So many of you have given or at least heard many pregame talks. This has always been a very interesting area of game preparation to me, as I have heard and read many things about the different approaches coaches take. I have heard of so many over the years that I actually keep a mental file of different topics to use depending on the game that night.

What I wanted to touch on today, though, is not the coach’s preparation but the player’s preparation. I have mentioned Kevin Garnett many times in the blog because he is unique in his approach to the game. I can tell you that he has a laser-like focus during our walk throughs, our pregame edit, and Doc’s talk. He totally understands the importance of the game plan and what we need to do to win that night. He respects the opponent’s talents and knows that we can get an edge if we know the opponent and their tendencies as we go into battle that night.

The look in his face and his eyes during the edit tape right before the game and during our walk throughs sets the tone for everyone else. We usually show no more that 13 clips and you can hear a pin drop as each player is concentrating on the assignment and strategy that night. Our players will even ask to stop the edit so that they can talk it out and make sure that we are on the same page.

During the walk through itself, our culture is to go game speed and to talk just like we would in the game. It is our dry run (not our dry walk) for the game that night. Again you will hear our players asking questions or stopping and talking out a coverage that involves two particular players. They simply want to make sure that everyone understands what we are doing that night.

The theme is always the same: “if this can help us win the game then we have to pay 100% attention” and our players know that this aspect of preparation is where we need to excel.

Everyone in the NBA is talented. The difference often lies in preparation and willingness to stay mentally engaged through a long grueling season — to find any edge that we can over our opponent. We are lucky in that our team understands that the detail we put into our opponent preparation can give us one of our edges. They also know and buy into the fact that their responsibility is to give their undivided attention in order to make sure it gets carried out on the floor.