Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Last Two Minutes of Every Period

As is known, I have been watching this team for decades. I am also a Jets fan, and if there's one epithet that Jets fans are known for - other than Fireman Ed's J-E-T-S cheer - it's "same old Jets".

What that epithet describes is the truth everybody but Jets coaches seem to grasp: Their team has a persona, a way of losing, letting go of the rope, doing it the same way year after year after year, regardless the players, the coaches, even the owners.

Most of the current Jets have only been on the team a few years, but even they fear the "same old Jets" call. Even if they have themselves never experienced the collapses - of the same type - of years past, they are well aware of them. This makes them tighter than they normally would be, irrespective of their past experiences.

Coaches minimize personae. I don't know why. One would think that they'd be conscious of it - especially Jets coaches.

Especially Nets coaches...

Tonite the Nets lost in triple overtime, 123-120. They had, in the first two overtimes, innumerable chances to win. Yet they lost.

And how did they lose?

Well, to hear AJ talk about it, it has to do with youth and inexperience.

BS, AJ.

Cynics might say, Good teams make plays, bad teams make mistakes. And that is true.

But it's more than that.

The Nets have this persona - they lose almost every period in the last 2 minutes.

The lose in the last 2 minutes of almost every period.

Consider tonite's game.

Here are the results of all 7 periods in the last two minutes:

1. +2
2. Even
3. -1
4. +1
5. -4
6. +1
7. -2

This comes to a net (sic) -3. How much did they lose by? 3.

I do not carefully keep stats. For my own mental health, I don't watch every single game (altho this year I may have).

After a good start, where the Nets in fact did start winning these all important segments of games, they are falling back to their old persona.

NOTE TO COACH JOHNSON: If you want a simple, effective way to improve this team - FOCUS ON TEACHING THEM HOW TO PLAY THE LAST 2 MINUTES OF A PERIOD.

Example: In the first OT, if they win the last 2 minutes of JUST THAT PERIOD, they win. If they break even, they win!

The Nets play tight in the last 2 minutes of nearly every period. Every single one. Do you want your young team to develop confidence? TEACH THEM HOW TO MANAGE THE LAST 2 MINUTES.

For example...

POUND IT INTO THEIR HEAD - YOU DON'T FOUL ON A 3 POINT SHOT WITH A 3 POINT LEAD.

YOU CANNOT AFFORD 24 SECOND VIOLATIONS.

YOUR BIGS MUST GO INSIDE. YOUR 3S MUST DRIVE THE LANE. ONLY YOUR GUARDS TAKE OUTSIDE SHOTS, AND ONLY WITH BIGS UNDERNEATH FOR REBOUNDS.

These are basic things. A young team starts winning those mini-periods, they gain confidence, even if they lose, because they prove they can come back. And they will WIN some of those game, anyway.

AJ, word up - FOCUS ON THE LAST 2 MINUTES!

Years later...

So here we are, Game 19, in the year of our lord 2010...

I sat out (with respect to this blog) the 2008-9 season and, most especially, the phenomenon that was 2009-2010.

I confess - I could not watch many games last year, it was that bad. The highlight, such as it was, was Frank FINALLY getting fired. There was a website, www.firefrank.com, that some other fan had put up in the 2008-9 season. I was relieved it went up, contributed a little, let things ride. Once the marionette was finally canned, the site was taken down. The Nets, of course - with the worst owner in the history of the NBA - typically put in a total buffoon to replace him - Kiki Vanderweghe, with a total of ZERO games coached in the NBA, ZERO in college, ZERO at any traceable level (maybe he was a rec coach... once...).

The result? Well, you know the result...

New year, new owner, new arena, new coach.

The arena upgrade is a slam dunk, and long in coming. Even if the Nets go to Bklyn two seasons from now, it was just good to get our of the Meadowlands.

And ANY owner would have been an upgrade from Ratner, who never intended to be a team owner anyway. Nice that this new guy has bucks, however obtained originally.

That brings us to Avery. I was not wild about this choice, despite his background. But again, ANY coach would have been an upgrade.

After a handful of games, I thought, hey, know what? I DON'T EVEN NOTICE WHEN HE'S CALLING TIME OUTS! That's because he takes them in normal situations. What a concept!

And altho there've been several close games, most of which they've lost, Johnson does not force his team to suffer thru the humiliation of Frank's never successful foul, foul, foul excruciating drawing out of an endgame. Good!

And he called out players, particularly Lopez. Good good!

But now he's showing the classic flaw of mediocre coaches, no matter what sport - He does not take seriously the persona of the franchise.

More next entry...