I had a dream last night that my band from high school was going to perform a show. We weren't practicing or anything, and I don't even really remember our songs, but we were apparently just going to go out there in front of everyone and give it a go. The more I've reflected on this today, I'm thinking this is the Jazz scenario playing out in my mind and reflects what my anxiety is if we're really trying to be extra cautious with guys in hopes of a long playoff run, but we could be looking beyond the mark. We need to have a rhythm, and that's important. If the argument is that if we can't beat the Lakers in the first round then we can't beat them in the WCF, well I don't know that's true. Being able to get going, get in motion, and build confidence is huge. Meeting someone in the WCF allows you to get into a groove, knock off a couple teams, and feel that, to some degree, you're proving yourself. You meet the defending champs in the first round and it's still in the back of your head of what everyone is saying that we are a hot regular season team and haven't proved anything. We can pretend that's not an issue, but everyone struggles with doubt. Everyone struggles with imposter syndrome. You get off to a rocky start in the first two games due to any number of variables, not the least among them re-integrating two starters after prolong absences, and those doubts will magnify in your mind. When they magnify, it changes the way you play. You start playing stupid. Yes, we have the first seed. Yes, we've won some big games. But that does not put us beyond having these have the potential to be a real achilles heels for us. We'll see how it plays out, but I think if we continue to sit Mike the last two games if it's really "not a big deal" and we're focused too much on 6 weeks from now, it may create a problem. The same kind of strategy of not using your last bottle of water in the desert when you're starting to become delirious. You can certainly save it for later, and maybe you'll need it later and it will be smart in hindsight, but if there's a possibility of there not being a later, then dying with a full water bottle ends up not being that great.