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Old Thu Mar 13, 2003, 11:03am
Hawks Coach Hawks Coach is offline
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First, my message to my team and my understanding of the game frequently vary. And 0-10 from the line is about 7-8 points short throughout a game, as opposed to starting out down 2-0 and losing by one. It is a consistent boost to the other team and a consistent negative mentally for the team missing the FTs - not the same at all as the pregame tech. All points lost are not equal from a coaching perspective.

While all points count the same, the game is played differently depending on the score. A team that is down 1 or 2 will behave differently than a team that is tied, or a team that is up 1 or 2 with 30 seconds to play. And throughout a game, players mental approach to each possession is different depending on the score and what has just occurred. And if this team likes the T at the beginning of the game, who is to say that they didn't have a more effective first quarter based on starting out down 2-0 (not my strategy, but we all have our own ways )

All points count equal mathematically speaking, but in terms of outcome in a close game, 2 points with 30 seconds left in the game mean a whole lot more than 2 points with 8:00 left in the 1st quarter. I will let a team run a bit more on us in the first quarter than in the fourth, knowing we can make it up (and having the confidence in my team that we will make it up - we always have this year). I will squelch a run immediately in the 2nd half of a game, because there is little margin for error and less time to deal with the consequences.
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