Why is no one blaming Memphis Coach for loss last night?

Guys I have to say a big goat in last nights Memphis loss has to be Lionel Hollins. No one has mentioned this but he made two HUGE blunders which no one realized even.

Down 1 in first OT after Conley took shot everyone after game was ripping him for (he was wide freaking open, why shouldnt have taken that 3?) the thunder got the rebound and called TO.

Now here is where Hollins stupidity cost them the game

• 1 The Griz have a foul to give and with under 24 seconds must put thunder on foul line. Instead of subbing out Conley and Mayo who each have 5 fouls for some other guards like Tony Allen and Vazquez he leaves them in. On first foul to give, Conley gets his 6th foul
• 2 on second foul to send westbrook to line he left Mayo in and he too got 6th foul when he should never have been on court

I dont understand how he could have left these guys in to foul knowing they have 5 fouls. They were calling a TO after the free throws anyway, someone explain to me why they were in? Without Mayo and Conley the Griz looked broken down in the second and 3rd OT's.

I agree.... not sure wtf was going on there... I can understand wanting to utilize your best players in OT, but as you have poitned out there wasn't much reason for those 2 particular fellas to be out there at the time.

Vasquez 3 was a goddamn miracle-fluke

having conley and mayo foul when they brought them back with big shots was really stupid. They would have won the game in OT if those 2 were playing.

I shut it off when it was going to first overtime, because I was kind of sickened to see Hollins put in OJ Mayo.

Conley just took a 3 pter, missed it and of course had to foul, but they weren't in the bonus yet.

So what does Hollins do? He puts in Oj Mayo, in a FOULING SITUATION, you know he has 5 fouls and you know your team has to foul. Why not bring in some scrub, that most likely has the ability to follow some guy around and foul him as soon as they get the ball in?
Did Hollins not understand that he could save Mayo and bring him in during the FT's that OKC was about to shoot?

That just made me sick watching that, then getting lucky with that fukk from Maryland getting lucky on that 3 pter. Hollins is about as solid as Mike Brown.

fukkin idiots.

It's called putting himself on a GREAT spot and making boat load of money on +2 bet.. **cough**

By that same token, the Thunder had the opportunity to foul before the shot twice with a 3 point lead at the end of regulation and the end of OT1. The Grizz hit the 3pt shots to extend. Both fouling situations as well but OKC didn't do it.

You need to coach an NBA team wearing a suit from the sideline and see it ain't easy like when you do it from your couch eating chips and drinking beer.

Originally Posted by Monitor-Tan

It's called putting himself on a GREAT spot and making boat load of money on +2 bet.. **cough**

are people really this retarded?

Originally Posted by pavyracer

You need to coach an NBA team wearing a suit from the sideline and see it ain't easy like when you do it from your couch eating chips and drinking beer.

QFT, sick of reading people bash on coaches as if they could do a better job...

hollins is a shit coach...he proved that when he single handily lost the overtime game in san antonio...instead of fouling with 3 secs left, san antonio got a 3 pointer off that tied the game to send it into overtime...(it was memphis vs. kansas championship game all over again)....the guy is a moron and his players have overachieved to get where they are now...

Originally Posted by suicidekings

By that same token, the Thunder had the opportunity to foul before the shot twice with a 3 point lead at the end of regulation and the end of OT1. The Grizz hit the 3pt shots to extend. Both fouling situations as well but OKC didn't do it.

fouling in those situations is not as simple as you think. The Nets tried it this year and Green made a move like he was shooting and got 3 free throws.

The first 3 was a play that started at 15 seconds and Conley went through a screen and perkins was in a bad spot to foul him as it would likely have been in the act.

The Vazquez 3 was 9 seconds left, way to early to start the foul game and the shot he took was a horrible horrible shot with that much time still left.

The Hollins blunder by leaving those two guys in cost his team the game and sadly probably the series

Originally Posted by biggamer3

fouling in those situations is not as simple as you think. The Nets tried it this year and Green made a move like he was shooting and got 3 free throws.

The first 3 was a play that started at 15 seconds and Conley went through a screen and perkins was in a bad spot to foul him as it would likely have been in the act.

The Vazquez 3 was 9 seconds left, way to early to start the foul game and the shot he took was a horrible horrible shot with that much time still left.

The Hollins blunder by leaving those two guys in cost his team the game and sadly probably the series

I agree. The correct move in this situation is definitely debatable and depends heavily on who's got the ball in hand, who's doing the fouling, and how much time is left on the clock. OKC did a good job of contesting both.

If you pick the game apart, you could attribute a lot of mistakes in the game to Hollins and the Grizz coaching staff. Their defense got very lazy in the 2Q allowing the Thunder to inch their way back. Westbrook was getting to the rim almost uncontested when they had previously forced him to take jump shots.

The Grizzlies really need to be more comfortable in the halfcourt and learn to play a more defensive game as the situation requires. They were up 15+ and were still pressing their offense for points in transition without getting back to play good D. That's what led to all the fastbreak points for the Thunder and the resultant foul trouble for so many Grizzlies players. The Thunder might still have come back if the Grizzlies were playing with a more defensive mindset, but it would have had to be through making big shots instead of at the stripe and Conley/Mayo wouldn't have been forced out early.

Coaches are human. If they never made mistakes, then itd be perfection. No coaches are perfect.

think the end result would have been the same. the even series is just going to make these last few games even better

Hollins and Brooks are both mediocre coaches at best. For as entertaining as the playoffs have been so far, the coaching has been almost embarrassingly bad at times. I'd have to say -- and I never thought I'd type this -- Carlisle has impressed me the most.