George Karl

I have been on this guy all year for what I think is truly poor coaching. In game 3 he showed it again. There was a 3rd and 4th case of an inability to get the ball in bounds...in the Conference Finals!!! You don't see that in a High School season. Brutal. George's favorite inbounds play is the one we use at the Y. "I'm going to pound the ball, you guys get open." It doesn't work there either.

However, last night George was on it and I think most people missed it. With about 2 and a half minutes to go in the game, the Nugs were up 11 and not losing the lead, but not building, they were trading hoops. This was after the Techs that were a little questionable, and I didn't think that Melo or even Kenyon were out of line. Karl called a time out.

Why, well he seemed to recognize that his team was starting to feel like they had the game sewn up and that has been the kiss of death for his boys. Quick timeout and the D got better, the energy came back up and the Nuggets closed out the quarter and the game and won by 19.

That's coaching. I don't care how many you win, how many you lose and who's fault on the floor it is....it ALWAYS falls on the coach. As a coach you are responsible for every boneheaded, thoughtless, emotional and brainless play by your team. It is your job to have them ready enough that they don't have to think, the know what the plan is and they execute.

Last night, Karl showed that he knew his team, knew what they were going to do and knew what they needed. He didn't decide that they were "big boys" who could learn their own lessons. He played coach.