During the broadcast of Game 4 last night JVG made a statement after Dirk hit a rightside layup towards the end of the game that Dirk "shot the ball too early". We all believe JVG to be a defense first coach. Why would he be so quick to make a statement that basically means "Oh no, now we have to play defense"? Is JVG talking himself out of another coaching job? Is that the kind of statement you want coming from the mind of a defense first coach?
He is trying to win the game. He is trying to give Miami the lowest possible chance. Even if you play perfect defense, stars like Wade/LBJ can hit some miracle shot. Dallas' goal is to seal the deal.
On JVG's coaching aspirations, I don't know. But, it didn't seem to me like a bad strategic choice to score early. It's much harder to score with little time on the shot-clock. The defense will bum-rush Dirk as he goes into his move. If he doesn't have a good look, he has to force it up anyway because there's no time to find the open man or go to a second option. If he missed, they'd be up 1 with 15 seconds left instead of up 1 with 5 seconds left. Either is enough time for Miami to get a quality shot.
I agree. I think coaches get too obsessed with running the clock down rather than get a quality shot. Miami was going to have at least 5 seconds no matter what. I'd focus more on making sure you make a shot to get up 3 rather than getting the clock as close to 5 seconds as possible.
The shot ended up being very difficult and Dirk is fortunate it went in. But all's well that ends well.
Dirk saw the opening and he went early. But it's better to go early when you have a step rather than wait too long, have the defense clamp down on you only to panic and be rushed into a difficult shot. How many times have we seen that?? Sometimes even when you're wrong you're right.
It'd be funny if they brought Bill Walton back and teamed him up with JVG. I can just imagine the look on JVG's face with some of the things Walton would say.
Clyde! Please! Take him off our hands! JVG is one of the best, imo. Clyde+JVG = ......nevermind, Clyde can pull anyone down below average. Pugs
I was really surprised by that statement from him. You have to take points however you can possibly get them with a 1 point lead. That score was definitely the difference maker. The Heat were not expecting Dirk to start so early and he got a pretty damn good shot. It would have been huge if he missed it, but Dirk is Dirk. Gotta go for it.
If I recall right, the shot clock and game clock were nearly identical, on the Dallas possession. I think Dirk could have taken it down to the very last few seconds, instead of driving in with a substantial amount of time left. But as another poster stated, all's well that ends well.
