Nba 2k question about minutes played

I am 19 games away from finishing my first season in myGM. I am only playing 4 min quarters.

I am only setting my starters to play 30 min. When they get tired or sluggish I drop their minutes to around 20. That coupled with a day or two of rest and they are good to go.

I attempted to give them a rest and dropped all my starters to 2 min a game. They are playing less, but still WAY over two minutes. Usually the entire first quarter, start the 3rd and play most of the second half if the game is close. I will have some games coming up that I NEED to lose bc I'm trying to keep Denver out of the 8th playoff spot since I have their first round pick and I want it to be in the lottery.

What do I have to do to control their minutes since dropping them before a game isn't working?