Re: Last night's game

["Greg Odegaard" <gmodegaa@longvred.rmc.com>]

Excellent insight as usual from Jonathan.  I almost felt I was there.  		

Regarding Bowen, I have to note that I was a major detractor in his
original signing, with the gauranteed contract.  I couldn't be more happy
to be wrong about a player in many years.  About as wrong as I was about
being happy about a young "stud" (or should I say dud) by the name of Alaa
Albdenaby.  Being in Portland I remember the excitement he brought to the
Blazers for a short while, and when he arrived in Boston I thought the C's
had really picked up a find.  Instead they picked up a problem, who really
liked hanging out with the "Chief".  Too bad.

My concern is that Bowens contract will come due (was it a 1 or 2 year
deal?), and he will move on somewhere else to make the big FA dollars.  My
hope is that we can keep him active and happy (so far so good), and
convince him to hang on for the big bucks, kind of like Rex Chapman has
been courted with Phoenix.

How did this guy slip through the system into our hands?  It must be a
combination of strong scouting and quick skills development in the right
system.  What a find!

Greg

----------
> From: Jonathan McIntyre <jmc@ptc.com>
> To: celtics@igtc.COM
> Cc: jmc@ptc.com
> Subject: Last night's game
> Date: Tuesday, December 16, 1997 9:17 AM
> 
> Ron Mercer may be getting the headlines for scoring 20 points, but 
> Bruce Bowen gets the game ball, in my opinion.  He was everywhere, 
> doing everything, during the Celtics run in the 3rd quarter that 
> opened up the game.  After DeClerq made a nice block to get things 
> started, Bruce came up with a steal, then ran the break to perfection, 
> feeding Tyus Edney on the wing for what would have been a layup if not 
> for the intentional foul to prevent it, then the very next play Bowen 
> blocked a shot and made a nice assist to Walker on the other end.  
> Then he scrapped for rebounds and scored.  He had a lot of offensive 
> rebound putbacks, and took good, high percentage shots.  He sparked the
> run that got the Celtics their double-digit lead.
> 
> He's the least flashy, but most fundamentally sound player on the team, 
> and he's going to be the most underpaid, in my opinion. 
> 
> My favorite play of the game didn't involve him, though.  Philadelphia 
> had just inbounded the ball to Montross, who was trying to get the ball 
> over to his teammate 10 feet to his right.  Everyone else was up the 
> court except McCarty, standing between the two 76ers, pestering Montross 
> until he fumbled the ball and McCarty lunged to pick it up, but he was 
> standing there with 2 tall guys ready to block anything.  Tyus Edney was 
> the first upfloor, and McCarty did a shovel pass under Montross to get it

> to him on the right side... but Edney would have had his shot blocked, so

> he did an immediate wraparound shovel pass around the twin towers's
> backs to Mercer coming up the left side.  Mercer saw Montross' hand in
> his face, adjusted in mid-air and did a reverse layup... and the crowd
> goes WILD!!!
> 
> Jon Mc