Yes, the Bulls were losing to start the fourth quarter Tuesday night, but it was still a game at 73-70, Suns. And then it wasn’t.
The Suns scored seven points in the first 2:08 of the final period to make it a 10-point lead, and Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg called timeout.
After the Bulls’ timeout, after they theoretically righted themselves, the Suns went on a 7-2 run, and Hoiberg called a second timeout 90 seconds later because, I guess, the first one worked so well.
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The Bulls couldn’t come back from a 15-point deficit. Heck, the Bulls can’t come back from tie games, but let’s get back to Hoiberg’s timeouts.
Stop calling timeouts, Fred.
“We talked about making them call the first timeout,” Hoiberg lamented after the game. “I’m sick and tired of calling the first timeout in quarters and they come out with a 7-0 run to take control and put it up to a double-digit game. Then in the fourth quarter, they get off to a 14-2 start. It’s just so hard to continue to climb uphill, especially late in the game like that.”
Again, Fred, it’s simple: Stop calling timeouts. The Suns went on a 7-2 run after you called a timeout following their 7-0 run. You’re training players to wait for you to bail them out, and even then it doesn’t make a difference, or at least it didn’t help Tuesday. So, sit down and let the players figure it out.
Think of it this way: Stop being a helicopter parent. Calling a timeout saves players from their own bad preparation and play. It also might be your bad coaching and preparation, Fred, but whatever, sit down, stay down and show them some tough love.
Phil Jackson often handled bad play this way. When an opponent was going on a run or seizing momentum, everyone looked at Jackson, waiting for him to get himself upright, something he seemed to do in shifts, and signal for a timeout.
But he didn’t. He sat and watched many times. You figure it out, he was telling the players. It’s a good lesson that has some reasonable application here.
I’m not saying these guys are those Bulls. Not close. Not ever. But my approach would be similar. Don’t call timeouts. Don’t save the players. Force them to learn to fix it themselves. Force them to learn and succeed together in some kind of groupthink. They’re the ones on the floor. They’re the ones getting pantsed. They’re the ones who got themselves into it. Force them to figure out how they can athletically, wisely and resourcefully together play their way out of it. Make them accountable for what happens on the court and for what happens among them as a team.
If they figure it out, if some of them figure it out, then you might have some keepers. If not, then fine, it helps the tank job.
Timeouts or no, the Bulls lost their sixth straight Tuesday. They fell to a league-worst 3-16. That was the plan. That remains the plan. The Bulls remain a pity watch, but hey, at least they’re executing something the way it was doped out, and management wonks aren’t calling timeouts to change anything.
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