Bret at Hoopinion looks at the fourth quarter subbing patterns of Mike Woodson. It is one of those mundane aspects of the game (especially a 20+ point loss game) that becomes quite startling when that mundane gets written out in an orderly, effective way. On a related note, the post kind of made me cry.
Bret ends his analysis with this zinger:
It's my contention that this series of substitutions indicates both an inability to think ahead strategically (The Hawks never made an all-out push to get back in the game* nor did they fully concede defeat until well after the game was out of reach.) and a tendency to make decisions in a purely reactive manner. Without Marvin Williams, Woodson chose to play just seven guys. He had limited options but that didn't stop him from impulsively and/or compulsively shuttling players in and out of the game to no real purpose. It seemed as if the head coach were trying to create the impression of a control freak but succeeding only in revealing how little control he was capable of taking in the moment.
That is what we call a tongue lashing. The whole post is worth reading to see how effectively Bret gets to that conclusion.
Coco over at the Vent recounts her trip to Miami to watch the game three debacle. It is roughly 123 times more entertaining than the game itself.
Full of good stuff, here is a quick sample:
While I was sitting there the announcer was going through the crowd urging the fans to put on the "Black is Back" t-shirt that they gave them at the door. The cameras panned the crowd and when they'd land on someone who wasn't in black he'd ask them nicely to put the shirt on.
Eventually the camera worked it's was around to me in section 113 (shoulda been in section 112) and he said Miss can you please put on the black shirt. I had on a white t shirt with a little Hawks emblem on it that wasn't apparent upon first glance, but once the fans noticed it and saw my big blue Hawks flag they booed me. Ha! That was the highlight of the game for me and the Hawks, but I wouldn't find that out until later.
Ahh, I do love my other Hawks bloggers.
Go Hawks.