Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Practices designed to get a team better in game situations

We're 25 games into the 82-game NBA season, but coaches aren't letting up when it comes to conditioning and concentration.

Earlier this week, Lakers coach Phil Jackson sent his guys running after they failed -- twice -- to make 75 percent of their free throws in practice.

According to this article, these were "military-style drills, with the players running along the outside of the court... then [Coach Jackson] would blow his whistle and force the last player in the pack to run to the front of the line."

Said Lakers forward Lamar Odom (shown here with Coach Jackson):

"Phil likes when we have tests. Especially psychological. You can tell who's confident, who's thinking about it. He likes that. That's what we're striving for, perfection. We're not perfect yet. So we have practices like that to get us better in game situations. There's going to be games when you're tired. We've got a trip [coming up with] four games in five days. . . . I know where he's coming from a lot of the times when he does that. I can understand it."