Re: Credit Pitino with the loss

[KK <Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU>]

Alex Wang wrote:
> The thing about substitutions is that they are the easiest thing to
> second-guess, because you get to do it in hindsight. If you leave someone
> in and he goes cold, you can blame the coach. 

True enough, but it's Pitino's publicly stated substitution philosophy to take
people out when they're shooting well. 

> If you take someone out,
> you can say that he had a "hot hand" (BTW, evidently people have done
> statistical research concluding that there is no such thing) 

Yes, I've heard about it too. The conclusions seem a bit anticlimactic - I
prefer to think the research was done by someone who's never shot a basketball.
But I haven't read the paper so I better shut up. 
 
> and the
> coach ruined it. If you bring someone in and he performs well, the coach
> gets no credit; if he performs poorly, it's because the coach ruined his
> rhythm. Could it be that players just miss shots?

It's hard to blame the coach when the shooters are Walter "Airball" McCarty,
Williams, Cheaney, Barros, Walker and others who are either in semi-permanent
shooting slumps, taking shots they shouldn't be taking, or simply can't shoot. 

>  success. In the games I've seen, either Pierce or Griffin has been
> on the floor almost always; I actually don't recall seeing the lineup
> you mention, but I could just be missing it. 

No, he actually plays this lineup in the 2nd quarter. It makes me miss Minor and
Bowen - something I thought I'd never do. Minor played decent D and could make
the medium range J fairly regularly. Bowen did the former and knew his
limitations on offense. What the hell did we get Overton and Thomas for, anyway? 

> > All in all, I believe Pitino is a good coach and has done a great job
> > gathering in the team that we have. How he gets these guys to scrap until the
> > bitter end, I'll never know. However, I just don't understand the master
> > plan.  

I agree with the original poster here. Pitino's strong in preparing the troops
college style - when he has a few days before the game - and seems to do a good
job motivating them. But some of his ideas just don't make sense to me. I don't
understand why it's good to play all the people who can't score as a unit. Nor
is it clear to me why giving up open J's by doubling is preferable to playing
straight D and having opponents shoot over you. Even Duncan missed a bunch of
shots last night while being played one-on-one. Whenever he was doubled, it was
either a kickout for a wide-open J, or a foul on one of the overeager
double-teamers.

Random thoughts:  
+ I don't know if anyone keeps such stats, but Walker has got to be the most
stuffed player in the NBA.

+ Potapenko went up twice for a tip-in on one occasion tonight and couldn't even
reach the rim (!). I know he's not a leaper and has short arms, but it's pretty
bad when a 6-10 guy does that. I don't think his injury has healed. 

+ Given the personnel situation, we might very well go 0-for-the rest of the
year, extending our streak to 10. If Cato and Rogers get over a dozen dunks on
us, what kind of damage will Shaq or Webber do? Denver and Clippers are win
possibilities, but without Pierce to contain Mercer, and revenge on Nugs' minds,
it'll be hard.