What should Stern do with the Spurs?

Greg Popovich decided to send Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Danny Green home last night before their game against the defending champion Miami Heat. This decision has been met with a lot of criticism and has even caused David Stern to issue a statement saying that the Spurs will face "harsh sanctions" as a result of this. Why though? What did the Spurs do that was so wrong? It was going to be their 4th game on the road in 5 days against an EXTREMELY well rested Miami Heat team. They had 4 days off to prepare for the Spurs and before that they had only played 1 game in a week. The Heat had a vacation, while the Spurs had one of the hardest stretches of their schedule. The real blame here falls on the NBA schedule makers. The real Spurs would have gotten clobbered by a well rested Miami Heat team. Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and Green could not have kept up with the young legs of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh and would have found themselves getting embarrassed on national TV. Pop's strategy was to play his bench players, such De Colo and hope that the Heat played down to their level. But the Spurs bench players are no mediocre players. Patty Mills, Tiago Splitter and veteran Boris Diaw all have played significant roles for their national teams in the Olympics. Matt Bonner and Kawhi Leonard have been great outside shooters. These guys aren't no name players, and they can actually play a little bit of basketball. And guess what? They actually played a great game of basketball! If anything here was David Stern's worst nightmare, it was the way the game played out.

The Spurs were in a position to win the game with just under 20 seconds left to play. They nearly forced LeBron to turn the ball over until he was luckily bailed out by cold-blooded-killer Ray Allen. Unfortunately, the Spurs could not pull out the win, as Gary Neal and Patty Mills both missed threes down the stretch. But if anything can be taken away from the game, it's that the Spurs minor league team kept up with the Miami Heat for 47 and 3/4 minutes. That is pretty damn impressive. Now Pop knows a lot more about these "bench warmers" and they likely will start playing a greater role on the team. They will take a share of the minutes away from Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili thus keeping them fresher and filling the void left by the injuries of Kawhi Leonhard and Stephen Jackson. Last night was a win for San Antonio and should be thought of as a loss by the Heat.

This all brings me back to the main question: What Should David Stern do?

David Stern should do absolutely nothing about this. It was the Spurs decision and it was a decision that Popovich says he made when the schedule first came out. He felt that it was in the best interest of his team to rest these players. David Stern cannot come in and meddle in the individual affairs of a team. Stern talked a lot about the responsibility the NBA has to its fans to put out the best brand of basketball, but the teams have the responsibility of doing what is best for their team and their players. Stern has no business coming out publicly, BEFORE the game even is played, and saying that the Spurs will be penalized because he felt they were essentially throwing the game. I am a huge fan of Stern and what he has done for the NBA, he has never done something like this before though and he should never do something like this again.

UPDATE: STERN FINED THE SPURS 250K FOR VIOLATING THE LEAGUES POLICY AGAINST RESTING PLAYERS IN A MANNER CONTRARY TO THE BEST INTEREST OF THE GAME.