Friday, February 16, 2024

Basketball: "Why Did We Lose? "

"Negative thinking—realizing that an average game from your team and average preparation from you isn’t likely to beat an average game by the very good team you’re about to play—can give you by far your best chance to win that game." - Knight, "The Power of Negative Thinking"

Learn a lot from volleyball. Every possession scores a point:

  • Our team wins a point. 
  • Opposition loses the point. 
  • Our team loses a point. 
  • Opposition wins a point. 
When a team plays well, it controls the action and has a higher percentage of winning points. Conversely, during losses it's usually a combination of opponent efficiency and our misery. 

Losing teams have a lot of commonalities with that, inability to 'win points':
  • Poor half court offense (few points won)
  • Inability to capitalize on opponent errors
  • Poor transition defense, fouls, turnovers (losing points)
  • Inadequate half court defense (allowing opponent points)
Within that framework, I watched video of a struggling team recently and the first thing I noticed was poor transition defense. Players didn't get back quickly or purposefully, didn't protect the basket, and fouled often when opponents were finishing. Ninety percent through the season, is that coaching, players, or a combination? 

A slight head fake moves the defender and opens the middle. 



"Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses." - Sun Tzu   Good teams exploit matchups. 



Good offense, defensive error. KP slips the screen early and the defense recognizes late. 

Force defense into unfavorable coverage, such as long closeouts. Nets attack the closeout. 


Break down possessions and find out why scoring occurred. 

Lagniappe. Which describes our team? 

Lagniappe 2. Two key points arise...are you making people better and are you impacting winning at both ends? That applies to players and coaches. 

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