David Blatt defends play calling at end of Game 4

David Blatt says he had LeBron inbounding because he is best passer on team; compares himself to a fighter pilot

Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt has caught a lot of heat in the last few days–more than one would expect from the coach of a winning team.

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But Blatt is in a unique position, in that LeBron James’ last-second three pointer, and the timely actions of assistant coach Tyronn Lue, bailed him out from multiple horrendous coaching decisions.

First was the timeout Blatt tried to call with eight seconds left. Lue pulled him back before the referees could notice, which was lucky, because the Cavs didn’t have any timeouts left. The penalty for calling a timeout with none left is a technical foul to the other team, as well as a runoff of the clock, which would have meant a certain loss for Cleveland.

Blatt’s other questionable decision was his initial play call for the final play of the game, which had LeBron James, the best basketball player on the planet, inbounding the ball, which of course would have left him unable to sink the game-winning shot, despite the fact that he’s easily the team’s best chance to do so.

Blatt explained his reasoning behind the initial play call:

Blatt said LeBron is team's biggest & best passer. Part of reason he thought about having him inbound on final play.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) May 11, 2015

James admitted after the game that he vetoed the play call, comparing it to “a great quarterback calling an audible.”

But Blatt has a defense for his late game mistakes: that he’s basically a fighter pilot. Or so he says.

David Blatt when asked about facing criticism on the job: pic.twitter.com/OfmBvGl006
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 11, 2015

Say what?

Yeah, you’re right, David Blatt. The decisions made by fighter pilots are definitely on the same level as “only call timeouts when you have them” and “let your best player take the last shot.” Fighter pilots and basketball coaches are totally interchangeable.

Game 4 of the series was far from the first time this year when Blatt has looked less than competent when it comes to coaching decisions. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported back in January that “David Blatt was having a difficult time, in the scheme of things, figuring out whether it was their timeout, or when to take a 20, and Tyronn Lue was instructing him. But there were times when Tyronn Lue was just flat-out calling timeouts.”

It was also widely reported earlier in the season that LeBron and the Cavs were ignoring Blatt’s play calls.

Blatt may be a rookie coach in the NBA, but he has more than 20 years of experience in Europe and Israel; he should be able to make the basic decisions that even ten-year-olds playing NBA 2K make without even thinking about it.

The playoffs are the time when a team’s biggest weakness is exposed; right now for the Cavs, that’s Blatt, and though they dodged a bullet in game four, it could yet come back to haunt them.

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