Jim O’Brien to stick with his rotation
Indiana Pacers Head Coach Jim O’Brien said on Thursday 25 November that he would stick to their current starting five especially after posting two straight games, including a huge one against
the star-studded Miami Heat on Monday 22 November.
O’Brien said that although Brandon Rush is playing well as of late, and is arguably a more explosive scorer and a better defender, he would continue to start Mike Dunleavy in the shooting
guard position because he believes that starting Rush won’t produce any drastic improvement in their performance this season.
“The main thing is you have your rotation together and guys know when they're going in the game,” O’Brien said. “Whether Brandon is starting or Michael is starting, the guy who is not starting
knows he's coming in and he's the first sub off the bench. We've had success with both line-ups, so it doesn't really matter.”
Dunleavy, who is averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game this season, started in 11 of the first 12 games of the Pacers this season. He did not start against the Heat after O’Brien
decided to go with Rush because he felt that Rush could defend Heat superstar Dwyane Wade better than Dunleavy.
“Playing Wade and LeBron James, that's a tough task,” O’Brien said. “It's nice that you have two guys that can defend; two guys that have defended both of them in the past.”
Rush, who is averaging 11.8 points in eight games this season, will likely start again for the Pacers in their game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday 28 November. Head coach O’Brien
said they need Rush to make things difficult for those players right from the opening tip to have a chance of pulling off another upset.
“The other thing that comes into play is that you have to look at the opponent's rotations when their guys come in and how you can best either match well with their rotation or take advantage
of their rotation,” said O’Brien on his plan to tweak the starting line-up when going up against teams that have superstar and high-scoring guards.
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