2015 NBA Finals Case Study: The Secret of Commitment

Last night, prior to Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals, Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors, made a change in his starting line-up.  He replaced Andrew Bogut with Andre Iguodala. That move along with a change in defensive strategy and a change in his substitution rotations, made all the difference in the world. Although the Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a 7-0 start, Kerr did not panic nor throw out his game-plan.  Instead, the Warriors called a time-out, quickly bounced back and finished the quarter by outscoring the Cavs, 31-17.  Kerr made a crucial decision, but more importantly, he made a commitment to the strategy for Game 4.  He did not waver.  The strategy paid off in a 103-82 win to tie the series, 2-2.  

Working with elite and aspiring athletes, performers and other professionals at all levels for years, I have come to a recent revelation or refinement concerning the art of mental conditioning.  This revelation is about our mindset consisting of five basic modes. Mental conditioning is enhanced when we understand each mode, its proper timing and its function within our personal performance enhancement system.

1.  Practice Mode
2.  Rehearsal Mode
2.  Preparation Mode
3.  Performance Mode
4.  Evaluation Mode

To cut to the chase, most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, are in constant evaluation mode. We are hardwired and socialized to be in evaluation mode.  We live in evaluation mode.  We measure, we assess, we predict, we criticize, we worry, we comment--24/7.  That's the way we roll.

How's it going?  How's it coming?  How am I doing?  Am I getting there?  Did I get there?  Am I there yet?   Are we there yet?  Why aren't we there yet?  What's wrong with me?  What am I doing wrong? Why are things going wrong?  Here I go again.  Am I behind?  Where should I be?   Who's ahead of me?  Am I losing?  Am I winning?  What do I need to do to catch up?  I can't catch up.  I knew I should have worked harder.  Is this is a mistake?  I'll never get this right.  

Evaluation mode is embedded in our self-talk.  By the same token, most self-talk keeps us in evaluation mode.  In evaluation mode, our self-talk tends to get very harsh very quickly.  Staying in evaluation mode too long or at the wrong time creates anxiety, self-doubt, and, even worse, panic. If you are anxious, you stayed to long in evaluation mode.

Because of this tendency to over-evaluate, we don't really learn or value the four other modes.  We tend to stay in evaluation mode due to our fear of failure.  Our over-use and over-reliance on evaluation mode keeps us anxious and prevents us from being in other equally important modes. Most importantly, we don't sequence our modes correctly and in a way that puts us in the best position to succeed.  Here are the five modes.

• Practice Mode:  This mode requires experimentation and trial-and-error. In this mode, we try new behaviors and get feedback about possible feasibility, usefulness or utility.  This mode provides the opportunity to experiment, to dabble, to invent, to create, to try something new. This is where we allow for and even encourage mistakes.  This is where we study our craft.  In this mode (and only in this mode), we have the luxury of getting out of our comfort zone.  This is where we get information about whether this new behavior is worth rehearsing.  

• Deliberate Rehearsal Mode:  This is the mode that takes our successful experiments from Practice Mode and turns them into muscle memory.  This is where we repeat, repeat, repeat. We hone our craft, we improve, we focus on getting things just right.  This is where we sharpen our sword.   We rehearse until get it right and then rehearse some more until we can't get it wrong. This is the mode that gives us information that we have the necessary competence to be successful and the confidence to perform.  Here we rehearse the skills to execute the necessary sequence of behaviors to reach our goals.    

• Preparation Mode:  This mode is about getting ready to perform, both physically and mentally.  This mode focuses our mental conditioning as well as being the time to plan and organize.  When here, we structure our time and energy in such a way that we develop our plan of action and commit to its proper execution.  Here is where we focus on our mental imagery, our visualization, and get in the right frame of mind and achieve the optimal level of arousal.   This mode is a transition mode from practice and rehearsal toward performance mode. It allows us to be in the best position to achieve peak performance.  

• Performance Mode:  Game-time!  Simply put, this is where we execute.  If in the proper mindset, we follow our plan and allow our muscle memory to take over. Adjustments are minor or minimal in this mode. We have planned well, have committed to our plan, and let the plan work. Most importantly, we are not in evaluation mode.  If we allow ourselves to get in evaluation mode during the game, we will become distracted, particularly by our self-talk.  If we get into evaluation mode, our self-talk will get involved and that will engage our brain's cortex.  That mental chatter will likely become a distraction.  It will disrupt our muscle memory and reduce our game-time speed and efficiency in decision-making.  This does not mean that we are unaware of situational variables, but we maintain our overall game-plan.   Performance mode basically requires us to suspend our analytic mind and focus strictly on performance.  

• Evaluation Mode:  This mode is most effective as a post-game activity.  It re-engages our cortex.  It allows for more complex post-game problem-solving.  It occurs and should occur following a performance or event.  It allows us to objectively and dispassionately assess our performance, our game-plan, our step-wise progress, after the fact.  It allows us to gather data about our ability to execute our plan.  It allows us to determine what we did well, what we need to continue doing, what we need to improve or develop, and what we need to eliminate.  Most importantly, it allows us to get back to Practice Mode, armed with important information about what more we can do to improve.

So, be more mindful of being in the appropriate mode at the appropriate time and make sure you stay out of Evaluation Mode (our current default mode) when you should be in one of the other four modes.  Your mental conditioning and your performance will improve significantly as a result.  Just ask Steve Kerr!  

Why The Atlanta Hawks Will Not Win the NBA Championship in 2015

The Atlanta Hawks have been excellent this season.  Predicted to miss the playoffs, this team has set a team record for most wins in the regular season (59) and has a strong fan following as a result of the Hawks' gritty performance. It is a year to remember.  The Hawks value has gone up so much, the new ownership may have to pony up $1 billion to snag the team.  

As good as things have been, there are warning signs that suggest that this Hawks team will not get their NBA championship this year.  Thus far the team has displayed a delicate balance in which selfless teamwork and a carefully crafted rotation of starters and bench players has proven very effective. Anything that upsets that balance can be difficult to handle.  Here are some factors that will come into play as the Hawks wind down the regular season and prepare for the playoffs:  

1.  Major Distractions:  The Atlanta Hawks do not do well when distracted.  They started the 2014-2015 season poorly with a 5-5 record following the Danny Ferry scandal and suspension.

The weeklong All Star Game hoopla that surrounded the Hawks players receiving 4 bids to the All-Star Game resulted in a corresponding 3-4 record in and around the ASG break.

This week the arrests of Hawks players, Thabo Sefolosha and Pero Antic, during a New York nightclub incident in which NBA player Chris Copeland was stabbed are looming as a huge distraction as the regular season ends and the NBA playoffs begin.  The Atlanta players were arrested for disorderly conduct, obstruction, and resisting arrest in the early morning hours at a popular nightspot in Manhattan.        

2.  Injuries:  The mid-season loss of Sefolosha for 23 games contributed greatly to the mid-season February swoon that the Hawks experienced.  He came back in late March, but has now been lost for the season after he broke his leg in the late-night altercation mentioned above.     

Sefolosha is important to the Hawks' substitution patterns.  He has the highest defensive rating on the team.  His loss to the rotation will be felt throughout the playoffs, however long the Hawks remain in contention.  He was a huge contributor to the November through January win streak.

3.  Timing and Momentum:  The Hawks may have peaked too soon.  Their impressive 19 game winning streak ended in January. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games.    

4.  Cleveland Cavaliers:  Since January 15th (when their record was 19-20), the newly-crowned Central Division champion Cleveland Cavaliers are 32-7 and boast the league's best offense.  They have clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference.  With a cast of new players, it took the Cavaliers half of the season to find a rhythm and chemistry.  They have it now.  They have LeBron James.    

5.  San Antonio Spurs:  Following early season injuries and a championship "hangover", the defending NBA Champion Spurs are relatively healthy and have won 9 games in a row.  They are in contention for the #2 seed in the Western Conference.   They have Kawhi Leonard, the league's best defender.   

6.  Golden State Warriors:  The Warriors have the NBA's best record this year at 64-15.  They have a 36-2 record at home.  They have the Splash Brothers in the backcourt.

These disturbing trends do not look good for the Atlanta Hawks.  Let's hope I am wrong.

  

LeBron James and the Flow State

During the 2011 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks, I wrote a blogpost about LeBron James suggesting that he was thinking too much:

Peak Performance: The Blog: LeBron Is Not Shrinking From the Stage, He's Think...

Bless his heart, he is doing it again with the Cleveland Cavaliers.  LeBron may be too smart for his own and the team's good. As he works to help build a winning team and a climate of success in his return to Cleveland,  he may be back to thinking too much about his role, his teammates, how to facilitate, how to fit it. Of course those issues are important, but that is the coaches' job.

Right now, LeBron is still the best individual basketball player in the world.  He is best and the team works best when LeBron lets himself be LeBron. He works very hard at his craft.  He is at his best when he lets his extreme mental and physical preparation to what it does best:  let his talent and muscle memory take over during games.  It is his teammates responsibility to also do what they do best to act and react to his lead.

Yes, it will take time to make it all fit fluidly.  This is a different team than the Miami Heat.  Their point guard, Kyrie Irving, is a young, immature, shoot first, point guard.  The team is used to losing. The team will be better in March and April than it is now.

Yes, LeBron is a thoughtful, mature, generous, gracious teammate who want to be patient with his young team.  He is also a force of nature, will, intelligence, preparation and talent.  Only he can unleash that combination and bring himself to that point where purpose and preparation equal peak performance.

At this point in his career, with this team, his most valuable leadership trait is his example as a player. He may make a very good coach in the future, but now, in Cleveland, he must lead by example. He must be willing to create that "flow state" into which all of his teammates can enter. That is what the city of Cleveland wished for. They are waiting. We all are waiting.

The Decision: Did LeBron Do The Right Thing?

“I wanna be a billionaire so fricking bad, buy all of the things I never had!” --Travie McCoy, musician and rapper.

Did it surprise you? I bet, No. Did it disappoint you? I bet, Yes.

Of course, Cleveland wanted him for themselves. So, did all the other teams in the running. Each team wanted a decision that would make their little world better. However, there was more at play here and we knew it, deep in our hearts.

Let's set the stage. After Watergate and Bill Clinton, we wanted someone to step up. We waited to see if George W. Bush was going to do the right thing and show the right leadership "stuff" after 9/11. He didn't take advantage of the tragedy to pull the USA or the world together. He had another chance with Hurricane Katrina and blew it. The Gulf oil spill has been a disappointing opportunity for President Barack Obama to show his mettle. He hasn't. I can keep going but I am sure you can name all the others that have had the opportunity, yet failed to inspire us or show us the way.

So, we weren't waiting for LeBron James to make his decision because he is a basketball player. We weren't really waiting for which of the new teams he was going to play for. We weren't waiting for LeBron to make a good decision. We wanted to see if he was going to make a great decision; a transcendent decision.

Transcendence requires real leadership. We wanted someone to start the process of restoring our faith in ourselves and humanity. We wanted someone to reverse our increasingly understandable cynicism. We were waiting for someone to rise above the mentality of reality TV. We wanted to see what a contemporary role model would do.

Well, LeBron did the exciting thing to do, the new thing, the glamorous thing, maybe even the most financially sound thing. He might have done his "pros" and "cons" analysis and it came up as the "best" thing to do.

Many people consider him a role model and he is, whether he likes it or not. I even heard some people defend his decision as a black man taking what was his. I respect that, too. Some defended it as a carefully thought-out business decision.

I understand that LeBron was tired of chasing the ring with his Cleveland teammates. He felt his biological basketball clock ticking.

In any case, LeBron did what is his individual American prerogative of pursuing life, liberty and happiness. He has the right to choose. You can even say he has earned it. I get that and I don't begrudge him that.

What I would have preferred that LeBron had done (and I defend his right not to) is to model loyalty, and demonstrate and reciprocate affection for a team, a city, a state, and a region that could use a little. I would have preferred him to go old school and stick with one team to the end. He didn't have to and he should do what he wants to do, but I wanted him to be compelled to stay and work for a championship for a team that has tried to surround him with the role players to win.

I wish that he had taken the opportunity to show compassion, value relationships and "connection" over all else. The city of Cleveland embraced him, even without a championship. Cleveland valued his efforts at winning they were willing to keep going.

The worst thing about this is that I hoped that he would return to Cleveland, but I wasn't surprised that he didn't. I know what kind of world we live in and I know that LeBron did not grow up with his father. I also understand that he wanted to be wanted. Everyone wanted him. But, most importantly, I knew that he did not understand, anticipate or care what the consequences of his decision would be. That is the real tragedy. He was oblivious to the aftermath around him.

That is the great disease of our time. What we needed was a decision that made us all a little better.

What did Tiger Woods say after his affairs? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anyone." If you haven't already, I think that you will soon hear that from LeBron. He made a good decision, he didn't make a great decision.

So, there you have it, plain to see. LeBron made a good decision, but he didn't make a transcendent decision. It wasn't in his emotional DNA. Perhaps that is why he doesn't have a ring. Perhaps he will get a ring. But, it won't mean as much. There will be emotional asterisks surrounding it.


Sports, the NBA, basketball, and we all suffer. He could have made us all a little better. I'm disappointed, but I'm not surprised.

The Cleveland Cavaliers Stay Alive in the 2009 NBA Playoffs

"I was attacking anyone in the way, no matter who it was. There's always a sense of urgency when you are on the brink of elimination."

--LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, following a 112 to 102 victory in a must-win game five against the Orlando Magic in the NBA playoffs.

James, in a well-rounded, versatile fashion, had 37 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists.

"The mood is win or go home. It's simple at this point," James, the regular season MVP, said in his pre-game press conference. "I have a lot of faith in my teammates. Hopefully, they accept the challenge."

"Some star players just put their head down and attack the basket. They put blinders on. But he sees the whole floor, he's aware of what's going on out there, and he can pass over defenders. That's what makes him who he is."

--Ben Wallace, Cleveland Cavaliers' center, talking about LeBron James' vision on the court.

"His intensity and his passion are out of this world. We will follow him. When he gets it going, there is nothing you can do."

--Daniel Gibson, Cavaliers' guard, pointing out James' leadership.

"I don't care what the numbers are. I'll never waver from the trust I have in those guys."

--Mike Brown, Cleveland head coach, expressing his trust in the entire team.

The Cavaliers are still down three games to two to the Orlando Magic. They must continue to display teamwork, leadership, and the intensity they had in game 5 to force a game seven, win and advance to the NBA finals.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (May 29, 2009)

For more on peak performance, go to The Handbook of Peak Performance.

Confidence Builder: LeBron James Hits a Game Winner for the Ages

“That’s a shot you’ll see for a long time. We’re confident. I know I am as an individual. I make sure our team is.”

--LeBron James, after winning Game 2 in the NBA playoffs against the Orlando Magic to prevent the Cleveland Cavaliers from going down 0-2 in the conference finals series.

“They are a good team. But we are the best team in basketball. I don’t feel that they’ve had to adjust to us one time in the series.”

“Guarantee we’re going to win the series? Yeah, yeah. We are down 2-1. But there is nobody on this team and definitely not myself that says we are not going to win this series. Yeah, it is going to be tough. We know that. We get this game tomorrow, go home, still got home-court advantage."

--Mo Williams, Cleveland Cavaliers' guard.

Despite the Game 2 heroics, the Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves down 2-1 in the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

LeBron James Keeps the Cleveland Cavaliers In A Zone

"It's unexplainable, honestly. There's only a few guys in this league that can get into a zone like that, and I'm blessed to have the ability to be one of those guys.

"You just feel like you can make pretty much every shot you take."

--LeBron James, after scoring 47 point to help the Cleveland take a commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA playoff series.

James was 15 of 25 from the field and went 5 of 10 on 3-point shots, and made 12 of 16 free throws.

"He's not the MVP for nothing. He's the best player in the league. He knows when to push the gas. That's what he did."

--Zaza Pachulia, Atlanta Hawks' center.

Athletes refer to the state of being in the zone when everything comes together, when one does great things, and when mind and body are able to stretch to the limit to accomplish greatness. This state involves total immersion and focus, such that distractions and "noise" are absent. Often, at times of peak performance, athletes find themselves "in the zone." For basketball players the basket seems bigger and wider. They can't miss. For baseball players, they report being able to see the baseball bigger, more clearly and in great detail. Football players describe a feeling of being invincible with the ability to run all day through their opponents without being touched. In the zone, your confidence is high, worry is non-existent.

Flow is the term coined by University of Chicago Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, (1990) to refer to this psychological dimension described by thousands of individuals during his 25 years of researching this universal phenomenon. In sports, athletes often refer to this state as the "zone". Eastern philosophers experience similar meditative states when practicing Zen Buddhism.

During flow, consciousness becomes harmoniously ordered. According to Daniel Goleman (1995), author of Emotional Intelligence, the ability to enter a state of flow represents emotional intelligence at its best, because it is incompatible with emotional discord or strain. Flow is considered an autotelic, or intrinsically rewarding experience. Since it feels so good, this optimal experience becomes not just a means, but an end in itself.

People attain a state of flow and perform at their best when they are engaged in a task where the challenge is slightly above their ability. Too much challenge will produce anxiety, overload the psyche, and sabotage any chance of having a peak experience. On the other hand, too little challenge will inevitably lead to boredom. Flow occurs in the narrow zone between these two opposites.

For more on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, go to LeBron James, Peak Performance Case Study.

LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers Charge into the Playoffs

"We're just a really good team. We're really confident and we believe in each other.

"We're ready for anything. We don't go into a game saying, 'win by 20' or 'win by double digits.' We go into a game to execute and take one possession at a time and try to get better. If that causes us to win by 20 or causes us to win by two, we're ready for that challenge.''

--LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, after a 105-85 win over the Atlanta Hawks to take a 2-0 lead in the 2009 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs.

Now a perfect 6-0 in the 2009 NBA postseason, the Cavaliers tied a league record by winning their sixth consecutive playoff game by double digits. The only other team to do it was the 2004 Indiana Pacers. Cleveland also matched the 1986 Los Angeles Lakers by winning three straight games by at least 20 points in a postseason.

After 6 games, James’ playoff averages are 31.5 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game.

Excerpts from ESPN.com (May 8. 2009)

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