Tag: Super Bowl

Bucks coaching fiasco latest example of crumbling under expectations

Apparently, having one of the best records in the NBA isn’t enough for a head coach’s job security these days

It’s understood the NFL is king when it comes to the talking points, and plenty of time will be spent previewing the Super Bowl in short order. Meanwhile, stuff is happening in the other leagues, and there’s one topic that definitely came and stayed in the radar. It involves the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, and their decision to fire first-year head coach Adrian Griffin after (only) 43 games. The factors as to why the Bucks made this move, at this point in the regular season, will be discussed in a little bit. Just know situations like this point to a larger issue when it comes to the pressures of trying to produce winning results quick, fast and in a hurry. Such expectations can lead to executives in front offices everywhere to misunderstand the personnel they have, and horrible lapses in judgment altogether.

Let’s start with this stat. At the time, Milwaukee sat at 30-13, good enough for second in the Eastern Conference (behind the Boston Celtics). In and of itself, that record should have had the Bucks feeling great about hiring Griffin to replace Mike Budenholzer, who coached Milwaukee to an NBA title in 2021. As stated earlier, expectations are to get back to the top of the mountain again, and frankly, the Bucks should believe they can hang another championship banner. Above everything else, they have a perennial MVP-candidate in Giannis Antetokounmpo, and they traded to bring Damian Lillard, who is one of the league’s most potent scorers, to help assist. When a squad has those assets, it’s easy to see where a head coach could crumble under the weight of the pressure, especially one in his inaugural season. Based off of the record, Griffin was doing a good job, but apparently, not good enough. So why the sudden change to fire him? According to reports, the way Milwaukee was playing defensively was a chief reason, ranking 24th in points allowed per game this season. In back-to-back contests against the Detroit Pistons, the Bucks gave up 135 and 113 points, respectively. The Pistons have the NBA’s worst record at 6-43. Griffin would become the fall guy because of these struggles, but there are reasons to believe other factors contribute to the lack of defense.

The first factor is nobody in the league plays defense anymore, especially in the regular season. For context, the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are in a four-way tie for first in the Western Conference, lead the league in points allowed per game at 107.1. Years ago, that total might have been last in the NBA, but now, it’s a miracle if a team is held under 100 points after three quarters. The second factor is the Bucks’ roster isn’t one that’s built to stop anyone. Besides Antetkounmpo, anyone who had something like a defensive mentality went out the door with the Lillard trade, and all of the scoring punch the guard brings is equaled by his defensive liabilities. In other words, it shouldn’t surprise anyone Milwaukee is bad defensively, regardless of who the head coach is. It’s understood the NBA is a league that’s player-driven, which means they will get the benefit of the doubt in most cases when teams have rifts. With that said, it makes it too easy to blame other factors as to why strife is occurring, and the head coach is the one who becomes the sacrificial lamb.

So who did the Bucks decide to bring in as Griffin’s replacement? None other than Doc Rivers, of course. After all, it would make sense to bring in a guy who was a team consultant while working on the lead commentary team for ESPN (sounds dirty). At any rate, maybe things can be different in Milwaukee, but there’s not many reasons to believe this would be the case. Rivers was just fired by the Philadelphia 76ers at the end of last year, and has been the head coach of teams that have blown numerous series leads in the playoffs, including last season’s 3-2 advantage to the Celtics in the East semifinals. There was a time where Rivers was considered one of the best coaches in the NBA, and some may still have that view. Now, it’s harder by the day to continue living off of the title he won as Boston’s head coach in 2008, especially when every place he’s been to afterwards has been left in dysfunction when the time to part ways came. Frankly, having Rivers replace Griffin says Milwaukee is caving in under the pressure to win now.

Nobody knows the true reason(s) why the Bucks let Griffin go, except the people within the organization. If the team’s lack of defense was a main reason why, then it might be fair to say every coach in the league should be on the hot seat. For Milwaukee, the record since Griffin was fired on Jan. 23 is 3-5, and opponents haven’t scored less than 112 points in any of those games. Unless Rivers has some sort of secret to magically fix the squad’s lack of defense, many of the same problems will persist, and the Bucks will find themselves falling short of those lofty expectations. At that point, maybe the front office will look at the players, and find these are problems (by their own creation) a coach can’t necessarily fix with schemes alone. Time will tell, but at this moment, it appears Griffin got a raw deal.

Defense is still king, no matter what changes in sports

Advertising and marketing tells us it’s all about the offense, but defense is still the key if championships are to be won

Most of us know what it’s like to open up a print newspaper and see all of the different sections within it. There’s sports, entertainment, metro, business, politics and life (among others topics) being covered up by the main page introducing the name of the paper. As time has moved on, the printed newspaper became smaller, and the sections have been combined to cut down on the cost of printing. In a way, the newspaper reflects how life is today, and when it comes to sports and entertainment, those two sections are about as joined at the hip as it gets. Because of the partnership, leagues and broadcast stations prioritize getting as many eyes on their product as possible, and promoting offense has become the chief way to do so. As offense has become engrained in the DNA of the viewer, defense is almost an afterthought, but even after all of these years, defending is still the most important item if titles are going to be won. Don’t take my word for it, just look at history.

Let’s start with the NFL. If a person went on YouTube right now, they could find many videos that showed the league’s greatest hits from back in the day. In other words, defense was promoted almost as much as the offense, but as we know, that’s not the case anymore. Now, rules that make the big hit almost non-existent are in-place (flags fly if a quarterback is even touched), and everything that’s been legislated into the game gives the offense all kinds of advantages. Even with these changes, no team wins a Super Bowl without making at least a few big plays on defense. The Kansas City Chiefs just won this year’s title, and of course, QB Patrick Mahomes was the one who got all of the accolades. No one is trying to take away from the greatness of Mahomes, but he didn’t even reach 200 yards passing in the game. The Chiefs were outplayed by the Philadelphia Eagles for a huge part of the contest, but a defensive touchdown, in the form of a fumble return by linebacker Nick Bolton, kept Kansas City within striking distance until the offense got on track. It definitely helps to score points, but if a team can’t stop anybody, that will come back to haunt a squad at the wrong moment.

Next, the NBA is on the list. In a sports world where offense has become everything, this league might be the biggest example of that. It’s not uncommon to see teams score around 130 points in a game these days. Compare that to games played in the 90s, where scoring 100 points was considered an offensive explosion. Remember when the hard foul was allowed to make players who dared to come into the lane for a layup pay for their efforts? Not anymore. Now, it’s an automatic ejection if a foul is deemed too aggressive. Hand-checking has been taken out, and overall, defense is optional. With that said, the defense (magically) makes a difference between winning a title and getting close to that status. Games start to slow down in the playoffs, and they’re not as wide-open as they were earlier in the season. Things get a little tighter, and it’s not enough to be good offensively. Take a look at the Golden State Warriors when they defeated the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in 2022. We know about Steph Curry and his shooting ability, but they were third in points allowed per game through the season. The Warriors probably don’t win if the defense wasn’t as good as it was. Just because defense has become optional at times doesn’t mean it can’t be played at a high level. Golden State, and the other teams that have won in the last decade, prove this theory.

Finally, lets take a look at MLB. The analytics bug is part of the driving force behind the offensive craze, but it might be the biggest part in baseball. All we hear about is launch angle, upper-cut swing and power numbers. Rules to get rid of the shift (overloading fielders to one side), along with smaller dimensions in MLB’s stadiums, have combined to allow home runs at record rates. Yes, power numbers are way up, but teams have become dependent on the long ball, leading to more strikeouts. What happens in the playoffs is pitching staffs make adjustments to keep the ball out of the sweet spots the hitters love, and if a squad can’t manufacture runs with singles, doubles and sacrifice bunts, runs don’t get scored. Pitching and defense is still the way to go. An example of this is the Houston Astros, who won the World Series in 2022. In defeating the Philadelphia Phillies to win the title, the Astros only gave up three runs in the final three games, including a combined no-hitter in Game 4. A catch at the wall by centerfielder Chas McCormick preserved the win in Game 5, and a young pitching staff came of age throughout the journey. It goes to show winning 10-9 every game isn’t sustainable if a team wants to win a championship.

There’s a phrase that says offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships. No matter how much people want to say that isn’t true anymore, too many cases say otherwise. Maybe this is the way to think about today’s times in sports: Offense can get you to the hill, but defense gets you over the top. Media and leagues encourage offense, which provides the entertainment value. When it’s winning time, it’s a good thing these games aren’t played on a ratings chart.