Winning streaks take away sense of urgency

That late-October defeat in Khimki gave me a lot of worries. Still, before we played them for the second time last week, several reporters here in Spain had brought up the remark I’d made saying that given our recent string of results, the loss to the Russian club in retrospect could be considered a therapeutic one. After that first game we’ve managed to concentrate on the areas that required improvement, most notably pick-and-roll defense and boxing out, and wins started to pile up.

In the second Khimki clash we were the home team so we tried to be more aggressive defending their pick-and-roll, tried to contain Cabezas and Langford who literally destroyed us during the first game. On the flip side, it opened up some opportunities for Javtokas, one of the central figures of the game. Nevertheless, we managed to keep their shooters at bay and we definitely had more depth in comparison with the first meeting of the teams.

It was an important victory for Real Madrid, especially if you take into account that it happened during the week when the club and ACB were paying tribute to Fernando Martin, one of the greatest Spanish basketball players ever who died exactly 20 years ago. It was an emotional time for the club, for the fans, for all the people here. We were glad to win that game and also a game versus Valencia on a night when not only Fernando Martin was honored but also legendary Pedro Ferrándiz, who coached Real Madrid in the first game of his career exactly 50 years ago, received an award from the club.

The reality is, when you are on a long winning streak, you tend to take some aspects of the game for granted. You grow sloppier in certain areas like timing or passing. The defense becomes less aggressive than it was when you had that sense of urgency, sense that you absolutely have to win the game and need to put in your best effort.

That’s the thing about winning streaks. They give you confidence, but at the same time take away the sense of urgency to some extent. Many players and coaches I’ve met throughout my career told me they had a sense of fear prior to the games, and it was actually very helpful. Like, the great Sasha Danilovic once acknowledged to me that despite being a formidable, well-known player himself, he experienced that fear of losing, of not playing well personally. But then he added that what distinguishes great players is the ability to overcome that fear, to transform it into aggressiveness on the court.

Right now, we’re facing a very challenging and important two-week period. We already lost in a difficult game in Sopot. Before Christmas we play Panathinaikos on the road in Euroleague and have away games in ACB versus Santiago de Compostela (that local Xacobeo Blusens team has been one of the biggest surprises in the Spanish league so far this season) [the entry was written before the game, lost by Real 68-78] and Caja Laboral which will probably have some of its currently injured players back in uniform for that game. And one week later, on December, 27th we take on Barcelona in a game everybody seems to be looking for.

What we want to do now is continue improving our game and at the same time avoid losing as much as possible. And there are many ways for us to do so. First of all, we’re still in the process of bringing Felipe Reyes and Tomas van den Spiegel back to their usual level, as both of them haven’t yet regained game shape after sitting out long periods of time with injuries. The second thing we’re trying to do at the moment is focus on some specific details of the offense, because even though our assist-to-turnover ratio is quite good, we still have a margin to improve our passing. The players are getting to know each other better, they’re starting to understand where and when their teammates like to receive the ball, and as a result the team’s passing improves.

Alongside with that, players learn how to make their teammates better. This is something that separates great teams from the pack, by the way. Every player on a great team is capable of and at least puts in effort to make guys around him better. And the only way of making your teammates better is through understanding of where and when to pass them the ball. For example, if you pass the ball to a shooter who’s out of his range, for sure you’re not making things easier for him. Or if you pass the ball to a big man in a position where he can attack the basket without dribbling, he’ll be definitely more aggressive as compared to a situation when he has to make one or even two dribbles to attack.

Focusing on such things will help us become crisper with our passing, quicker on offense and as a result I think our shooting will remain good even when we face tougher defenses.

Defensively, we’re making progress guarding pick-and-roll, and our overall aggressiveness is improving but at the same time we could definitely do a better job switching when needed. And our boxing out requires some polishing as well; we’re allowing way too many offensive rebounds.

Generally speaking, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. The good thing is, we understand each other better and seem to have the idea of what we should do offensively. I think we’ll introduce a couple of new offensive sets in the near future that will suit the talent we have here in a better way. And barring new injuries, I believe the team will be in a good shape when it faces crucial stages of the season.