Re: Oh No! Not Again!: Philadelphia 127- Boston 125

[markp@edu15.coe.ufl.edu (Mark Piotrowski)]

Bill,
Thanks for the great recap.  I was at this game 13 rows up across the court
from the C's bench and would like to add a few observations.

1.  You didn't mention Iverson.  He is the real deal!  From what little I
saw of him on TV, I thought maybe he was overated but he is a great
individual player; He made at least 5-7 plays that got bigger "oohs" from
the crowd than any Celtic.  With that said  I agree that Wes outplayed him.
Like I said Iverson is a terrific individual player, but until he learns
how to (or the coach designs the offense) to involve other people he'll be
just another flashy star on a crappy team (a la Stackhouse)--while Wes
ALWAYS looks for others first and takes it himself when there is an opening
(I don't remember Wes taking any shots during the last 2 games--both of
which I've been at--that I would consider forcing it.  A lot of times other
players were just standing around waiting for Iverson to stop fooling
around with the ball.

2. You're right about Dee.  He had success driving on Walters.  What kills
me about Dee is that even with his knee surgery, he can still blow by about
85% of the people guarding him.  Instead he sits around and launches jump
shots (is he trying to out do Todd Day?).  He could have easily had another
8 points on 4 fewer shots had he drove consistently (he did the same thing
against Washington and in most other games--jump shots, not drives).
UGHHHH!!!

3. I think you went a little easy on M.L. by saying he got outcoached
tonight. He was awful.  One he didn't match the 3 guard lineup like you
said (I don't remember seeing Day on Stackhouse which would have made
sense).  Two, with the Celtics cutting the lead to 2 in the final minute
Antoine was sitting on the bench and Marty C. was in.  Is Antoine gonna be
a player or not?  Players are made in crunch time, with the ball, with the
game on the line or at least trying to make something happen.  What kind of
message are you sending if Marty Conlon is on the floor and our
star-of-the-future (who hadn't played poorly) is riding the pine?
        The bigger problem is that ML lost the game in overtime.  First,
Eric W. gets his 5th foul with about 2 mins left in OT and ML puts in
Marty.  Fine, but he never put Eric back in!  Does ML just not realize that
all players start the next game with 0 fouls? Does ML have Marty on his
rotisserie basketball team and he was trying to pad his stats?  Who the
hell knows.  There were at least 3 opportunities to reinsert Eric after he
put Marty in (at first it looked like Marty might just come in for the free
throw rebound).  So what?  Well Marty ends up taking a 20 footer on our
second to last posession that maybe he can make in the normal flow of the
game, but not in the pressure of OT.  I would rather Eric take that shot or
better yet drive and get a foul in that situation every time--especially
since Eric had about 24 points at that point and was playing as well as any
of the C's frontline players.
        Then (and this is as much Dee's fault as ML's) the C's get the ball
back with 9 seconds left and the ball ends up way out by the 3 pt. line and
Dee chucks up a off-balance 3 pointer (we were down by 2) with 3 seconds
left.  Is that the best we could do?  I can't remember but It seemed like
we had just come out of a time out and I would hope ML (or DJ or KC could
jump in) draw upa better play than an off balance 3.
        I was so angry at the end of overtime at ML that I didn't care that
we lost.  We should have won this game!

And another thing (this will be the last thing about our "coach").  Maybe
if he payed a little more attention to the game and spent a little less
time fooling around we would be a little better.  At the Washington game
(and a game with Washington last year that I was at) Juwon Howard was
laughing at ML b/c of his antics. Not with him, AT him b/c he was acting
like such a bafoon. Who was the last coach since Frank Layden that opposing
players LAUGHED AT?  Then he spent the better part of the first half jawing
at Iverson.  I understand trying to psyche a rookie out but let someone
else do that, concentrate on the game ML! This also sets a tone.  Kruester
and DJ came out of the locker room laughing and ML was chatting with some
woman at the press table.  WE WERE DOWN BY 7 OR SO!  Why is everyone so
happy?  This isn't public relations ML, THIS IS THE NBA!!!!

(Sometimes it looks like KC is just embarassed; maybe I'm reading into
that, but if I were a class coach like he is, I would be).

I didn't see Walker and Wes yelling at each other, but I did see Wes pissed
at Dee b/c Dee wasn't staying in the sixers 1/2 of the court for Iverson's
last free throw in regulation.  Dee wanted to cherry pick near 1/2 court
(and maybe get the glory) and Wes wanted the C's to have 5 vs. 3 on the
boards (and maybe get the win).  Shows you the different mindset of Dee and
Wes.

FInally, when I was riding the T home, I heard that Stackhouse and Walters
got into a shoving match on the sixers bench. Sometimes it looks like
Stackhouse just want's to get into a fight (remember that barnburner with
Hornacek last year?).  Its a shame b/c he really is talented, but he (and
most of the sixers) don't have much discipline; that's probably why they
have a worse record than the C's.

That the C's were a rebound (washington) and good 2 pt shot (philadelphia)
away from a 2 game win streak, says something about (a) that ML can and
does motivate his players to scrap throughout the game and (b) that
Washington and Philadelphia are undisciplined, lazy teams (granted w/ some
injuries, but so do the C's).  Washington has 3 all stars, Philadelphia 1 +
two really good players in Stackhouse and Weatherspoon, and both almost
lost to the C's who have a really good player (Wes) a talented rookie and
some role players.  Both (W & P) should be much better than either of their
records indicate.

thanks for listening,
mark