There were no doubt some mistakes I think Juwan made overall last night and I get that it's tough to look at scoring just 3 FTs in the last 5 minutes and argue that Juwan pushed the right buttons, but after looking at the final minutes again, I would say that any argument that Juwan was horrible down the stretch seems wildly overstated. Given that this was Juwan's first time in a possession for possession game at that level against a capable and more experienced coach, I see a number of decisions that point to positive things in the future. If they win, here are some things we would be pointing to today as great chess moves by Howard.
One good move was putting Brown on Tyger. That did bottle up UCLA's offense some and led to a TO when brown got the tie up around 2 mins. Juwan also moved Johns in and out and had him on Jaquez to contest UCLA's final shot.
On offense, they had multiple shots at the rim, including misses by Franz, Dickinson, and Smith on great looks. Johns also had a lefty hook, not an ideal shot but not horrible.
On the final shots, I would have liked to see Franz drive to the basket, and that might have been the first option, but when the two UCLA guys got hung up with Dickinson on the ball screen, it wasn't a horrible decision for Franz to pull the trigger. I might say drive no matter what but that wasn't a terrible decision. The 3 by Smith is the kind of shot that wins games like that every year in the tournament. Yes, he has the option to drive but with Tyger giving ground, I'm fine with that. The final Wagner heave, is not horrible when you have no great options with UCLA obviously looking for a lob at the rim.
I saw guys looking tentative from 3 and tight so maybe some of that is on the coach, though it's hard to say if not in the huddle and Juwan seems to always believe in his guys. You can also argue that they should have run something for Brown, the one guy shooting well. But overall, I don't think Cronin schooled Juwan in the final minutes or anything like that. This was not like Juwan eating Hamilton's lunch.
Again, if you look at the entire game, I would say that they focused too much on feeding HD and the ball stuck as a result, but I'd give Juwan solid grades on managing the final minutes. FWIW.
One good move was putting Brown on Tyger. That did bottle up UCLA's offense some and led to a TO when brown got the tie up around 2 mins. Juwan also moved Johns in and out and had him on Jaquez to contest UCLA's final shot.
On offense, they had multiple shots at the rim, including misses by Franz, Dickinson, and Smith on great looks. Johns also had a lefty hook, not an ideal shot but not horrible.
On the final shots, I would have liked to see Franz drive to the basket, and that might have been the first option, but when the two UCLA guys got hung up with Dickinson on the ball screen, it wasn't a horrible decision for Franz to pull the trigger. I might say drive no matter what but that wasn't a terrible decision. The 3 by Smith is the kind of shot that wins games like that every year in the tournament. Yes, he has the option to drive but with Tyger giving ground, I'm fine with that. The final Wagner heave, is not horrible when you have no great options with UCLA obviously looking for a lob at the rim.
I saw guys looking tentative from 3 and tight so maybe some of that is on the coach, though it's hard to say if not in the huddle and Juwan seems to always believe in his guys. You can also argue that they should have run something for Brown, the one guy shooting well. But overall, I don't think Cronin schooled Juwan in the final minutes or anything like that. This was not like Juwan eating Hamilton's lunch.
Again, if you look at the entire game, I would say that they focused too much on feeding HD and the ball stuck as a result, but I'd give Juwan solid grades on managing the final minutes. FWIW.
