Friday, November 17, 2023

Basketball, Fast Five: Avoid Unforced Errors

Don't find fifty ways to lose games. 

Every game coaches see and lament 'unforced errors'. Often, they arise not from lack of skill but lack of focus.

In The Bear, Uncle Jimmy explains how Steve Bartman didn't lose the game for the Cubs, but a cascade of errors starting with Alex Gonzalez. "You don't want to be unfocused. You wan't to be the guy, be the #$%*ing guy. Unforced errors are contagious."

The best teams don't give games away. You have to beat them because they don't give games away. 

What causes unforced errors and what are some of them? 

1. Everyone is not on the same page. This shows up in a variety of ways, like miscommunication about defenses/assignments. Blown assignments allowing one or more easy baskets leave indelible pain, especially in the postseason. "Readback" diminishes mistakes. Give and get feedback. 

2. Mental mistakes. Turnovers come in two flavors, decision-making and execution. Great players and teams win in space. Poorer ones fail to space and drive and pass into traffic. "Your parents early lessons include 'do not play in traffic'. 

3. Lack of discipline. Undisciplined play shows up in many ways. 

  • Poor shot selection (I like Doc Rivers' term shot turnovers)
  • Bad fouling like reaching in, fouling perimeter shots, swatting down on shot blocking, and fouling low percentage shots...
  • Bad transition defense often stems from lack of awareness combined with insufficient effort.
4. Poor situational basketball. Give yourself a chance with well-designed BOBs, SLOBs, and ATOs with dedicated inbounding, solid screening with urgent cutting, and understanding of time, score, and situation. Improper end-of-quarter time management, fouling the wrong shooter, and unintelligent offensive and defensive delay games are 'losers'. 

5. "Make a new plan, Stan." One of my pet peeves is 'lack of intent'. How do we play smarter, harder, and longer than our opponent? If it looks as though there is no plan, there probably is no plan. Coaches should tell players "this is how we create advantage" and "that is how we prevent opponents from creating advantage." 

Lagniappe. "Bigs away come back into play." 

Lagniappe 2. Sports rewards explosiveness.   

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