LA Clippers: 3 Things to Watch For in Game 4 Against Denver

3. How much bench is too much bench?

In Game 3, the Clippers went 10 deep – ten guys played 5 minutes or more! It was the same in Game 2.

It’s an overused cliche that rotations tighten up in the playoffs, but it’s overused for a reason. Take, for instance, the NBA Champion Raptors last year – only 8 guys saw more than 5 minutes per game in the playoffs, and once the conference finals got underway, it was basically only 8 guys ever seeing the court.

Having this crazy depth that the Clips have is great for the regular season. It lets your stars play fewer minutes while still keeping a high seed. But, your best players win you playoffs series. The Clips only have two guys in the top 15 of playoffs minutes per game, and their third (Marcus Morris) has played fewer minutes per game than 68 other guys in the playoffs.

Every minute that you play your tenth best guy in the playoffs is a minute where a better option is sitting on the bench. This is why our depth was important in the regular season – our best guys didn’t have to kill themselves to get us here; now it’s time to play our starters and best bench players big minutes.

Much has been said about the defensive woes caused by playing some of our backups together. Per NBA stats, our best defensive lineups that have seen actual minutes have a common thread – they’ve got at least three starters in it.

Perhaps Game 4 isn’t the moment the switch flips, but it may be getting close to the time for our rotations to tighten and for our best players to start playing bigger minutes.

The Clippers and Nuggets play at 9 PM EST. Be sure to follow Clipperholics on Twitter for live thoughts on the game!