Curious coaching decisions?

[Brotha2ThaNite]

What are they saying about LD on the ESPN frontpage "insider"???

[Admin]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2011/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-110420

Questions. After a thrilling Boston-New York game, a puzzling Orlando-Atlanta game and a "lopsided" Dallas-Portland game -- only the second of the 13 in these thrilling playoffs to be decided by more than 10 points -- I'm flabbergasted. Between coaching brain cramps and outlier performances, plus more unusually competitive first-round play, I'm left with lots and lots of questions.

Questions such as:

Why was Jared Jeffries on the floor?

New York missed out on a chance to beat Boston in the final seconds when Jeffries' pass was deflected by Kevin Garnett, who went to the floor to retrieve the ball and quickly called timeout. Even if his pass got through, it was unlikely to result in success -- his target was Bill Walker, who was 0-for-11 from the floor but also was on the court for the most crucial possession of New York's season.

New York was coming out of a timeout and had ample reason to put its five best offensive players on the floor. For whatever reason, the Knicks didn't do it. Jeffries averages fewer than five points per 40 minutes and had a 37.5 true shooting percentage this season, making him one of the least effective offensive players in the league. Walker joined him on the court while Landry Fields and Shawne Williams watched.

Jeffries had 10 points and was the Knicks' third-leading scorer, but he scored so much in part because of the all-out double-teams Boston started sending at Carmelo Anthony once he went into blowtorch mode in the fourth quarter. Glen Davis was abandoning Jeffries and launching a full-out sprint toward Anthony the second he touched the ball, leaving Jeffries as the open man. By the end of the fourth quarter, the Knicks should have known this was coming, making it even more unusual that they didn't have a more offensively capable player positioned to receive Melo's pass.

What happened to Boston's offense?

While the Celtics can breathe a sigh of relief, the fact remains that they could easily be down 2-0 to a team that (a) isn't much better than average even at full strength, and (b) was missing two of its three best players in the second half Tuesday night.

Boston's numbers were so bad even though New York guard Toney Douglas conceded at least four layups to Rajon Rondo in an effort to stay out of foul trouble. In two games, the Celtics are scoring just 100.6 points per 100 possessions against New York -- the league's 21st-ranked defense in the regular season and one that became dramatically worse after the Anthony trade.

This is despite playing both games at home with pretty much a full roster; only Shaquille O'Neal is missing among Boston's rotation players, and while his absence has loomed large over the second half of the Celtics' season, it doesn't fully explain away their struggles. The bench continues to struggle despite what appears to be solid individual talent; for some reason Jeff Green, Delonte West and Nenad Krstic haven't clicked with their roles.

In particular, Boston needs to get more from the frontcourt. Garnett made the game-winner Tuesday night, but he was just 6-of-16 with three turnovers and didn't earn a single free throw. Jermaine O'Neal had two points in 20 minutes; Davis had four points in 27 minutes. That won't get it done, especially against a small lineup like New York's that should be vulnerable to Boston's size.

What's up with Al Horford sitting for most of the first half?

I've ripped coaches for extreme conservatism with foul trouble before, but what Larry Drew did Tuesday night in Orlando takes the cake. It may very well cost the Hawks the series.

For those who didn't see, Horford -- Atlanta's best player -- picked up two fouls in the first 2:11 of the game, and Drew's response was to sit him out for the ENTIRE FIRST HALF. This is straight out of the Larry Brown-Mike Woodson playbook, and Drew comes from that coaching tree, but I can't emphasize enough what an irrational and counterproductive strategy this is.

The cost of having a player foul out is that he's taken off the court. So sitting him for 22 minutes to eliminate the "penalty" of a third foul out is inherently counterintuitive -- the Hawks basically chose a cure that was dramatically worse than the disease.

Yes, studies have shown there may be some benefit to sitting a player in more dire foul trouble -- with more fouls than the quarter of the game, basically (i.e., two fouls in the first quarter, three in the second, four in the third) -- because such players will slack off on defense if they stay on the court.

Even by this logic, however, Horford should have been back on the court to begin the second quarter. Or, at worst, come back in with 8:44 left in the quarter after Jason Collins picked up his second foul.

Oh, did I leave that part out? Yes, the Hawks did the same thing with Collins, too -- their most valuable player this series because of his defense on Dwight Howard. Wanting to preserve Collins for the fourth quarter -- one he ended up not playing a minute in, because the Hawks were behind and Collins can't score -- Drew also sat Collins for the final 8:44 of the half with two fouls.

And Zaza Pachulia, the backup to those two players? Yes, really. Him too. He picked up his second foul with 11:22 left in the half and immediately hit the pine for the rest of the period. Can't be having players getting a third foul in the second quarter, after all, because if they get three more, they'll be forced to sit out. And there's nothing worse than having a player forced to sit out. Which is why Drew sat them out. My brain hurts.

Up 'til that point the Hawks had the game under control, with a 10-point lead. Soon things would change dramatically.

First, Josh Powell came in, after he mystifyingly was left activated while Etan Thomas didn't dress. (True story: I was talking to two NBA front-office types before a game this month and we were trying to come up with the worst player in the league. Without any prodding from me, both of them nominated Powell.)

Then came Hilton Armstrong, who managed to commit three fouls in his 5:20 stint but somehow stayed on the floor. Apparently the two-foul rule is waived for fifth-string centers.

Nonetheless, the damage was done. Orlando outscored the Hawks 26-10 over the final 8:44 of the second quarter, with Howard erupting for 17 points against Atlanta's scrubs.

There is no way to sugarcoat it: This is the most indefensible coaching decision I've seen this season. Horford played the entire second half and finished the game with -- you guessed it -- two fouls. This didn't come as a surprise to anyone who watched the Hawks this season. Horford has one of the lowest foul rates in the league at his position -- just 2.85 fouls per 40 minutes -- so even if he had stayed in the game with the two fouls he was at virtually no risk of fouling out.

Overall, when a real center was on the court the Hawks won Game 2 by 10 points. Unfortunately, Drew's personnel choices sabotaged them so badly in the second quarter that they missed a golden opportunity to grab this series by the throat.

Should the Hawks sign Jarron Collins too?

The specific utility of Jason Collins against the Magic is really quite amazing. Once again the Magic found it virtually impossible to score when Collins was on the court and relatively easy once he stepped off.

Check out this stat, courtesy of NBA.com's newly launched StatsCube -- in two playoff games, the Magic average 57.3 points per 48 minutes with Collins on the court and 112.3 when he's off it, a whopping 55-point differential. In the regular season the numbers weren't too much different: In four games, the Magic scored 66.8 points per 48 minutes with Collins playing and 93.5 with him sitting.

Obviously, his matchup against Howard is key. Howard has put up huge numbers in this series, but nearly all of them have come against other Hawks defenders -- with Tuesday night's second quarter fiasco being a prime example.

Wait, you mean the Peja Stojakovic that used to play for the Kings?

The most amazing thing about the Mavericks' first two games against Portland is how much production they're getting from the Geritol contingent. In its Game 2 win, Dallas got 78 points, 19 rebounds and 14 assists from players who appeared in the 2003 All-Star Game.

The big story was Stojakovic, who blistered the Blazers for 21 points off the bench and seemingly was wide open in the corner on every Dallas trip. This wasn't quite a season high -- he had 22 against Houston -- and given how much run he had and how open he was for those jumpers, it's hard to write off as a fluke. The bigger surprise, however, was Portland's inability to take advantage of Stojakovic defensively, a weakness that gets back to the Blazers' lack of perimeter shooting and how easy it makes it for opponents to double-team scoring threats.

Additionally, Jason Kidd has been unstoppable. In Tuesday night's Game 2 he was even hitting jumpers off the dribble, something he hasn't done, well, ever. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Kidd's 42 points in the first two games are the most he's had in consecutive playoff games since Games 5 and 6 of the 2003 NBA Finals. Kidd didn't have consecutive games with 42 total points at any time in the regular season; in fact, his previous season high was 31. The last time he had consecutive games with at least 42 points was January 2007.

In other words, I'm not sure there's an "adjustment" for the Blazers here. Kidd's performance is an extreme outlier, and they need to treat is such. If it turns out not to be the case, they're going to lose, but if they overreact to Kidd's two performances and leave other players open they'll still lose.

Finally, we have to give big props to Dallas for its ball control. The Mavs went the final 27 minutes of the game without a turnover, a real accomplishment against a Portland team that forced miscues on 17.2 percent of opponent possessions -- ranking second only to Memphis. Dallas' turnover avoidance also chokes off Portland's running game, providing a double-whammy for the Mavs. If they continue to hang on to the rock, they'll advance even if Kidd and Stojakovic cool off.

Great stuff there from Hollinger and he actually seems to be a bit ticked off about the way we lost last night and it's hard to disagree with him. I'm praying that LD learns something from that mistake but I won't hold my breath about it.

[Atlantaholic]

What is there more to say? Larry Drew and Mike Woodson are both morons. I learned what constituted foul trouble at the age of 9, and these guys still haven't figured it out. Mind boggling.

[APE]

I've been on the Jarron Collins bandwagon all year.

[ngc7]

fire drew now...a fan can manage this team better

[jhay610]

What is there more to say? Larry Drew and Mike Woodson are both morons. I learned what constituted foul trouble at the age of 9, and these guys still haven't figured it out. Mind boggling.

Of all the things to carry over from the Woodson regime...couldn't LD just shave his eyebrows?

[DJlaysitup]

Of all the things to carry over from the Woodson regime...couldn't LD just shave his eyebrows?

LOL - good one :biggrin: !

(from espn insider):

" (Al) picked up two fouls in the first 2:11 of the game, and Drew's response was to sit him out for the ENTIRE FIRST HALF. This is straight out of the Larry Brown-Mike Woodson playbook, and Drew comes from that coaching tree, but I can't emphasize enough what an irrational and counterproductive strategy this is.

The cost of having a player foul out is that he's taken off the court. So sitting him for 22 minutes to eliminate the "penalty" of a third foul is inherently counterintuitive -- the Hawks basically chose a cure that was dramatically worse than the disease."

I will admit that during the game I was so into the play-by-play I didn't think that much about it...but looking back it was one of the dumbest moves (or non-moves) that I can remember. You can say that "hindsight is 20-20" but I think it's pretty obvious that LD made a serious mistake in this case. :sorry:

Edited April 21, 2011 by DJlaysitup

[NineOhTheRino]

John Hollinger talking LD and Hawks on the NBA Today podcast:

http://c.espnradio.com/audio/574545/nbatoday_2011-04-20-111445.mp3

[Brotha2ThaNite]

I'm glad to see someone write on this. I have been pissed for years about this 2foul rule this coaching staff have....smh

Thanks Dolfan23 for the post!

[Guest]

Finally - some national attention to this stupid stupid 2 foul rule by LD. Makes me sick.

[Endy9]

No reason we shouldn't be up 2-0. LD blew it.