Re: Hawks Knock off Celts: Atlanta

[rplebeau@MIT.EDU]

First an addendum:
>Walker dribbled the ball of his foot and lost control.  Rick Fox tried
>to call timeout (illegally since the Celts were out of them), but the
>refs just ignored him (they should have called a technical, I think).
>D.J. and Fox argued for a couple of minutes with the refs (over what I
>can't imagine)

Both the Herald and Globe summaries of the of the game appear to accept
(if not explicitly confirm) that the Celtics did have their 20-sec 
timeout left at that juncture, and in fact the argument was over
whether Walker had possession of the ball (one of the banes of the
NBA is the use of timeouts in these situations). After the game,
ML made veiled comments about filing a protest over "a couple of
things." 

Now a comment:
>=46ox- Shot the ball well, but had a very quiet night otherwise.  6-11
>from the field for 14 [points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and a
>turnover in 34 minutes.  Fox has done a good job of cutting his
>turnovers down with 13 over the last 8 games, but his assist
>production is way down also with 21 over the same span.

I think with the decision to go with Walker-Williams-Fox as the
primary frontline that Fox's role has changed, leading to his
higher scoring output as well as his lower assist totals. Ignoring
the Philadelphia disaster, Fox has clearly been looking to be
a scorer in the half-court set - from outside the arc, on that
12 ft. bank shot from the side, and as a cutter into the lane. 
Before, the half-court set often had Fox making the entry pass
or hitting the cutter; now, Fox seems to be on the receiving end
with more frequency. This also ties into the decline in turnovers,
although having Fox play against more small forwards (as opposed to
off-guards) probably hasn't hurt either. Additionally, I think Fox is 
aiming to establish  himself more aggressively on defense than ever - 
last night's halftime stats showed that he is now #6 in the league in 
steals/game, and he has had some sparkling defensive performances 
lately (his performance versus Juwan Howard was outstanding). 

Meanwhile, Walker is being given the chance to handle the ball with
far greater frequency in this arrangement - it may wear him down
to be matched up against the opposing center game-after-game, but
the increased playing time has clearly been a plus. Now for one more
healthy body so that the primary foursome of the 3 W's and Fox can
get a little more bench time and maybe be able to apply solid 
pressure defense in back-to-back games.

- -rpl