To give the players a fighting chance, he went back to basics. Rather than his usual pressing and fast breaking, Allen ran a simple motion offense and relied on a 2 1 2 zoneD most of the time. He told his lumbering center, Big Mel, to not even cross half court; otherwise he'd never get back on defense. None of it mattered. The losses piled up. At night Allen sometimes pulled over to the side of the road and wept. He wondered how he would make it through a whole season. Then again, he'd come through worse.