USA TODAY International Edition
For NBA coaches, fine line between adept and inept
Often ready with a good quote, Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey won’t revel in his lineup decision that has turned his NBA playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks in Toronto’s favor.
“This is an up- and- down league,” Casey said, “and one day you’re the statue, and the next day you’re the pigeon.”
Casey has firsthand knowledge. Through three games of his firstround Eastern Conference series against Milwaukee, Toronto trailed 2- 1. Casey was the statue.
One lineup move later — Norman Powell moved into the starting lineup in place of Jonas Valanciunas — Casey is the pi- geon, flying high with a 3- 2 lead.
It is the nature of the playoffs, where every coaching decision and non- decision is scrutinized on TV, in print, online and on ruthless social media.
“The pressure of the playoffs is what you live for,” said Washington Wizards coach Scott Brooks, who was searching for answers after the Atlanta Hawks erased his team’s 2- 0 series lead.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt once said NBA coaches have 150 to 200 critical decisions to make during a 48minute game. A coach isn’t going to bat 1.000. Coaching is difficult, and they’re not robots, generating the perfect antidote to what an opponent is doing.
Coaches don’t always make the right adjustment, have the right five on the court, call the right plays or manage the clock well in the final minutes of the game.
“Coaches like to think we’re doing our job, so we go and we work,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “One of the greatest challenges for a coach is to decide what not to give your team and not overload or adjust or change too much. … It’s the fundamentals and execution that rule the day.”
Sitting next to a front office executive before a recent NBA playoff game, the discussion turned to coaches and the Boston Celtics-Chicago Bulls series.
Through the first two games of the series with the Bulls up 2- 0, coach Fred Hoiberg, who through most of his tenure with Chicago couldn’t coach a stacked youth league team to a title, was brilliant.
On the other bench, Celtics coach Brad Stevens had been labeled the genius. Yet after two games of Rajon Rondo picking apart Boston, Stevens was the clueless one. He was back at genius level after putting Gerald Green in the starting lineup and tying the series 2- 2.
The truth is in the middle. Stevens isn’t at Gregg Popovich level yet, and Hoiberg isn’t the worst coach to guide an NBA team.
Casey understands the nature of an unforgiving machine: “Everybody has a job to do.”
If you need a gentle reminder, Casey was the mastermind of the Dallas Mavericks’ defense the season the Mavs defeated LeBron James and the Miami Heat for the championship. He led the Raptors to the Eastern Conference finals and a franchise- record 56 victories last season. He knows how to coach. And even then, some days, he’s still the statue.