Do we practicing 'situational basketball' often enough? Because about a third of games are decided by two possessions or fewer, practicing 'close and late' situations seems obvious.
All of us have experienced bad beats, heartbreaking losses because of plays made, decisions made or not made.
Players must understand time, score, and situation. Depending on each, the priority might be inbounding safely, scoring, avoiding fouls, fouling to stop the clock, and so forth.
I won't discuss offensive or defensive delay games or deciding whether to foul up three late.
Key points:
1) Define the goal of each close and late possession. It might mean running clock, not scoring.
2) Raise the stakes. One coach saw players uncommitted to knowing the plays. He told them to study because if you failed the written test, you wouldn't play. They learned.
3) Practice special situations regularly. We finished each practice with 15 minutes of special situation practice, called "specials," with three possession games starting with BOB, SLOB, free throw, or ATO.
4a. Plan, don't presume. You won't always have a timeout to set up the play and matchups you want.
4b. Timeouts can be golden for substitution, rest, or coaching. Dean Smith wanted to save three for the final four minutes. If it's good enough for Dean...
5) Cultivate an inbounder whom you trust to get the ball in safely and with the patience to wait for plays to develop.
What more could we do?
- Brad Stevens watched the end of more than a thousand NBA games, evaluating what worked and what didn't.
- Consider showing players your game film of what went well and what failed and why.
- Bobby Knight sometimes drew up a play during a "timeout" during practice and handed out pen and paper, expecting players to know the answer on 'the test'.
