Fire Joe! ... or critique Joe ... or defend Joe... or worry about Joe's coaching

[Roy H.]

I agree with the consensus.

There are 18 seconds left.  We have two timeouts, they have zero.

You call a timeout and instruct your team, with the goal of shooting with around 2 to 4 seconds left, with hopes of getting an offensive rebound.  If you make the basket, Philly isn't going to get a shot off without a timeout.

And, with a timeout, we could have given Philly a different offensive look.  Maybe bring in Timelord or Brogdon so that Philly has to worry about other plays than a straight drive or three pointer.

(Why didn't Brogdon play the last 4 minutes of OT?  Or am I misremembering?)

[greg683x]

I agree with the consensus.

There are 18 seconds left.  We have two timeouts, they have zero.

You call a timeout and instruct your team, with the goal of shooting with around 2 to 4 seconds left, with hopes of getting an offensive rebound.  If you make the basket, Philly isn't going to get a shot off without a timeout.

And, with a timeout, we could have given Philly a different offensive look.  Maybe bring in Timelord or Brogdon so that Philly has to worry about other plays than a straight drive or three pointer.

(Why didn't Brogdon play the last 4 minutes of OT?  Or am I misremembering?)

If I remember correctly, they tried to get Brogdon in during free throws but got him up to the scorers table too late.  I don’t believe he ever got in the game bc there wasn’t another stoppage.  Again, another use for a timeout.  Can’t remember if this was end of regulation or overtime though

[celticinorlando]

The ball always finds Marcus Smart in these situation because he is left open to double Tatum. I like Smart but I do not want him taking the last shot or turning it over late like he has done a lot.

Have to figure a way to get the ball to Brown or Tatum there.

[jbpats]

A timeout should have been called, while not necessarily right after Harden sunk his shot but as soon as it was obvious the designed play was going nowhere.

Mazulla is in over his head, i'm not a fan.

He also has an arrogance like Bill Belicheck without any accomplishment to justify it. If we lose this round it's solely on him.. and I think it is grounds for being fired.

[keevsnick]

I agree with the consensus.

There are 18 seconds left.  We have two timeouts, they have zero.

You call a timeout and instruct your team, with the goal of shooting with around 2 to 4 seconds left, with hopes of getting an offensive rebound.  If you make the basket, Philly isn't going to get a shot off without a timeout.

And, with a timeout, we could have given Philly a different offensive look.  Maybe bring in Timelord or Brogdon so that Philly has to worry about other plays than a straight drive or three pointer.

(Why didn't Brogdon play the last 4 minutes of OT?  Or am I misremembering?)

When you have two timeouts left what you should really be doing is trying to extend the game. Call a timeout after the three, you advance the ball. Run a quick play, something that gets you a shot BEFORE the 10 second mark. If you miss crash the boards, if you don't get an oREB you foul and make them hit ft's. You then call another timeout to advance the ball and get another shot at a win/tie.

When you're down you have to maximize shots at the basket. There's like no real good excuse for finishing the game with two unused TO's.

[Who]

The ball always finds Marcus Smart in these situation because he is left open to double Tatum. I like Smart but I do not want him taking the last shot or turning it over late like he has done a lot.

Have to figure a way to get the ball to Brown or Tatum there.

If we want Tatum or Jaylen to take the shot, they have to stay in midrange. If they drive too deep, there will be a double team that tries to force it out of their hands. They have to take that long two or midrange pull up jump-shot.

That was where most of MJ's game winners came from. He understood if he went to the rim, the defense would collapse and he would have to give it up. Sometimes he did that. But most of the time he wanted to take the shot himself so he isolated and took a contested midranger off the dribble.

That is the shot Tatum or Jaylen has to take if they want to be the guy who takes the game-winner.

Instead, they will be more playmaker than scorer. That is fine too. Just need to accept (they need to accept and we as fans need to accept) that they won't be the guy taking the shot. They'll be the guy making the play and creating an open 3 for a teammate. Not the shot-taker. The play-maker.

[celticinorlando]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

[keevsnick]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

Yep, when you have timeouts and 19 seconds to not even get a single shot off is a massive failure of coaching. Call timeouts, set a play, get multiple shots at it.

[angryguy77]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

If a coach needs to learn this basic concept, he's not up for the job.

[Roy H.]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

If a coach needs to learn this basic concept, he's not up for the job.

Yeah.  There have been several of these types of quotes this year.  Essentially "Yeah, I should have done this really simple thing that a middle school knows to do, but we'll get 'em next time".

It's why I call him an idiot relative to other coaches.  Some things shouldn't have to be learned.  And, even if knowing when to call a timeout at the end of the game is some weirdly specialized skill, wasn't stuff like this Joe's entire rationale for the regular season?  To teach the team to see what works?

It's what you get when you make a guy who should be coaching in DII your head coach and don't hire any strong assistants.  Ime, Hardy and Stoudamire all left and none were replaced (Ime was, of course, but the spot Joe had held wasn't filled.)  That's a brain drain, and the third guy on last year's hierarchy is in over his head.

[GreenBoomer]

Isn't that the second time in this playoff run that they passed on a timeout late? What an incredible waste of talent to have a coach doing on the job training while trying to win a championship. Stevens deserves a huge part of the blame for this. If they don't win in this year, BS needs to be the first one out the door.

[jpotter33]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

If a coach needs to learn this basic concept, he's not up for the job.

Yeah.  There have been several of these types of quotes this year.  Essentially "Yeah, I should have done this really simple thing that a middle school knows to do, but we'll get 'em next time".

It's why I call him an idiot relative to other coaches.  Some things shouldn't have to be learned.  And, even if knowing when to call a timeout at the end of the game is some weirdly specialized skill, wasn't stuff like this Joe's entire rationale for the regular season?  To teach the team to see what works?

It's what you get when you make a guy who should be coaching in DII your head coach and don't hire any strong assistants.  Ime, Hardy and Stoudamire all left and none were replaced (Ime was, of course, but the spot Joe had held wasn't filled.)  That's a brain drain, and the third guy on last year's hierarchy is in over his head.

Pretty much this. He’s said this exact thing about timeouts/play-calling on four or five occasions this year already, but continues to just do the same thing over and over.

So either he’s stubborn and this is just lip service, he gets decision-paralysis during these scenarios due to (justified) insecurities about his abilities, or he’s just truly incompetent and cannot recognize when these kinds of interventions are needed.

Regardless of the reason, all excuses point towards the same conclusion - he shouldn’t be a head coach for a title-contending team.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

fire this bum now and let brad finish out the season. what a joke. learning on the job costing us games. bravo. genius.

[Roy H.]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

fire this bum now and let brad finish out the season. what a joke. learning on the job costing us games. bravo. genius.

Or worse, not learning on the job.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Joe Mazzulla: "Hindsight is 20/20, I should have called (a timeout at end of OT) to help us get a 2-for-1 or get a couple more possessions. Obviously, 14 seconds left, down 1, you want as many chances as you can. So, definitely learn from that."

If a coach needs to learn this basic concept, he's not up for the job.

he should be fired yesterday. a pure PC panic hire is what this is looking like more and more.