Playing "to win" vs "no to lose."

[big10best]

I just wonder why we don't play to win? When we get big leads we seem to get passive. Is this coaching or is it the players?

 

[lbodel]

I just wonder why we don't play to win? When we get big leads we seem to get passive. Is this coaching or is it the players?

I just posted about this - I think the problem is they don't stay focused. And let's be CLEAR - this is NOT a Purdue thing. This is quite common to happen.

I HATE getting big leads early in games. It's hard to sustain those - and we've seen it from teams all over the country. The MSU game was a great example of this. Purdue had a guy playing lights out. It's weird to say, but it's almost a bad thing to have happen - because Purdue didn't really play its game plan because of it. AJ wasn't really involved and as we know with him, he's a guy that needs to get into a rhythm. And while Davis played out of his mind, MSU also played uncharacteristically poor in the first half - which likely was not going to remain the same for the entire game. If you flipped the script and Purdue played like crap in the first half and then played great in the second half, it's no different - but you'd look at it as Purdue clawing back for a comeback (which is viewed as a positive) vs. blowing a lead (which is viewed as a negative). There's no difference.

That being said, what I posted was that when Purdue builds a lead, it gets away from its game plan, particularly going inside. When we're up by 12 and with the ball, we should come down the court, take our time and try to set up our big guys for an easy shot. When teams start getting down big, they play more aggressive and more in a panic. Shooting a 3 in that situation gives them an out. It's lovely if you make it, but with 3s - you basically have a 60% chance of not making it. A missed 3 is also more likely to result in transition points. When Purdue got up by 10 or so late in the second half - they made stupid mistakes. A sloppy, too fancy pass. A bad shot, etc. Going inside and AJ getting a bunny or fouled - is not fancy, crowd-inspiring, a highlight reel, etc. - but it's completely demoralizing. Until a team shows it can stop it, can expose it (with turnovers, like we saw with Butler), etc. - we should NOT stop going to that, or stop using it to get an easy shot (i.e. penetration). Swanigan shooting a 3, Davis catching the ball and jacking a 3 with 20 seconds left on the shot clock, etc. is not what we need.

 

[PU52Chevy]

I think if you look at the reasons why we lose big leads, it comes down to key players getting in foul trouble and Painter patching in line-ups.......

I see a drop off when AJH goes to the bench with 2 or 3 fouls...Haas does well on offensive end but defensive end his foot speed needs work.

Same when Biggie leaves the game with fouls.......

Thankfully we have the depth to overcome this sometimes, but is a toss up depending if our shots are falling.

I think if we stay playing aggressive and take the open shots when they are there and drive to the basket and hit our free throws...we will finish strong and do well in both tournaments.

Boiler Up!

 

[lbodel]

I think if you look at the reasons why we lose big leads, it comes down to key players getting in foul trouble and Painter patching in line-ups.......

I see a drop off when AJH goes to the bench with 2 or 3 fouls...Haas does well on offensive end but defensive end his foot speed needs work.

Same when Biggie leaves the game with fouls.......

Thankfully we have the depth to overcome this sometimes, but is a toss up depending if our shots are falling.

I think if we stay playing aggressive and take the open shots when they are there and drive to the basket and hit our free throws...we will finish strong and do well in both tournaments.

Boiler Up!

Against Maryland, Haas just couldn't match-up with Stone defensively. Eventually, Painter took him out and just played Swanigan basically at center.

So I wouldn't characterize what happened yesterday as the usual. Purdue's has had some really good stretches with Haas in there. There's not many teams out there that has a starting center playing 30-40 minutes. So when Haas is in against the 2nd string, he's had a lot of opportunities to eat them alive. I think we could be doing much better - but that goes back to just taking more advantage of our interior game.

 

[Courtsensetemp]

Playing "not to lose" particularly late in games is a pet peeve of mine with several coaches including Crean. Finish what you started.

Crean takes the air out of the ball late which opens the window for a team to get aggressive, make plays and hit shots while his team gets flustered, kills time then takes a crappy shot with 3 sec on the shot clock. Happens way too often with other coaches as well.

 

[BBG]

I think if you look at the reasons why we lose big leads, it comes down to key players getting in foul trouble and Painter patching in line-ups.......

I see a drop off when AJH goes to the bench with 2 or 3 fouls...Haas does well on offensive end but defensive end his foot speed needs work.

Same when Biggie leaves the game with fouls.......

Thankfully we have the depth to overcome this sometimes, but is a toss up depending if our shots are falling.

I think if we stay playing aggressive and take the open shots when they are there and drive to the basket and hit our free throws...we will finish strong and do well in both tournaments.

Boiler Up!

Great insight and a well thought out post.

 

[lbodel]

Playing "not to lose" particularly late in games is a pet peeve of mine with several coaches including Crean. Finish what you started.

Crean takes the air out of the ball late which opens the window for a team to get aggressive, make plays and hit shots while his team gets flustered, kills time then takes a crappy shot with 3 sec on the shot clock. Happens way too often with other coaches as well.

I think there's definitely times/coaches you see this happen with more - but yes you certainly do see it.

I don't think Purdue really changes its mindset/plays "not to lose". First, it's not a run and gun team to begin with, so using a good chunk of a shot clock is a normal thing for Purdue.

I think Purdue's problem is almost the opposite - they try to do too much. Going down the court when you're up by 15 and jacking a 3 isn't playing not to lose, it's rushing things.

 

[Courtsensetemp]

I think there's definitely times/coaches you see this happen with more - but yes you certainly do see it.

I don't think Purdue really changes its mindset/plays "not to lose". First, it's not a run and gun team to begin with, so using a good chunk of a shot clock is a normal thing for Purdue.

I think Purdue's problem is almost the opposite - they try to do too much. Going down the court when you're up by 15 and jacking a 3 isn't playing not to lose, it's rushing things.

MP has a couple of sharp shooters so using them consistently is crucial. Ziesloft is that guy and he certainly helps get the floor spread.

You can see the air come out of the ball with TC and the comeback. He started about 5 min left in the game against you guys and I told the folks I was with...here it comes, and PU executed but ran out of time.