It is very easy to criticize NBA coaches with the advantages of hindsight and time. But what if you were in charge of making decisions late in games that could lead your team to victory — or leave your players shaking their heads after a loss?
Here's your chance to show how well you understand end-of-game situations.
Take The Sporting News' Crunch Time Coaching Quiz, then read the correct answers and explanations below.
Tag us on Twitter or Instagram with your results!
NOH: Manu Ginobili Eurosteps into Hall of Fame with one-of-a-kind resume
The answer key:
1. You have three timeouts remaining with 3:01 left in the game. The other team has just scored. Your star player is motioning that he badly needs a breather. As you prepare to inbound, you:
Answer: Call a timeout immediately, while there's still over three minutes left in the game.
Explanation: Each team goes down to two timeouts as the clock hits the three-minute mark. You will thus oftentimes see coaches call a timeout when they have more than two right before the three-minute mark hits.
If you wait in this situation to call a timeout, the clock will fall under the three-minute mark, you will drop to two timeouts and you'll burn one, leaving yourself with only one for the rest of the game.
2. Your team is down by one with eight seconds to go and one timeout remaining. Your opponent has airballed a wild layup, and your point guard has just grabbed the rebound. You:
Answer: Let the offense see if it can get something easy. If nothing's there after a few seconds, then you can always call the timeout.
Explanation: Transition plays present far and away the best opportunities to score. They vastly outweigh the efficiency of after-timeout plays. One of the best times to run is after a wild layup with opponents out of position and unable to recover defensively.
3. You're down by four with 15 seconds to go and the ball. You have a quick-2 play that works about 50 percent of the time and a 3-point play that works 35 percent of the time.
Answer: Call the 3 play. You need to make up points as quickly as possible.
Explanation: The math here clearly favors going for a 3 over a quick 2. On the 50 percent of the time you miss the quick 2, the game is over anyway. And when you do make the 2, the shooter that you intentionally foul will make both free throws almost two-thirds of the time, putting you in the exact same spot you were in before.
Win probability models, such as the one made by Darryl Blackport at PBP Stats, are clear on the decision that you are supposed to make here.
4. Tie game, 0.2 seconds left. You have the ball, and you've called timeout. What play are you drawing up?
Answer: Try to shoot it into the basket from the inbound and have our big man tip it in when the ball is above the cylinder.
Explanation: This is known as the Jay Triano play. There is no offensive goaltending on an inbound, so having a center tip the ball when it's already in the cylinder is one of the best ways to legally get a shot off with little time on the clock.
Punching the ball is a violation of the NBA rules. A normal shot cannot be taken with under 0.3 on the clock (the Trent Tucker rule).
5. Tie game, 20 seconds left. You have the ball, and you've called timeout. Your opponent has one timeout left. What do you tell your team?
Answer: Wind the clock down and make absolutely sure the ball is in the air when the time is at zero so that our opponent doesn't have a chance to score.
Explanation: Once again, win probability models are clear here. The worst outcome is for you to miss with time remaining and give your opponent an opportunity at winning in regulation.
6. Four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Your team's head coach, Tim Poylen, used up all of your timeouts three minutes ago and was ejected for challenging the referee to a push-up contest. You, the assistant coach, have taken over. The referees called your star player out of bounds saving the ball, but you look up at the jumbotron and see that he was clearly inbounds. You:
Answer: Don't call a challenge.
Explanation: You have no timeouts left. Calling for a challenge in this situation would result in an automatic technical foul.
7. Three minutes left in the game. You have one timeout remaining. Your opponent has clearly double dribbled before laying it in. You:
Answer: Don't call a challenge. The play is not reviewable.
Explanation: Per the NBA rulebook, instant replay review of the following events, among others, may not be triggered by a challenge: (1) a called personal foul charged to the opposing team, (2) continuation — e.g., whether a defensive foul occurred prior to the offensive player beginning his shooting motion, (3) a technical foul or flagrant foul and (4) violations such as traveling, carrying, double dribble or an offensive or defensive three-seconds.
