GAME 36: DAL (19-17) @ OKC (16-21) | 108-115 loss

[mavsluvr]

Seems like you’re assuming this was a conscious choice, based on some coach-held belief that they could win the game without those guys. I don’t know if I trust that all of the assumptions made there are correct. 

For all we know, Cuban made the call. Or Luka, himself. For all we know Carlisle was just as pissed and surprised as we were. We really just don’t know. 

If Carlsile did make the call, then it seems silly to assume that he did so because he thought OKC would be a pushover. That doesn’t seem consistent with what we know about him. It might have been more of a necessary situation due to actual pain management or the need to prevent further injury. Those situations might very well have trumped the need to win. KP’s situation, in particular, seems like it could be completely out of the coaching staff’s hands. This is a business, and that is like a $200 million plus asset that management is either trying to trade or get across the finish line of the season, somehow.

Since they said the rest day was planned before the ASB, it didn't seem like it was related to a particular urgent situation, although of course that is possible. Dameris and Followill had a discussion of how the planned rest days are decided upon in their podcast Friday. 

Dameris explained that, when the second half schedule was published, a collection of people from various areas would have commented on and come up with a list of the recommended scheduled rest days. The final decision would have been made by upper management, with a large amount of input from the medical/training staff. According to him, there is no way they thought they were conceding the game against OKC. They would have trusted the guys on the court to beat that Thunder team, and in his view, they really should have. 

He thought this particular rest day would have been chosen because they thought they could win the game without KP and Luka, and it was the last day to steal a day off for them for weeks to come. His impression is that the rest days are going to ripple through the roster this season -- a couple guys here, and a different couple of guys there. Carlisle said he doesn't know when the next one is, and he really might not.  For all we know, he could have hated the choice. Or loved it. Or not thought much about it.