http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2472360 ... after a Mason miss, Francis pulled up from 27 feet with 5.8 seconds left and also missed. Mason was quickly fouled but missed one of his two attempts, keeping the Rockets within two with 2.9 seconds left. This time, they attacked. Francis ran around a Yao screen on the right side, and Jackson, seeing an opening on the baseline, led Francis with his inbounds pass to send him flying toward the rim. Francis took off, then hung in the air long enough for Joe Smith to come down before putting in his layup. "We practice that play every day," Francis said. "I was looking to take the jump shot, but one of their guys (Daniel Santiago) jumped (out), so I was looking to get it to the rim and put it in. It was a well-drawn-up play by Coach with that much time left. "If feels good. For all the people who were saying, `Why the hell did he take that 3?' I came back and made the layup." I don't want to debate here the merits of Steve's decision to take that three, that's going on in the game thread already, but what I'm wondering is: how could he even know there are people questioning his selection of that shot? I assume the quotes in the article came right after the game, a game played on the road, so "all the people" he refers to can't possibly be the fans in the arena expressing their disappointment and frustration at his decision-making. Unless Steve logged on to CC.net in the locker room, the only plausible explanation for his quote is that HE KNEW HE TOOK A BAD SHOT, so it isn't hard for him to guess that there'd be lots of people upset at it. His quote was a preemptive strike at criticism he hasn't actually heard, but which he (correctly) inferred.
Maybe some of the Rocket coaches criticized him during the timeout and that's what he's referring to.
this is likely the case. i don't think sf KNEW it was a bad shot selection. othewise he would have tried not to do that. but we see him making the same mistake time and time again...
i think he knows people comlain after a missed shot that could win the game. so he knew people would complain. nt so sure it is because he tought it was a bad shot. even if he misses a good shot people complain.
perhaps he knows that he is damned if he do and damned if he don't he knows if JVG told him to take that shot no one on here or anywhere would beleive it and would automatically blame steve history has taught steve that folx will question him in particularly about everything Rocket River
He should call a timeout and have a setplay. Even he made that 3, Bucks will have about 6-7 sec left on the clock and the results can be different.
I think he took the quick 3 'cause he didn't have confidence in the shot. Take a quick 3. If you miss, there's still time on the clock. If you make & there's still time on the clock, you gave yourself an extra point for a little buffer.
Maybe he realized that it was a STUPID STUPID shot and that a layup at that point would have won the game too. Will he ever learn? I doubt it. DD
of course, what was steve thinking. he should've just taken that wide open layup he had. i'm sure all those bucks by the basket would've cleared the way. and i'm sure none would've fouled him as the refs didn't call anything as they never do at the end of a game. how could he not see that easy and obvious choice. i'm sure it would've worked out swell.
That was a stupid shot no matter how you look at it. Instead of down 1 with 10 seconds left and ran a set play to win, Rockets went down 2 with 3.9 seconds left and ran a set play to tie. They could have been down 3 had Both free throws been made.
