Last Game/Next Game theory. In basketball, if I thought we
had an insurmountable lead toward the end of a game where we had beaten a
pretty good team, I’d pull our five starters and-while that game was still
being played out and those starters were on the bench-I’d be talking to those
five about the next game: getting them thinking about who they are going to
guard, about what we were going to be facing, getting them over this game. I
didn’t want them gloating about how well we played in a game that was almost
over.
The mark of success, or failure, in handling victory is
what happens the next time out.
Coaches tell me all the time, “You don’t enjoy the wins
like you suffer the losses,” and there’s a lot of truth to that. You lose, the
next day you can’t put it away, you win and it’s usually easy because you’re
worried about the next one.
That’s the true mark of a champion -- forgetting the last
victory and preparing for the next one.
