Watch this video where Bruce Lee talks about “balance”.
I think this general principle applies not just to life, but sports as well. People will throw out cliches like “Defense wins championships” or “stars win titles”, but the facts are if you look at almost every single championship team in history of any sport they had a little bit of everything. They were always solid in all phases of the game.
Even if that just meant getting hot in a phase of the game at the right time (see: 2006 Colts Defense and Running Game).
When you are totally dependent on one phase the chances you are going to win championships are low and I believe that is what Charles Barkley means when he said this about the New York Knicks.
“I can already read the headlines – ‘Barkley bashes D’Antoni,'” Barkley, now a TNT analyst, said before Thursday night’s game. “I do not think (the Knicks) can win with that system. I saw it in Phoenix. And let me tell you something, they had a lot more talent in Phoenix. A lot more. Let me just tell you this – the three most critical areas of the game are defense, rebounding and turnovers. That’s one of the fundamental flaws of that system. It’s like the pretty girl you go out with, then you realize she ain’t got no brains. It’s not going to end pretty.”
The NBA Playoffs are long drawn out series, you have to be able to play some lock down defense at some point. Even if you are the greatest offensive team of all time, you have to stop the other team from putting the ball in the basket.
Also you have to have a half court offensive plan if your fast break offense is shut down.
These aren’t new critisms of D’Antoni’s system, they only way he can prove people wrong is to win a title.