough to play, since he was hurt in game 3 and played well enough that we should have taken that game. Of course he played this game, and of course he was out there until it was clear there was no coming back today. Ok, a few minutes after it was clear. But that’s it.