After game six I watched Tatum, Smart and Brown being interviewed by reporters. It seemed to me that the Tatum and Brown interviews were excessively long.
I kept saying to myself, "just shut up and leave." Instead, they kept blabbering. I thought they are putting pressure on themselves by answering these endless questions. Sure enough, in game 7 they were tense. Many of the shots they normally make were not falling.
I partially blame these long interviews for their failure. In situations like this the players should stick to rehearsed phrases and leave as soon as possible.
The interviews reminded me of a few other media distractions that I felt caused teams to lose in the past.
1. Bill Parcells referring to Terry Glenn as a "she." Then came Will McDonough's article about Bill Parcells leaving for NY. The Patriots lost the following playoff (Superbowl?) contest. Many thought the article was a contributing factor.
2. In the middle of a playoff series against Miami(?) Bob Ryan wrote an article highlighting Ray Allen's shooting slump. Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie he made it a major issue. I thought to myself, this is the worst thing Ray needs to read at this time. Sure enough his slump continued throughout the series and the Celtics lost.
3. A few years ago Gonzaga was playing for the National Championship. After winning the semi-finals a couple of the Gonzaga players interviewed for what seemed to be 15 minutes. Again, I thought they were only adding pressure on themselves and would play poorly in the Championship game. They got blown out in the final game.
Nobody can say for certain if these distractions led to any of these teams losing. My feeling is they played an important role. If I were a coach in a playoff situation, I would tell my players to limit their banter with the media.
Topic: Post game interviews were a factor in the game 7 loss? (Read 1050 times)