I was coaching a team that won a league title on Sunday and I didn’t do anything. The credit – as usual – belongs to the team and I was fortunate to coach a team where all the players contributed. Aside from getting one of the referee’s attention and touching my shoulders once midway through the first half, I made sure that I stayed out of my team’s way.
Screens permitted ballhandlers to get to the key, traps and pressure forced turnovers, and the team won the rebounding battle. In the previous round, the team had started slowly and needed to make up a thirteen point deficit in the second half. In comparison, maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the game was almost relaxing.
I regret not distributing the playing time more evenly. That was an egregious oversight that I will not have a chance to rectify. I think that everyone played at least eight minutes and nobody more than thirty-two but I relied heavily on the starting five. Personally, knowing that I could have done better puts a damper on the occasion.
When asked why he left his starters in the game during the 1998-99 season, Mike D’Antoni said that he’d “rather be the a—— who won by a lot than the idiot who blew the game.” Fair or not, that accurately describes a reality of coaching. Having erased the opponent’s large lead during the semi-finals, I was sensitive to the chance of a comeback and wanted to win. Consequently, I will be apologizing later this week to a number of players.