Who among us has not experienced painful losses because of misunderstandings or miscommunications?
Share bad losses. As a prep coach leading by a point with a few ticks remaining, Red saw his inbounder throw a behind-the-back pass under their own basket. It was stolen and converted into the winning basket. WHO would throw such a pass in such a situation?
Great players can make mistakes, too.
Explicitly explain the how and why. Seventh grade girls leading by one against an undefeated team, five seconds left, SLOB. My thinking:
1. Make scoring hard for the opponent.
2. Do not foul.
3. Don't turn the ball over at midcourt or in the backcourt.
4. Expect defense to switch everything (good coaching).
5. Get our best inbounder and receiver.
6. Make our worst case a held ball (lost possession) 80 feet from the basket with a couple of seconds left.
Don't give games away. Leading close and late, it's harder for opponents to beat us than for us to beat ourselves. Don't beat ourselves with bad decisions, bad execution, bad shots, and bad fouls.
Create situations. "This is what we do here."
- PRACTICE situational basketball. Regularly.
- Get and give feedback.
- Traffic in specifics.
Vary the score...leading, trailing, tied.
Vary the time...a few seconds to a minute.
Vary the situation (with or without the ball, with or without timeouts).
Vary the location (e.g. BOB, SLOB, frontcourt, backcourt, either baseline.)
We can't prepare for everything with a few hours per week practice. So prepare for a handful.
Tie score, with the ball, inside ten seconds, BOB or SLOB.
Leading by 3 without the ball, inside ten seconds. Foul or not.
Leading by 2, inside 30 seconds with the ball. Offensive delay game.
Trailing by 2, inside 30 seconds w/o the ball. Defensive delay game.
Trailing by 2, inside 5 seconds, shooting one free throw.
Present players with the situation, presume no timeouts, and ask them what they might choose and why.
Lagniappe (something extra). Become more professional. From today's Boston Globe (Adam Himmelsbach):
Nesmith’s frustration about his role with the Celtics was often visible. But Nesmith, who has emerged as a starter for the Pacers and is averaging 9 points on 37.9 percent 3-point shooting, said he learned valuable lessons during his Celtics tenure.
“Just the little things, every single day,” he said. “Not so much on the floor. It’s really off the floor, how they prepare and how they approach the game. Somebody like, for example, Al [Horford]. I watched Al come in every single day and do the same routine, no matter how he felt, whether it was an off day or a practice day. Stuff like that are things I was able to take.”