- Joined
- Aug 27, 2011
- Messages
- 16,204
- Reaction Score
- 35,473
There are a lot of facets that make this team special -- skill, toughness, IQ, savvy -- but I think the one element that stands out is trust.
Trust between the players and the coaches, between the players themselves.
We ran an extremely intricate offense that relied on everyone doing 5 or 6 different things on a given possession, and if any one of them lost trust in that system, it risked devolving into 1 on 1 stuff that wasn't our stretch. It never happened. Even when things occasionally bogged down or we got 25 seconds into the shot clock without an opening, everyone trusted each other to do their job, and the players trusted the coaching staff that eventually it would break through. And it always did.
On defense, last night in particular, the coaches trusted Clingan to defend 1 on 1 without fouling, and he generally did. His teammates trusted him to handle that responsibility without doubling (until we mixed up strategies) and never went off-script.
The sense of trust and belief that these guys have in each other, and the discipline to execute the plan, was incredible to watch.
Trust between the players and the coaches, between the players themselves.
We ran an extremely intricate offense that relied on everyone doing 5 or 6 different things on a given possession, and if any one of them lost trust in that system, it risked devolving into 1 on 1 stuff that wasn't our stretch. It never happened. Even when things occasionally bogged down or we got 25 seconds into the shot clock without an opening, everyone trusted each other to do their job, and the players trusted the coaching staff that eventually it would break through. And it always did.
On defense, last night in particular, the coaches trusted Clingan to defend 1 on 1 without fouling, and he generally did. His teammates trusted him to handle that responsibility without doubling (until we mixed up strategies) and never went off-script.
The sense of trust and belief that these guys have in each other, and the discipline to execute the plan, was incredible to watch.