In Reply to: I guess we can disagree on this one…ej…. posted by mikeo on February 02, 2026 at 15:57:36
done someone will second guess it. Pack the paint, man to man, zone, whatever, someone will second guess it. I did wonder why Cronin didn't place Booker in the paint rather than guarding the guy throwing the ball in bounds, but that's it.
I know just how hard it is to cover every contingency and I also know that there's just one guy being paid to make those difficult choices. I can see the value of guarding the ball, I can see the value of packing the paint, I can see the value of man to man, and I can see the value of a zone. If you guess right and your guys execute you look like a genius. If you guess wrong or your guys don't execute you look like a dope. The guy in charge has to make that decision in real time. Then the various "peanut galleries" chime in with what he should have done from the comfort of their couch well after the pay was run and the results known. Cronin said they had run that scenario in practice many times and the lane wasn't suppose to be vacated.
I'm not saying Williams shouldn't have followed the man outside. I'm saying that if he had stayed in the paint and blocked that guy from dropping to the basket and the ball went to the outside man and he had hit that shot someone would second guess and criticize Williams' decision and probably hold Cronin responsible.
There's no winning with "Monday Quarterbacks" so it's best to just ignore them. When I was coaching some parents tried to do that to me early on. I would just politely thank them and walk away. Finally they got the message and stopped and eventually I didn't have to deal with that nonsense anymore.