Late Wednesday afternoon I received a NBA League Pass alert to watch the closing minutes of the Sacramento Kings versus Dallas Mavericks.
The game moved into overtime, and with the score at 102-104 the Mavs’ way, Kings forward Jason Thompson stepped to the foul line in an attempt to tie the game.
After hitting the first free throw Mavs coach Rick Carlisle called a timeout. The brilliance of the timeout is evident to anyone who has played the game. Free throw shooting is about repetition, rhythm and focus.
Calling a timeout between Thompson’s two allotted free throws broke his rhythm, removed his repetition and ruined his focus before he attempted the second.
He missed.
While the Mavs had the ball, there remained a four-second differential between the game and shot clock, ensuring the Kings would have the last possession, they just had to back their defence. That is until Kings coach Ty Corbin made the bizarre decision to foul, drawing several reactions on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/haralabob/status/555237958836436995?lang=en
The decision gifted the Mavs two free throws to take their lead to three and the game was effectively over.
Watching the final moments in this game reminded me that despite the gargantuan salaries of the players and giant billboards which adorn arenas with their image, an NBA team’s most important piece is often its coach.
As good as Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are, they were unlikely to win the title last season without their coach Gregg Popovich patrolling the sidelines.
Popovich is widely acknowledged as the best coach in the NBA and last year’s finals was his magnum opus. His mastery of his craft saw the Spurs playing with a rare egoless unity which was breathtaking to watch and was team basketball at its finest.
Coaches the quality of Carlisle and Popovich show the positive impact they can have on a team’s fortunes – both short term and long term.
Good NBA coaches have the ability see the forest by developing effective systems for offence and defence while managing workload over the marathon season. Players buy into their system, which provides them with defined roles which are tailored to their strengths.
This is evident in Atlanta where Mike Budenholzer has the Hawks playing dominating team basketball, gaining the nickname ‘Spurs East’ in the process. Every player who comes on the court for the Hawks provides a positive contribution and while Budenholzer has many good players, none are considered a superstar.
Instead Budenholzer has made teamwork the superstar, with each player more willing to set up their teammate than do it themselves. This results in no weak links on the court and a much better basketball team.
The Golden State Warriors had no significant changes to their playing personnel between seasons yet this year they are tearing through the league. The one change the Warriors did make was their coach, from Mark Jackson to Steve Kerr.
Jackson played an isolation heavy style which put added extra stress on Steph Curry to beat his defender and had too many players uninvolved in the play. Last year the Warriors were last in the league for passes per game and eighth in assists. This year under Kerr they are 10th in the league for passes per game and first in assists.
This plays to the Warrior’s strengths by both freeing up their shooters for more open shots and has more players involved in each possession. It is no surprise that Kerr and Budenholzer have their teams leading their conferences. This season the Warriors and Hawks are number one and two in assists per game respectively, a stat the Spurs topped a season ago.
Good coaches also understand that the modern game requires you to unsettle the increasingly sophisticated defences by pushing and moving the ball for uncontested shots. Which put simply is called ‘pace and space’.
Under Popovich the Spurs have the mantra ‘good to great’ when talking about their shot selection. This means passing up good shots, making the extra pass which will create a great shot. The Spurs do this because they know that a contested shot results in a 20 per cent dip in its chances of going in compared to an uncontested shot.
Coaches unwilling to advance their philosophies to the modern style are still around, like Byron Scott – simply throw the ball to Kobe Bryant in crunch time to take isolated, contested shots while being surrounded by multiple defenders.
Scott is unwavering in his belief that the superstar gets to take the last shot, a belief from a bygone era. He is unaware that the real crunch time superstars are now the uncontested shot, which should be created by the coach.
In Oklahoma City Scott Brooks has virtually no offensive system at all, he simply lobs a ball into his two superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and takes a seat with the rest of the spectators.
The Thunder sit near the bottom of the league in assist and catch and shoot numbers, while taking a high proportion of pull-up shots, not very efficient basketball. It fails to get their teammates involved and is even less effective come playoffs.
It is why many believe Brooks needs to be removed if Oklahoma City are to have any chance at a title. Having two of the best 10 players on the planet is great, but it’s the coach who will guide these talents to the title.
It’s the old adage of ‘a champion team will beat a team of champions’ and behind every champion team is always a great coach.
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