Monty Williams is at fault but not entirely to blame

It’s been talked about, analyzed to death, and discussed ad nausea and it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet. How in the world did the New Orleans Pelicans lose last night’s game to the Golden State Warriors? It makes no sense. They were up big late, had everything going for them, and had outplayed the Dubs for three quarters. This wasn’t a case of Golden State just putting things together. No, New Orleans played better than the best team in the NBA for three quarters, and it wasn’t even close. Anthony Davis had 23 points and three other Pelicans were in double figures. Golden State on the other hand had 23 points from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson with the rest of their team all scoring less than five. New Orleans had dominated all the way up to that point, until it all fell apart.

So why? Why did New Orleans fall apart in the fourth quarter and play complacent bad basketball during the most important stretch of the game? Why did the Pelicans take a three-point shot when down one point, and then let half of their precious clock go down by not fouling immediately? Why, oh why, did they not foul when up three to prevent Steph Curry hitting one of the most insane shots of the NBA season?

Well the answer is pretty simple for some. Monty Williams. After all, it’s not like the Pelicans haven’t done this before under his tenure. When the game reaches its most crucial point, and execution becomes more important than anything, the Pelicans consistently play dumb basketball. For a team full of guys that have been in the league four to six years, they play like a bunch of rookies and sophomores down the stretch. They don’t play bad, they just play dumb, and a lot of that blame can be placed on the coach. There is too much experience on this team for them to so consistently mess up in key game management situations. Not fouling and wasting away half the clock is not something that a playoff team should be doing. Even if Williams was on the sideline screaming to his guys to foul, shouldn’t they know that already? That’s on the coach.

So obviously the entire loss needs to be put on Monty Williams and really they just need to fire this guy right?

Well, no, not exactly. Whether he should be replaced or not is a different discussion all together, but to place the entire loss on his shoulders, and over think his every decision, is just ludicrous.

The most obvious example of this over thinking came when the Pelicans were down a point, and needed a basket to take the lead. The basket was crucial, because they needed to put some pressure back on the Warriors. Instead of giving the ball to Anthony Davis and having him go get a bucket, Monty Williams instead chose to draw up a play intended for Eric Gordon. It was a play they’ve run before (h/t Mike Prada) and it’s worked for them in the past. Except the Warriors defended it perfectly and the play was snuffed out. There was obvious frustration with the Pelicans not letting Anthony Davis touch the ball in such a huge situation, and while there’s merit for that, since when is drawing up a play a bad thing? Isn’t hero ball something that everybody hates? Well everybody got their wish later, because Williams drew up an attempt to tie the game on a play that equated to giving Anthony Davis the ball, and trying to score against Andrew Bogut in an iso situation. That play did not work.

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There’s also the situation of what happened on the court was out of Williams control. The Pelicans inability to rebound, Curry getting hot from 3-point range, and Anthony Davis missing a key free throw all had just as much of an impact, if not bigger, on the result of the game as Williams did. There are factors that no matter what the coach does, the players have to step up, and getting beat on three rebounds in one possession is not the coach’s fault in any situation. At some point you have to win that rebound.

So does this mean Williams is off scot-free? No, it most certainly does not. He failed far too many times last night, and his team committed too many simple mistakes, to say that he does not deserve blame. If there’s someone that has to take the brunt of this loss it should be Williams. He’s the coach, and when a team fails to execute, it’s going to fall on him. That’s just part of the job. What’s important to remember however is that just because he failed late does not mean he should take sole blame. There were factors out of his control that caused that collapse, and it didn’t help that it was all happening against a team as talented as the Warriors. Monty Williams should be criticized, but blamed for the entire loss? Isn’t that a little too hard, even for him?

Next: Grades from the devestation

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