No Substitute for Experience

[RonnieBrewer (急凍人布魯爾)]

No Substitute for Experience
By  Travis Heath
for HOOPSWORLD.com
Mar 19, 2007, 14:50 

The Utah Jazz are struggling having lost four-games in a row.  Now exactly a
news flash, huh?  The real question is whether or not this is just a routine
bump in the road that every team in the Association experiences during the
course of a marathon NBA season or the first signs of some real chinks in the
armor as the playoffs approach.

The most interesting part of Utah's four most recent defeats is the way in
which they lost the games.  Each game -- with perhaps the exception of last
Wednesday's game in Orlando -- was close coming down the stretch.  And in
each game, the Jazz had a chance to overtake their opponent.

The most glaring problems occurred at the end of the games against Miami and
Philadelphia.  And Utah's one-point loss in Philly looks even worse now after
Houston went into Philly yesterday and won by a cool 50-points.

Sixers' coach Maurice Cheeks was pleased with the way his team was able to
control Friday's game against the Jazz from wire-to-wire.

"(We) controlled the game pretty much, and late in the game they obviously
made a run and made some shots.  It was a big step for us to control the game
the whole time and to hold our composure and then maintain and win the game.
They made a strong run and hit a seven shot run, and we had to then match
every shot they made."

Philly did match every shot, but Utah had a chance to win the game late.
Unfortunately for the Jazz, they were unable to take advantage as Deron
Williams' three-pointer under duress came up just short.

Williams has been amazing this year, and your friendly neighborhood columnist
has said as much in this space time-after-time.  However, he showed a lapse
in discretion with his shot selection late in the game in Philadelphia.  If
you don't believe me, just read what head coach Jerry Sloan had to say.

"I don't have a problem with Deron taking the last shot, he was shooting the
ball pretty well. Maybe he could have gotten a better shot, but that's just
part of the experience of being in that situation. Hopefully he'll learn from
it and do a better job of it as time goes on."

After the game, Cheeks heaped praise on his veteran point-guard Andre Miller.

"He's the type of guy that doesn't like a lot of plays run for him.  He takes
over the game at different times and understands the importance of us needing
a shot and needing a basket.  With the ball in his hands he has the knowledge
to either make the pass or take it upon himself to make the play.  There have
been many times he's decided to put the ball in his hands in order to make
the play.  He has the ability to make a play offensively for himself or
someone else."

In short, the veteran executed better down the stretch than the kid.

"I think you have to experience games like these," Jazz veteran Derek Fisher
said after Friday's loss.  "It could be a reason that we struggled this week
because its been a while since we've been in this position, particularly on
the road.  Understanding how to control the tempo of the game on the road and
understanding how to keep the turnovers low are things you need to experience
to play well in these types of situations."

The situations Fisher was referencing are the situations that are going to
present themselves frequently when the playoffs get under way in about a
month.  In order to thrive in the playoffs, Utah is going to have to find a
way to win close games -- especially on the road.

There is no substitute for experience.  However, the one unknown is how
quickly young players learn from experience.  For some, they learn very
quickly.  For others, the path is a long and sometimes very frustrating one.
If the Jazz want to do some damage and play well into the month of May, they
had better hope that Williams falls into the former category after the events
of the past week.


                        http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_21299.shtml 

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