Many of the teams in the NBA playoffs this season carried the burden of high expectations. Owners, executives, and fans all have high hopes when their favorite team goes into the playoffs with a real shot at getting to the finals or even winning the whole thing. When the team succeeds, it’s great. When they don’t, the weight of those expectations inevitably comes crashing down on somebody. In today’s NBA, that somebody is more often than not the coach. Mike Woodson of the Atlanta Hawks was a already fired after his team was swept by the Orlando Magic, and Mike Brown doesn’t appear to be long for a job after his team lost to the Boston Celtics.
“It’s amazing how you can go from smart to dumb in 6-7 days,” Van Gundy said. “Mike Woodson was pretty smart, then seven days later he was an idiot. Mike Brown won 70 percent of his games, and all of a sudden, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s amazing.”
The old belief that players win games and coaches lose them looks to be alive and well in today’s NBA. A coach can have all the success in the world in the regular season, but often all it takes is one bad week to send an NBA coach from the sideline to the studio.