The topic had been broached and the opportunity offered for a few of the Pacers to take a game off. "Load management" they call it these days, which is another way of saying "rest." It looks bad in a box score and doesn't go over well with fans who pay to see the games, but it's a legitimate reason for a player on a playoff-bound team to sit out a game now and then.
Big picture stuff, you know? Gotta be as fresh as possible for the games that matter most.
With that in mind, and coming off an 0-4 road trip which ended with a 23-point loss at Golden State that wasn't even that close, Nate McMillan approached three of his veteran players on Saturday to take their pulse on taking a Sunday off — a Sunday in which the Pacers were going to play Denver at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.