It is human nature to want answers to questions, or solutions to life‘s many complications. Unfortunately, it is also human nature to quickly and blindly accept the simplest of those answers or solutions without deeper thought or further investigation.
This is a trap we ALL fall into, usually on a daily basis. I want to take a look at a specific example in the world of athletics to point out that an obvious answer is not always obvious. We use athletics as an escape from daily life, because life in general is incredibly complicated at times. We want our escape (athletics) from that complicated life to be simple. But, even the world of athletics is not as simple as it often seems. The specific example that I am going to talk about is a singular basketball game….nothing really meaningful in the big scheme of life. But, as I have tried to do with this blog, I want to give you something to think about…maybe a look beyond what the talking heads on TV say. Maybe demonstrate that coaching (like life in general) is not quite as easy as it appears on TV.
The game I am talking about is the Texas Tech vs Duke basketball game played at Madison Square Garden on Dec 20. High profile match-up….both were Elite 8 teams a season ago. Duke ranked #2, Tech ranked #11. The Garden sold out, ESPN hype machine in full operation.
To set the stage for the rest of this post: Texas Tech lost the basketball game (69-58) while committing 21 turnovers (their season average going into the game was 11 turnovers per game). So, naturally, all I heard from the announcers, and from others the next day, was: turnovers killed Texas Tech.
I am certainly not claiming to know any more than anybody else….but I have watched several thousand basketball games (both in person and on video) and it just didnt feel like turnovers were the problem to me. That was no doubt more turnovers than Tech would like to have, but I just felt like that could have won the game anyway. So, like I had done many, many times when I was actively coaching, I dug a little deeper into the game.
Tech started off in an 0-8 hole, but battled back despite their struggles to take care of the ball. Tech commited 15 turnovers in the first half….but had a 1 point lead at half time. Announcers are, of course, stating the obvious: turnovers are killing Tech! Cant beat a team like Duke with that many turnovers….they will have to take better care of the ball in the second half!
The second half gets underway, and despite 4 more turnovers in the first 5 minutes or so, Tech stretches their lead out to 42-34. So here we are,after 25 minutes and 39 seconds of basketball, Texas Tech had committed 19 turnovers, but has an 8 point lead….that is an average of .74 turnovers per minute of play (stats can be a little overwhelming, so I will simplify it for you: .74 turnovers per minute is not very good, in fact, it is horrible). But remeber, Tech is up by 8.
Over the next 12 minutes and 8 seconds of game time, Tech starts doing a better job of taking care of the basketball, only committing 4 more turnovers. That is only .33 turnovers per minute….still a little higher than their average, but quite an improvement over the first 25+ minutes. One would assume now, that Tech had stretched out their lead right? (since all had proclaimed that turnovers would doom them). Wrong! Tech was now actually trailing 58-65!
So, the narrativethe entire game was fewerturnovers…..the narrativeafter the game was turnovers cost Tech! And yet the reality was that during the 12+ minute stretch that flipped the game, Texas Tech had actually done a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball and limiting turnovers. The fact is, Duke had scored 34 points over the first 25:39 seconds of the game, and 31 points over the next 12:08.
There are two points to this blog post…..one that applies to basketball specifically, and one that applies to life in general (after all, coaches are battling away out there every day trying to use athletics as a teaching tool for life).
Point #1: Turnovers were not the deciding factor in the game….even though it seemed like the obvious (and easy) answer. Here is the deal: Duke only scored 34 points the first 25:39 of the game (while Tech was turning it over 19 times), then scored 31 points over the next 12:08 (while Tech was only turning it over only 4 times). I cant verify it with facts, but it is my full conviction that more often than not, basketball games are won or lost on the defensive end of the court…. not the offensive end. Despite the turnovers, Tech had done a great job of defending their half court. After going up 8, I thought Tech lost a little focus offensively…..took a few quick shots, forced a few shots, had a few trips where kids tried to do a little more than they were capable of doing. All very, very easy to do (especially in the environment that they were in!). You might be saying now: this olddinosaur must be confused….he started out talking about the importance of defense, then switched to offense! Well, offense and defense are, without a doubt, tied together…..if a team loses focus on one end, they will almost always lose focus on the other end. The loss of focus on the offensive end by Tech led to easier looks on the defensive end for Duke. And, in my opinion, was why Tech lost….not turnovers.
Point #2: Dont take everything you hear at face value, just because you hear it on TV. Think for yourself, dig a little deeper…..dont just accept all information fed to you as fact……whether it be in the athletics world or in the real world. Research, read, but most importantly….think for yourself. You will find the answers to most questions in yourlife, if you will simply think for yourself!