Two Atlanta Coaches the Same?
I have just noticed something that two professional coaches in Atlanta have in common. Mike Woodson of the Atlanta Hawks and Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves have two philosphies that are exactly the same and I’m not sure I agree with them. Now in basketball or the NBA it is pretty common for a player to sit the rest of the game out, if they picked up their 3rd personal foul in the half. Most coaches in the NBA do this and since a player is only allowed 6 fouls in a game, they don’t want them picking up over half of that amount in the first half.
Now in baseball it’s common to see pitchers swing the bat early in a game and not let a pinch hitter step in for them. In the National League most teams like to see their starting pitchers go 5 innings and as long as they don’t stink it up too bad, most are allowed to get their 5 innings. So I understand why teams in both sports does this, but isn’t there an exception to every rule?
Mike Woodson and Bobby Cox are two coaches that put their self in position late in the game to have all their horses available. If you’re planning to beat the Atlanta Hawks or Atlanta Braves in extra innings or overtime, the coaches might have the advantage over you. The problem is that neither coach doesn’t understand the middle of the game and if you don’t make adjustments then, the last few minutes of the game or the 9th inning will be too late and the game will already be decided at that point.
Mike Woodson seems to follow the rules to a “T”, but doesn’t realize when the bench isn’t stepping up and buying time for one of the starters on the bench, it’s time to yank them and let your starter go back out there and play. So what if he picks up another foul or fouls out before the last few minutes of the game. You can worry about those things when you get to that point. If you don’t stick with your guys or allow them to use up all 6 of their fouls, they might not be any use for them late in the game. I have seen Mike Woodson save players so they wouldn’t foul out and then the team ends up losing by 20 points and the bench players are all out there anyways just waiting for all the time to tick off the clock.
Bobby Cox is exactly the same and he often lets pitchers bat in the 5th inning with the Braves losing by 4 or 5 runs. That just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Obviously your pitcher isn’t worth keeping in, if you find your self down 3 or more runs in the 5th inning or later. It’s important to understand that every bat is important now and start using your pitch hitters to swing for those pitchers. You will often find Bobby Cox saving his best pinch hitters to the 8th or 9th innings and by him waiting to use them then, the Braves are losing so bad then, a grand slam homerun wouldn’t help them win that game.
The Atlanta Hawks will often finish a basketball game with guys still having fouls to give and they probably had to sit on the bench because at some point in the game they were in foul trouble. The Atlanta Braves will finish games on the wrong side of the scoreboard and they will still have pinch hitters and pitchers that never got the call, because Bobby Cox was saving them for later in the game. I think both of these coaches need to worry about the middle of games for their ball clubs and worry about finding those extra guys off the bench at the end when you have to go to them. If you save your guys for the end of games, you will soon learn there is no end to the game, because you will be down so far it’s not going to help.
Mike and Bobby really need to adjust their coaching practices and quit playing for those overtimes and extra innings. The Hawks and Braves are losing way too many games for them to be saving a player here or there, so they can be there for the finish. We need guys to win games for us in the middle and the end will turn out much better!