I hoped you were a bit more ambitious and played PON + predictions, but you did not. The difference is simple: you are happy with reaching the final conference with enthusiasm around 5 and I was not happy to reach the conference final with less than 9 high and this is why I played PON despite the injury.
Since the difference between playing or not the conference final is around 280-300k and that winning the conference finale away against DLR was almost impossible for Boston Hornets everybody in the world (except you because you don't care about 300k) would have played like LA-Zvi. 
I don't think everyone in the world is happy with just reaching the conference finals. If I was in his position with his team (not with mine), given that his players are old, I'd take advantage of Caneva's injury and play PON to have more chances in the finals (perhaps from a 1% to a 10%, whatever). However, being in the same spot, if he had a younger team that could be in a better position to win Heaven in the future, I'd probably opt for POD in order to secure the final.
None of the options is better or worse, it's a matter of whether getting to the conference finals at the prime of your project is enough for you or not. If it is, get there at any cost and with no enth. If it is not and you prefer taking the risk of being eliminated in return for being more aggressive against me, play PON.