DeSimone would most likely have stayed in the game at least until the last few minutes of play had you set your lineup like this:
A-F-F
B-B-B
C-C-C
D-D-D
E-G-G
Yours and a few other similar cases that I recall clearly show that players set at the reserve spots are simply not acknowledged by the game engine during blowouts in the closing minutes of the third quarter if a different player is set as both the starter and backup at that position. At a similar time in the fourth quarter, the engine will simply override both the backups and reserves set. This instance regarding the fourth quarter is more widely known just because most users tend not to set players only as reserves.
Basically, in that particular game, the game engine identified that you had no backup players set and imposed a blowout rule, which should be similar to - if not the same - as the one used in the fourth quarter, which is, in essence: "sub out as many starters as possible".
I have never used the lineup structure you used in that game, so I don't have an effective way to analyse the behavior of the engine more objectively on third quarter garbage time, but here is a brief analysis of data gathered from pretty much every single game in which my team had at least one player subbed out of the game during its closing minutes in an "X-X-X", "Strictly Follow Depth Chart", "Let Them Play" scenario: the decision to sub out a player is based exclusively on his playing time and stamina; players with high stamina (starting probably from a certain sublevel of respectable) seem to not get subbed out of the game; the lower the player's stamina, the earlier he will be subbed if a break happens (2,30 mins left is probably the earliest point) ; when multiple players are set to play the full game and a break into that period occurs when at least two of them have entered their stamina threshold, the substitutions will be ordered by their stamina (from lowest to highest). Skills other than stamina are a factor only when choosing which players will be subbed in.
With those points in mind, you can somewhat work around the game engine to achieve your minute goals regarding certain players, but you might be forced to make some sacrifices in exchange sometimes. Of course, the easiest and safest way to assure 48 minutes of play in a single game still is to be on the other end of a blowout.
Also, much has been discussed about the way the engine handles substitutions and the philosophy that surrounds it, but at least that backup/reserve interaction in the third quarter should still be taken as a bug. It would also be nice to see a short note be added to the game manual regarding high minutes in an effort to at least redirect part of the threads that would be created in the bugs forums to the Suggestions/Help forums.
Last edited by Densler at 9/11/2015 6:27:54 AM