Hairy-Chested Takes as I nurse a Tuesday night hangover. And I didn’t even drink:
AVERY TAKES ‘FULL RESPONSIBILITY. … BUT: The moment many of us who’ve been fans of Avery Johnson have been waiting for – the maturation of the young coach manifesting itself by him saying that the buck stops with him – finally occurred on Wednesday with his Mavs down 0-2 in this first-round playoff series.
“I take full responsibility about everything,’’ Avery said, “and that’s my job.”
And by God, he did it. I’ve said for years that the idea role model on this subject is former Broncos coach Dan Reeves, who always insisted that every miscue – fumbles, interceptions, missed tackles, bad draft picks – was HIS fault. No finger-pointing. No under-the-bus throwing. All leadership. I’ve been waiting for Avery to embrace that style, which would mean a cease-fire on junk like “Damp needs to be an enforcer’’ and “Diop needs to be a scorer’’ and Kidd needs to be “re-wired’’ and Dirk needs to be more “Duncan-like’’ and “Devin needs to be more of a leader’’ and “we took too many jumpshots’’ and the like.
It’s “Avery’s Team.’’ So he should get a “Coach of the Year’’ trophy when the Mavs win. And he should get – and should humbly accept – the blame when the Mavs lose.
There is are a few things in sports that are black-or-white (like the final score), and this is one of them. The coach accepting ultimate responsibility is the right way. (And by the way, if the star players line up alongside him and do the same, all the better.) And here was Avery on Wednesday, doing it the right way. …
“I take full responsibility about everything, and that’s my job,” said Avery, who continued:
“But at the same time, if we have a gameplan, we have to have a high level of concentration and we have to have a high of physicality, which I haven’t seen yet. We’ll get there and we’ll keep prodding them and cheering them on and challenging. …’’
In other words, “I take full responsibility and that’s my job. BUT. …’’
And I sorta tune out after that. Dammit, Avery!
There was another chapter to this presser. Remember after the end of the Golden State series, when Avery held a season-closing media session, and rather sarcastically conceded that on-court errors were “my fault’’?
Last year, Sarcastic Avery waited until the opponent had four wins to emerge. This year, we get sarcastic Avery after just two games.
He was asked Wednesday what specific errors HE had made.
“It all starts with me,’’ said Sarcastic Avery. “Whenever something goes wrong with the team -- if we're not making free throws, if we're not making layups, if we're not defending -- it's not the players. It's me.’’
Cute. (Proof he’s being sarcastic? Ask yourself if when Avery was a Spurs player, and missed a free throw, it was clearly understood that the missed free throw was Greg Popovich’s fault.) A fake acceptance of responsibility, a clumsy transfer of responsibility to the players, and then a smart-ass response to an attempt to get clarity on a difficult situation.
Excuse me. I’m going to call Dan Reeves and ask him if he can coach basketball.
Richtig geil! Der Sieg war wichtig für uns. Jetzt in Dallas mind. ein Spiel gewinnen, und die Serie gehört zu 85% uns. Aber jetzt dürfen wir die Mavs erstrecht nicht unterschätzen, ich traue ihnen durchaus sogar noch die Wende (vielleicht nicht direkt in den nächsten vier Spielen) zu.
