I am a firm believer in playing all the way until the buzzer sounds. I always have been. I don’t understand where this “mercy” rule concept came in that if you are up by a certain amount of points you have to pass the ball around at half until time runs out. I find this condescending and disrespectful to the game of basketball as well as to the opponent we are playing against.
It seems I feel the opposite about this than some of my peers do since after being up by 35 points at the end of the game the coach called me “unclassy” for having my team play all the way to the buzzer. I should mention that last year in a game against the very same team they came all the way back from 25 points down to win the game. After winning they were banging their drums and noisemakers all the way down the hallway in celebration of their victorious comeback. My team didn’t say anything about that. We took the loss and used it as motivation to get better. Due to past circumstances we weren’t going to let up this time.
Regardless of the outcome of this particular game where I come from you play all the way to the end whether it is the final buzzer itself or the sound of the referee’s whistle. This is because playing your best isn’t like a switch that you turn on and off with any amount of accuracy. In my opinion, there is only one way to get consistency and that is by playing at that same tempo repeatedly regardless of who your opponent is. It could be in the championship game or in a scrimmage at practice. Every time you step on the court and you are in a competitive situation the goal is to win and to play at a consistent pace.
Of course there are some unwritten rules that I fully support when it comes to playing in games with a wide point spread. For example, don’t press when you are up by more than 20 points. Don’t keep your star players on the whole game just to run up the score. Make extra passes or work on some new systems in order to get better. Of course, there is no need to humiliate or embarrass an opponent. To me just passing around the ball at half for the last couple minutes of the game is humiliating. I know I hate it when teams do that to us! I would rather that we continue to play all the way to the end of the game so that my team has a chance to continue to improve. There is a big difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. We are also showing your team we don’t take you lightly and that we respect the game of basketball. To me it is far more respectful to play hard than to do monkey in the middle with my players at half.
Upon reflecting on the comments this coach made to me I got thinking about the players I had in the game at that point. Three of the players were people that don’t get a lot of minutes on my team. How am I going to tell them at the end of the game when they finally get their chance to play to just pass it around at half? The truth is I am not. This is what we do when we have a lead and we are using the clock. I am not interrupting their chance to learn, get better and to play in the high tempo conditions that have been set for them. I want them to have the opportunity to play in a real game not just keep away.
I realize that some teams might get upset with this but this is a sporting event after all. I’m not running for Miss Congeniality if I am considered “unclassy” for this then I'll own it. The point of sport is competition and fighting back let's not get too polite about it. Also, when do you constitute it is appropriate to apply this mercy rule because there are some teams that give up in the first couple minutes of the game. Does that mean that I have to pass the ball around at half every possession until the shot clock runs out and then go play defence?
I may be considered “unclassy” but my intentions are in the right place and that is to set my team up for success the best way I know how to. I want my opponents to know we gave our best to also help them to get better. Plus, we have scheduled a game, fans took time to get there and are in the midst of playing so then the game should be played at the highest level all the way to the end. Plus, some tournaments have point differentials playing into the standings to determine who moves on and who doesn’t I want to use every opportunity to get my team an advantage. The last thing I want to do is to end up missing out on something like a gold medal game due to a 2 point point differential because I am trying to not hurt another team’s feelings.
Play all the way to the end that is what the buzzer is for.
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