NBA Playoffs Providing Another Exhibit Why Coaching Matters
It’s tiresome to argue about the impact coaching has on NBA outcomes. Too many still hold to the uninformed fallacy that all these guys need to do is roll out the balls for LeBron James, Stephen Curry, et al and ask them politely to go win a championship.
Obviously, talent, particularly top-end talent, is crucial to winning basketball. As much as the Heat are captivating (and shocking) audiences with their cohesiveness and fundamentals on both ends, no one should ignore the monstrosity of Jimmy Butler’s performances that has spurred the Eastern Conference’s eighth seed to within one game of reaching the NBA Finals.
However, when it comes to this Miami/Boston Conference Finals series, it’s fair to wonder whether the quote originally attributed to former NFL coach Bum Phillips regarding the legendary Don Shula is applicable here: Heat Head Coach Erik Spoelstra has been so good this postseason, he can not only “take his’n and beat your’n; he could also take your’n and beat his’n”.
In plain English, coaching matters.
I keep waiting for the Nets to get the memo on this, but General Manager Sean Marks keeps insisting on hiring people who owe their head coaching careers to him. Current coach Jacque Vaughn comes across as a likable fellow and he did earn an Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honor in December, but would anyone put him in the category of the two coaches on the brink of meeting in the Finals--Spoelstra or Denver’s Michael Malone? I think not.
Neither would Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla, who was thrust into the role during training camp when Ime Udoka was suspended (and subsequently terminated before Houston snatched him after the season) for inappropriate behavior with a female employee. Mazzulla has been completely outmatched while watching his team inexplicably drop the first three games. Instead of playing with desperation in Sunday night’s Game 3, Boston looked like they quit during the second half of the 128-102 rout.
Boston should have had all the other advantages going into the series—they’re bigger and counted more reliable three-point shooters during the regular season. Whereas Butler is Miami’s sole elite shot creator, the Celtics boast a pair of All Stars in Jayson Taum and Jaylen Brown. They entered the series as the healthier team too--Heat guard Tyler Herro, a 20 points per game scorer, played all of 19 minutes in the first round before needing to be shut down with a hand injury.
Yet the Miami machine moves on. They’re the ultimate “next man up” team, receiving enormous contributions from undrafted projects like Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Caleb Martin, and Duncan Robinson. They take care of the details, like getting back in transition, not turning the ball over a ton, and dominating the “hustle” categories such as charges taken and loose balls recovered. They don’t beat themselves. Mock the “Heat Culture” hype of team President Pat Riley if you will, but don’t discount Spoelstra’s ability to keep getting his players to buy into what he’s selling.
The Celtics, on the other hand, are a team that has been guilty of “playing with their food” at times, putting games on cruise control by trusting their talent too much and allowing opponents to take over key segments. It has come back to bite them at various points, including in these playoffs.
It is a reflection of their coach. For instance, Mazzulla has too often been unable to slow opponents’ runs with timeouts, allowing minor spurts to metastasize into avalanches. To be fair, he did burn two during the 28-7 beatdown over a seven-minute stretch in Sunday’s third quarter, but more important is what is said and done during those stoppages. Do you have the right personnel on the court to match up? Did you adjust to the wrinkles Spoelstra drew up at halftime? And can you inspire the effort necessary to execute those adjustments?
In this series, the answers have been unequivocal “No’s.” The Celtics’ body language and play have given vibes that they do not even respect Mazzulla, certainly not to the extent of the effort they gave Udoka last season. We’ll have to see whether the Celtics are sufficiently motivated to avoid elimination in Tuesday’s Game 4 in Miami.
Out west, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an NBA offense run as crisply as what I’ve been seeing from Denver, who are looking to complete a sweep of the Lakers in Monday night’s Game 4. Sure, it helps when you have center Nikola Jokic, a two-time MVP, to run things through—he might be the best-passing big man in league history--but I still marvel at the timing of Denver’s screens and cuts. They are exquisite.
The Nuggets can create an open three-pointer at will with their down-screen/dribble handoff play. As an aside, I grit my teeth watching how nearly every screen set by Miami center Bam Adebayo should be deemed illegal; contrast that with Jokic, who has 30 extra pounds on him but typically doesn’t budge before contact because of how in synch the actions are orchestrated.
It has allowed Nuggets guard Jamal Murray to get into a rhythm that has taken his game to a new level. In this series, he is averaging 35 points per game with a 52.1/45.5/93.3 shooting split.
Credit Malone, a New York area product who, like Spoelstra, paid his dues at lower levels of coaching staffs. Malone is the epitome of a coach who maximizes what incomplete players can do well, whether it’s Michael Porter Jr.’s perimeter shooting or Bruce Brown’s defensive fortitude. That Porter can be unreliable on the defensive end or Brown is shooting under 30% from deep this postseason hasn’t rendered either of them unplayable like they might have been on other teams. To the contrary, they have both made big plays in the first three games against the Lakers.
I’m not going to denigrate Lakers Head Coach Darvin Ham here--I think he deserves major kudos for how quickly he integrated all the new pieces the team brought in around the trade deadline. He’s trying everything but the kitchen sink trying to slow down the Nuggets. Those that thought the series would be turned after Ham started utilizing forward Rui Hachimura as Jokic’s primary defender in the second half of Game 1 were a bit premature. Per NBA.com, Jokic is 8-for-9 from the floor with him as the nearest defender.
The bottom line, though, is that NBA coaches are more than just glorified fans screaming at the refs. It’s not a coincidence that two of the league’s best-coached teams are on the cusp of meeting in the Finals while the most talented teams on paper will be watching from home.