In a peculiar situation involving an NBA coach essentially questioning his own decision-making in public, Brooklyn Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo discussed his concern with Brook Lopez's frequent fourth-quarter absences on Monday, Mike Mazzeo of ESPN New York writes.
P.J. Carlesimo questions himself for benching Brook Lopez in crunch-time
P.J. Carlesimo keeps benching Brook Lopez late in games. On Monday, P.J. Carlesimo questioned those decisions publicly. It’s an odd situation.
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While Carlesimo is understandably worried about Lopez’s lack of production late in games, the primary reason for that is the coach himself. Lopez hasn’t played any of the fourth quarter in three of the team’s past four games despite being a first-time All-Star and one of the most important players on the roster.
“I created the situation and it’s not a good situation. So yes, I worry about it that I need to address it and I worry about it that I need to watch what I do going forward,” Carlesimo said of benching Lopez.
This surely isn’t the first time that a coach has wondered how his in-game decisions might affect his players mentally, but it’s unusual to see it happen so publicly. Now that the world is aware of Carlesimo’s lack of confidence in his own decisions, one has to wonder how Lopez will continue to react to this situation.
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