NBA Finals: Long rests not needed with TV timeouts say Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder coaches

OKLAHOMA CITY?With so much at stake, coaches are loathe to give their best players too much rest during the NBA Finals, figuring instead that a slightly-weary LeBron James or Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook or Dwayne Wade are still better than the alternatives.

So they try to steal what little breaks they can and the coaches and players have an unlikely ally: Television.

Instead of taking their players off the court for an extra minute or two of rest, coaches know they are going to get TV-extended timeouts at least twice a quarter and that?s providing them with additional minutes for players to catch their breath.

?It really is a three-minute break all through the game,? said Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coach Rex Kalamian, noting the two mandatory timeouts in each of the first and third quarters and three in each of the second and fourth.

?Can you play hard and then take a three-minute break and come back out? Sometimes our guys are jumping up off the bench during the timeout and the horn (summoning the players back to the court) hasn?t even gone yet. We have to tell our guys, ?relax, it?s a long timeout, you?ve still got another minute and 45 seconds left.?

?It?s like a boxer between rounds, just hang out, hang out, relax ? they?re so eager to get back out there.?

Much has been made of the workload being carried by the stars on each of the Thunder and Miami Heat, particularly James and Durant.

James played 45:50 of Game 1?s 48 minutes; Durant logged 45:48. Wade was on the court for 42:14; Westbrook for 42:14.

It?s not entirely unusual ? James and Durant have routinely played up to the entire 48 minutes some games ? but the cumulative load could be significant as the series progresses.

Luckily for them, the TV breaks are there. The routine ones last longer than two minutes, the broadcasters find ways to jam commercials even into 20-second timeouts that coaches routinely call.

?Any time the timeouts or the TV timeouts, the breaks, halftime, you get rest, you?re able to recoup and re-energize, I mean, it helps,? said James.

Much was made on Wednesday?s off-day in the best-of-seven series about the fatigue that James may be dealing with. He is such a key component to what Miami does, especially with the up-and-down nature of Wade?s game, coach Erik Spoelstra really can?t take James out for more than a minute at a time.

Spoelstra did say he?d try to find a minute or two more on the bench for James as the series progressed but once the game starts, those plans often go awry.

?I?ll probably go a little bit deeper into the rotation obviously, try to get the guys a little more rest,? he said. ?But we?re not making any excuses. Their two top guys played the same amount of minutes.?

James, like any star, knows it?s folly to think he can get any extended rest in any game the rest of the series.

?There?s always times where you would like to get a minute here, a minute there, two minutes there, and I?ve got to be more out with my coaching staff, as well, when I feel like I may need a minute here or a minute there and then I can go back into the game,? said James.

?But there?s also times where I may feel tired, but I?m playing well, we?re playing well, so I don?t want to mess up the rhythm, and this is a rhythm game. It?s a fine line with getting rest and just playing through it because I don?t feel like I hurt my teammates when I am out there.

?But it?s just all about a communication thing, getting two minutes rest here, three minutes there. It maybe can help.?

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