"As long as our Three-point Touch is there, there isn't a team in the league that can beat us. So I want all of you to shoot threes with confidence. If you get a chance, take it. Don't be afraid of taking responsibility, and don't hesitate. If it goes in, you get the credit. If it doesn't, I'll take the blame!"
Rondo had practically shouted those last few words.
Every Pelicans player was fired up by what he'd said.
They roared in unison, "We will win!"
The coach had put it that plainly. If they still didn't dare shoot, wouldn't that make them cowards?
Seeing the fiery looks in the players' eyes, Rondo felt quietly pleased.
For a shooter, nothing was worse than lacking confidence.
For a shooter, confidence was everything.
No matter what, you couldn't lose it.
Once you lost confidence, you'd keep missing more and more. The more you missed, the less confident you became—a vicious cycle.
The reverse was true, too.
The more confident you were, the higher your percentage. And the higher your percentage, the more confident you became.
Getting these guys' confidence fired up was the biggest victory of all.
Meanwhile, Kings head coach De'Anthony was thinking about what to do next.
"Zion's been shut down, so they'll definitely look for opportunities from the perimeter. Our perimeter defenders are going to be under a lot of pressure."
"But we have to hold up. Even if it means fouling, we can't let them take threes uncontested. If they find their touch, there won't be a team in the league that can beat the Pelicans."
This season, the Pelicans had already buried their opponents under a barrage of threes many times.
Once their group of Three-point Shooters got hot, it hardly mattered how good your tactics were,