Hughes debunks claims that ‘poor coaching decisions’ worked against Flyers

Coach of the Flyers basketball team George Hughes, has shot down suggestions that poor coaching decisions may have resulted in his team’s 3-1 playoff finals series defeat to the Hands Up Foundation (HUF) Baldwin Braves.
Braves captured the title on Sunday after winning game 4 in the best-of-five series at the JSC basketball complex, coming from a game down to win three straight.
Suggestions that Hughes failed to adequately rotate players and find effective ways of containing the opponents’ scoring ability, do not sit well with the former national coach.
“Coaching is different on the field from when you are sitting in the stands because a lot of people look at the score and not within the game and there is a game within the game that a lot of people don’t see and a lot of people don’t understand that basketball is a game of match-ups,” he said.
“When you are trying to find a match-up that works for you, you stick to it until the other coach finds something so I am not really concerned about what people are saying about coaching decisions. I understand what match-ups do to teams and we just couldn’t find a matchup for Xavier Meade,” he added.
The coach went on to add that many, because of their success throughout the year, fail to realise that the team is still an inexperienced one.
“A lot of people, because of how well the team has been playing, do not realise that the training and developmental stage of my team is far less than the training and developmental stage of the Braves team and therein lies the difference,” Hughes said.
“It is just down to experience, making the right play at the right time, being able to be disciplined and stick to what works for you,” he added.
He has however praised the young squad for their performance in this year’s Division One competition.
“I want to give them a lot of kudos for the way they handled themselves through the season and I think, from this whole competition that basketball is the winner. We see that we have some youngsters who are ready to take the game for the next 10 to 15 years,” the coach said.
Hughes also took the time to congratulate the Braves team and its coaching staff for winning this year’s title.