Dear Dion...

[Scooch]

Here are the 2 scenarios;

1. Make both FT's. 3 pt lead. Lville gets the ball with 1.7 secs left and can run the baseline. Long pass down court with the chance that a player can catch, turn and shoot. If he makes it, it is OT.

2. Miss the FT. The ball is rebounded by Lville and the player has to turn and throw it the length of the court at the basket and hope he makes a 90 footer.

I'll take my chances with #2. Dion gave them some life by going for the rebound and losing it out of bounds.

Louisville hitting a shot in either scenario is unlikely. Thus I'll take the scenario where the unlikely shot ties it, rather than wins it.

But Dion wasn't trying to miss anyway. He just choked it.

 

[rrlbees]

You absolutely, 100%, no doubt about it try to make both free throws in that situation. There is NO WAY jb told dion to miss. Lousiville has a timeout, why would dion miss on purpose? He misses, lousiville gets the rebound and calls timeout, they have 1.1 or whatever to throw a length of the court pass to beat us. He makes both, lousiville has 1.7 seconds to throw a length of the court pass and all they can do is tie us. Which situation would you prefer? Its not even debateable.

You try to make both in that situation every single time.

Except one you can run the baseline, the other you can't. I also think you should always put a guy on the inbounder when they can't move.

 

[CorduroyG]

Bottom line on this one: You can see the UL big guy was not ready for the shot. He was looking away towards the benches with a kind of What type gesture when Dion was preparing to shoot. It looks to me like Dion noticed this and attempted to take advantage with a quick shot miss/rebound. It almost worked but it was an incredibly Paul-Harrisian plan that could have backfired like a mo-fo.

Bingo. Im giving dion the benefit of the doubt here. It almost seemed like lousiville thought it was a 2 shot foul, and not a 1 and 1. Watching it live i thought that was the case, and actually thought it was a very smart play by dion. In hindsight it was risky, but if dion tips that ball away and the clock runs out its a brilliant play. Lousiville was not prepared to rebound, if they were i dont think dion tries that.

 

[nycfan]

Here are the 2 scenarios;

1. Make both FT's. 3 pt lead. Lville gets the ball with 1.7 secs left and can run the baseline. Long pass down court with the chance that a player can catch, turn and shoot. If he makes it, it is OT.

2. Miss the FT. The ball is rebounded by Lville and the player has to turn and throw it the length of the court at the basket and hope he makes a 90 footer.

I'll take my chances with #2. Dion gave them some life by going for the rebound and losing it out of bounds.

There is actually a 3rd scenario, which is what I would go with. Make the first, and then miss the 2nd, for the same reason you mentioned in your #2. The benefit to making 1, to go up 2, is if Louisville makes a long pass across mid-court and SU goes for the ball but gets called for a foul on an incidental bump or or an "over the back". And keep in mind that there is no downside whatsover to making the first free throw.

 

[Jasoncuse]

Except one you can run the baseline, the other you can't. I also think you should always put a guy on the inbounder when they can't move.

If you don't guard the in bounds pass anyhow, why would that matter all that much in your decision making?

 

[CorduroyG]

Except one you can run the baseline, the other you can't. I also think you should always put a guy on the inbounder when they can't move.

Not running the baseline doesnt make it worth the risk of losing the game.

 

[CorduroyG]

It comes down to timeouts. If lousiville has no timeouts then you miss. 1.7 seconds left isnt enough time to make a pass after the rebound, so theyre only chance is to rebound and fire up an impossible shot. If they have a timeout left, you try to make both, end of story.

 

[rrlbees]

It comes down to timeouts. If lousiville has no timeouts then you miss. 1.7 seconds left isnt enough time to make a pass after the rebound, so theyre only chance is to rebound and fire up an impossible shot. If they have a timeout left, you try to make both, end of story.

Watching JB on the sideline, people are probably right, he didn't tell him to miss.

But I still would and after their timeout with no more than a second left probably more like .5 if the ref doesn't cheat, I would put a guy on the inbounder. No way they score. I take those odds over a chance at going OT when they can run away and make the pass with 1.7.

 

[orangefan13]

4 on 5 without a inbounder. It kindof makes sense to me. You know they aren't catching a pass behind the defense or getting a look without atleast a hand up.

 

[orangepassion]

Maybe he thoughht it was his second foul shot and was trying to pad his rebounding stats. Well, at least he got out of the blocks pretty quickly.