As the season winds down it’s evident that the games get harder and harder and we see that defense becomes an even greater factor. Many coaches believe that defense wins championships, and that defenses are often at their best this time of year as the best teams jockey for that championship run.
So it becomes increasingly important for teams to get away from being a “first option” team and to become more of a “second and third option” team offensively. We constantly preach to our team that in order to win we have to be disciplined enough and trusting enough that we don’t have to force the first option — and that we increase our chances to win if we can comfortably go to other options within a set. This is a lot easier said than done.
This is the time of year when possessions are even more valuable…and wasted possessions can kill you. Shots taken too quickly because we were “sort of” open become shooting turnovers to us. Instead of “first option” shots we want “best option” shots. We have found that against the best teams in the NBA, this means shots coming from our second and third option.
Players may not like this because it’s not as easy, but who ever said championships are easy? I can tell you first hand after being part of winning the 2008 NBA World Championship that they are extremely hard to win. And it usually takes more than one option!
