George Karl and the mysterious case of the missing inbounds play...
Pardon me while I beat this dead horse a few more times. Even though The Denver Post is reporting that the Nuggets have "four or five" inbounds plays, the Nuggets have erred in that department to disastrous, game-losing results twice in the Western Conference Finals. But if you think this is the first and only time that head coach George Karl has presided over errant inbounds pass plays, read on...March 26, 2007. After outplaying a very good Detroit Pistons team for most of the night, the Nuggets are up three at The Palace with 1.5 seconds left and the ball out-of-bounds. All the Nuggets need to do is inbound the basketball, secure it and the game is over. But rather than take this game-ending play seriously, Nuggets center Marcus Camby casually flips the ball towards Carmelo Anthony, the Pistons Tayshaun Prince tips it to teammate Rasheed Wallace who makes a miracle 60-foot buzzer beater. "You could give him a hundred and he wouldn’t make one, but he made one," Karl said afterward. "I personally would have liked the ball to be thrown more toward the rim or the corner, but you can’t criticize a lucky shot. That was a lucky shot." (You can see the clip on YouTube here.)
November 7, 2008. Buried in ESPN.com's Tom Friend's excellent article on Chauncey Billups is a story about Chauncey's debut game with the Nuggets this season. According to Friend...
With 2:54 left in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets are clinging to a 99-98 lead, when the ball goes out of bounds to the Nuggets underneath their own basket. Chauncey's fear is realized. The team has no out-of-bounds play. Karl just wants them to improvise, to use their basketball instincts, but Chauncey can't live that way. So he calls time.
In the huddle, they're all stumped. (J.R.) Smith tells Anthony: "He just got here, and he's calling timeouts?" But Chauncey waves them close and starts in: "Look, George, I need you to draw me up an out-of-bounds play, man, to get the ball in. Because if we don't and we turn the ball over and lose this game because we didn't have something, that just won't sit well with me."
Karl and the team's response is: wow.
This article has been cited no less than 30 times in the comments on this blog since the Nuggets have blown two inbounds passes in three Western Conference Finals games.
May 19, 2009. As Nuggets fans know all too well, the Nuggets had possession of the ball and were down just two points with 29 seconds to play at Staples Center in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. But even though the Lakers are the NBA's tallest team, Karl elects to have his shortest player - all six feet of Anthony Carter - inbound ball against the 6'9" Lamar Odom. Unable to see the floor accurately and with the Nuggets not running any picks to get players open, Carter's errant attempt is tipped by the Lakers Trevor Ariza and the Lakers never look back. Game over.
May 23, 2009. In theory learning from his collosal Game 1 mistake, Karl inserts Kenyon Martin to inbound the ball with 36 seconds left and the Nuggets down just two again. After not being able to throw the ball in on his first try because - again - no picks are properly set to get a Nuggets player open, K-Mart correctly calls a timeout. This in theory giving Karl another shot at drawing up a better inbounds play. But on the ensuing throw-in, the Nuggets are again unable to get a player open, K-Mart throws a poor pass towards Melo and Ariza - again - tips the ball and steals the victory. "That's not why we lost the basketball game," Karl said afterward. "Remember, we were down in both situations, and the turnover just creates a different catch up game." Yeah, right.
While neither the bad Game 1 pass or the bad Game 3 pass were the sole reason the Nuggets lost those games, they put the nail in each game's respective coffin. So Karl is deluding himself (and attempting to delude us, but we don't buy it) if he thinks screwing up crucial inbounds plays merely "create a different catch up game."
Given the incident in Detroit from 2007 and the Chauncey story noted above uncovered by Friend, it's clear that Karl either doesn't have a solid, go-to inbounds play or, if he has one in his arsenal, he's not having the players practice it routinely. My guess is it's probably both.
I've been told by many members of the Denver sports media that Karl's "basketball mind" is one of the best in the NBA. I've never doubted that Karl - when motivated - can be a great coach. We've seen that throughout this regular season and for most of the postseason, and I'm not placing all the blame on Karl for the Nuggets losing Games 1 and 3. But his penchant for improvisation seems to be biting him in the ass in this area. Because if one errant inbounds play is a mistake and two is a problem, than four must be a pattern of incompetence in regards to inbounding the ball. And most unfortunately for the Nuggets and their fans, this has been something Karl and the Nuggets desperately needed to get right in the conference finals.
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Beyond all that though, the biggest condemnation of Karl that I've found, was in a quote I ran across a few days ago. I'm not sure of the exact context the quote came from, but it was in an article on 5/19 by Johnny Ludden on Yahoo-
"In truth, I was on a sabbatical for 2½ years," said the coach, George Karl. "I had lost my way, lost my direction."
Whether he has improved this year (which is debatable), I can't support a coach that admits he was phoning it in previously.
by Cessair on May 24, 2009 10:34 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
by ballwarriorz on May 24, 2009 11:27 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
I'm not saying fire the guy. The team has done amazing things this year...but before you give him an extension, you better think long and hard about what GK is going to be like in 2012 and beyond.
by hoophead on May 24, 2009 11:41 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
I think both Hoophead and ballwariors have great points too. But even if you were a big picture guy, you would think that in the friggin WCFs you would be a little more concerned with the details (ie: inbounds plays) in the final minutes of the game, no matter what type of coach you were. And as far as that extension goes, Karl's contract expires after next year. I think it depends how we do next year but I am with you, our window with Chauncey is very small. We can't afford to have a guy on the sidelines cost us our only trip to the Finals because of his ineptitude for doing the small things right like drawing up simple in-bounds plays. Oh, wait...that just happened. Damn.
by Goldennugget on May 25, 2009 1:35 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
It was only one possesion! Why must my coach scream?
My poor defense permitted the basket, but what can one hoop mean?
As the pass comes my direction, and I fumble it in the stands,
The coach's voice rings loud and clear, "Catch with your eyes and hands!"
C',on coach, it's a single possession, our team will be okay,
It's just the first two minutes, my gosh, we've got all day.
At the 2nd quarter mark, I remember that the center is strong and stout, A put back for two, quite simply due, to my failure to turn and block out. But it was only one possession, I didn't commit a crime,
My team is ahead and I'm playing well, and there's still plenty of time!
As the halftime buzzer is sounding, and I watch the ball bank in,
I know I will hear my loving coach, of my questionable effort to defend.
But it was only one possession. Coach - don't have a heart attack!
We are down by one, but we are having fun, and I know we'll get the lead back! The second half mirrors the first, but it's early; It's not a big deal that my failure to use a pass fake results in an unlikely steal.
But quickly I sink a jumper, I'm greeted by high fives and slaps, But the next possession I give up a lay-up, while suffering a mental lapse. But it's only one possession, C'mon Coach, chill out,
It's crazy to see you disgusted, as you slap the assistant and shot.
"Victory favors the team making the fewest mistakes. Single possessions are the key. So treat them like gold and do as your told. And play with intensity". I step to the line for one and one, but I'm having a concentration lapse. The ball soars through the air- Good lord, it's a brick! And I'm afraid the support will collapse.
In post game I sit at my locker, pondering what more I could do,
I realize the value of each possession, we lost by two.
By Jeff Smith, Former Assistant coach at Dayton.
If only Karl was as intelligent as this guy...
by Callum Chambers (meloshow) on May 25, 2009 3:01 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
Would you rather have Phil Jackson as a coach?
Because after the Game 2 loss, 90% of the Laker nation was ready to throw him out on the street.
Here is a quote from a Forum Blue and Gold comment:
"I think Phil is losing it mentally. He made so many weird coaching changes that i was just lost watching the game. It is like watching an old man losing his grip on reality and using his old methods thinking it will work."
Plenty of LATimes.com articles have been super critical as well. As has Silver Screen and Roll.
So, my point is only this: in a ultra competitive series like this, we tend to blame the coach.
And for all of you who have said Billups is the real coach of this team, how do you defend his effort Saturday night? He was TERRIBLE, taking poor shots, and utterly failing to steady the ship. If he was the coach, he did every bit as horrible of a job as we often accuse Karl of doing.
by Bee on May 25, 2009 8:38 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs
His team in a bit of a gnarl
He never ran any plays
But just sat in a daze
And the fans could do nothing but snarl
by Do We Have Any Plays? on May 25, 2009 1:25 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs
by Anonymous on May 25, 2009 1:50 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

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