Watched a Final Four tournament this weekend and couldn't help but notice some of the “little things” that occur in games that most players never practice and those little things can often determine which team wins or loses in a close game.
Here is one of those little things I saw... I watched a team up by seven points with 3:50 left in the game, start to “play keep away” with the ball by spacing out and holding the ball until defensive pressure was applied. That's a smart strategy on offense... burn as much clock as possible to protect your lead.
At this particular point in the game, the defense was playing a sagging man-to-man (off the ball) in order to protect paint. Each time a defender would come out and put pressure on the ball, a pass was made to a wide open offensive player, this cycle would be repeated over and over again. The defense was basically chasing the ball rather than denying the catch, which allowed the offense to run more than a minute off the clock during each of their possessions before the defense finally got the ball back.
It would have only taken about 20 seconds for the coach to instruct the defense to pressure the ball AND deny the catch, which would likely force the offense into shortening their length of possession. But that didn't happen... and the defensive team in this example lost the game.
Little things make a big difference in BIG games.
4:13
Here is one of those little things I saw... I watched a team up by seven points with 3:50 left in the game, start to “play keep away” with the ball by spacing out and holding the ball until defensive pressure was applied. That's a smart strategy on offense... burn as much clock as possible to protect your lead.
At this particular point in the game, the defense was playing a sagging man-to-man (off the ball) in order to protect paint. Each time a defender would come out and put pressure on the ball, a pass was made to a wide open offensive player, this cycle would be repeated over and over again. The defense was basically chasing the ball rather than denying the catch, which allowed the offense to run more than a minute off the clock during each of their possessions before the defense finally got the ball back.
It would have only taken about 20 seconds for the coach to instruct the defense to pressure the ball AND deny the catch, which would likely force the offense into shortening their length of possession. But that didn't happen... and the defensive team in this example lost the game.
Little things make a big difference in BIG games.
4:13
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