After an exhilarating Game 6 win on their home court, the Washington Wizards are on the cusp of having the Eastern Conference Finals within grasp with a Game 7 win against the Boston Celtics tonight.
However, their head coach Scott Brooks seems to be in a completely different mindset than the Celtics have recently shown after a disheartening loss.
“If we win, we win. If we lose, nobody's going to jail,” said Brooks according to TNT's David Aldridge.
While the likes of John Wall and Bradley Beal are drawing inspiration from a hard-fought Game 6 win, Brooks has taken a rather passive approach to what it likely the biggest game in Wizards' history — having failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals since the franchise was under the Washington Bullets name in 1979.
Brooks has been out-coached for the majority of the series and has relied on his offensive firepower and brawn to carry the team through a very contested series — but the ultimate test will fall upon his team tonight, having only a slim 32 percent chance to come out a winner on the road, according to ESPN's BPI.
The Wizards coach was his best self-deprecating version today when asked how he'd handle a Game 7 pressure situation as a player — offering that he felt no pressure whatsoever, knowing he wouldn't play — rather choosing what towel to wave at the end of the bench, according to Todd Dybas of The Washington Times.
His players seem to have picked up a much more ready-for-war attitude.
“Last game was more pressure,” Wall told Dybas. “We were down one. Now we're even.”
“Now's our chance,” said Beal. “It is a big deal. We're not going to sit here and say it's not.”
Tonight's game will indeed show if Brooks' passive approach and his team's intensity mesh through the stretch of this game, or if it ends up being a rather feeble coaching effort when his players need him most.
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