Handling Big Games as a Coach
As a coach, during the season you will always be confronted with big games. Whether you are good enough as a team to play for a championship or you are an up and coming team playing against an opponent more talented than you, a coach needs to always be prepared for how to handle his team before during and after big games.
A team always looks up to it’s leaders and there is no greater leader on a team than it’s coach. In that respect the coach always has the huge responsibility of preparing his team and while preparing them instilling faith that he will guide them in the right direction. In essence a coach begins his team’s preparation for its big games from the time practice first starts at the beginning of the season.
By the time the big game comes around your team should be ready. During game day do not do anything different than normal with your team. Don’t make any out of the ordinary speeches or add strange wrinkles to pregame. When you talk to the team, talk about what they need to do to succeed. Don’t tell them about how good the other team is talk to them about how good they can be if they follow your game plan.
Another thing you should do as a coach is gauge the overall feeling of the team as they are warming up. Are they loose? Are they tight? Do they look focused? Approach pregame depending on the vibe you get from your team. If they are tight show them how loose you are by smiling and cracking a joke. If they are too loose throw reminders at them about what needs to be done on the court during the game.
During the game is when most of the performance is based on the players. However, as a coach there is slot you can do also.
After the game is important also.
A team always looks up to it’s leaders and there is no greater leader on a team than it’s coach. In that respect the coach always has the huge responsibility of preparing his team and while preparing them instilling faith that he will guide them in the right direction. In essence a coach begins his team’s preparation for its big games from the time practice first starts at the beginning of the season.
- With this in mind, the biggest factors that help separate winners from losers in big game situations are all factors that should be emphasized from the time a coach begins prepping the team for the season. These factors are all small but make the difference in close games. The factors that I’m speaking about are: Aggressiveness on both offense and defense – preach to your team that you should be aggressive on both offense and defense. On offense you do this by pushing the ball up the floor, looking for numbers, not hesitating to take the open shot, driving the ball to the basket when you have a chance, and crashing the boards for second shots. On defense you do this by pressuring the ball, playing the passing lanes, and grabbing all loose balls and rebounds. Don’t give the other team anything. If they’re going to beat you make them earn it.
- Set plays - as a coach you need to have a couple of go to plays which you can use at certain points in a game to get your team good looks at the basket. Whether it is a set play, a BLOB, or a SLOB have a few of these plays installed for close games.
- EOG - understanding end of game situations is important and your team needs to be familiar with how you want to handle certain situations. Go thru up 2 and down 2 situations in practice to make things easier for your players in big games. If you don’t have enough time in practice for EOG then use your time outs wisely during games to set your team up properly and explain to them the situation.
By the time the big game comes around your team should be ready. During game day do not do anything different than normal with your team. Don’t make any out of the ordinary speeches or add strange wrinkles to pregame. When you talk to the team, talk about what they need to do to succeed. Don’t tell them about how good the other team is talk to them about how good they can be if they follow your game plan.
Another thing you should do as a coach is gauge the overall feeling of the team as they are warming up. Are they loose? Are they tight? Do they look focused? Approach pregame depending on the vibe you get from your team. If they are tight show them how loose you are by smiling and cracking a joke. If they are too loose throw reminders at them about what needs to be done on the court during the game.
During the game is when most of the performance is based on the players. However, as a coach there is slot you can do also.
- Determine how the other team is trying to attack you.
- Identify their go to players or plays.
- What is the opponent giving you?
- Which of your players are playing well and which aren’t?
- Plan your substitutions to gain an edge.
- Don’t let the game get away from your team. Find out how many timeouts you have and be prepared to use them all.
- Make sure that your team is following the factors mentioned above.
After the game is important also.
- If the big game comes during the season and it’s a loss - talk to your team about getting better but don’t make it the end of the world. Confidence is so important so even after a tough loss in the middle of the year stay positive. At the same time, I always like to think of games as tests which show what the team needs to work on, so document and plan to correct at practice.
- If the big game comes during the season and it’s a win – try to keep your team focused. The toughest thing to do is to stay level after a big win.
- If the big game occurs at the end of the year and it’s a loss - you teach by explaining what they did well and what they didn’t do well but then you wish your team the best and spend a substantial amount of time to self-evaluate on what you should do better next time out.
- If the big game occurs at the end of the year and it’s a win – let your team enjoy!
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