Re: Heat Pile on Celts: Miami 103- Boston 83

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

On Thu, 30 Jan 1997 10:32:40 -0500 (EST), Adam wrote:

>Bill, good commentsas usual, but I don't understand how the Celtics =
could
>have rested Wesley much more than they did.  Not only is he the only =
point
>guard on the team right now, last night he was the only active full time
>guard.  Day does well at the two, but is a swing man (at least in ML's
>system).  Although Day makes some nice passes, bringing the ball up the
>court is not one of his strong points.  After that you have Fox and then
>either Antoine Walker or Eric Williams (all of which were already in the
>starting line-up).  The Celtics roster last night was a point guard, a =
big
>two guard, three forwards and two back up centers - while they were
>playing against one of the better ball hawking point guards.

I certainly agree that the C's would have been less effective if
Wesley had played fewer minutes.  But I don't think it made any
difference to their chances of winning the game (which by the 4th
quarter were clearly nil).  What would M.L. have done if it were
Wesley with the sprained ankle and not Conlon?  Do you think that
Marty would have played 42 minutes?
     The point is that M.L. already crossed this bridge months (if not
years) ago, when he decided not to keep a second ballhandler on the
team.  He must feel that Szabo is more valuable to the team than a
back up point guard, and he's chosen to run a significant risk of
having to play a game (or more) without any kind of point guard at
all.  If he's willing to do that, I can't see why he couldn't go
without playing Wesley in the 4th quarter of a game which the Celts
weren't going to compete in anyway.

>Not playing Wesley at all might have been interesting, because they =
would
>have to forfeit if Wesley didn't dress (you need 8 players (even though
>the Celts really only had 7).  Maybe by forfeiting they would get the
>league to act and grant the Celtics another injured reserve slot so they
>can get some healthy bodies on the floor.

Do you know if there's any chance of this happening (the league giving
the Celts another IR slot, not forfeiting)?  Maybe that's why M.L. is
determined not to release any of the currently signed ballplayers.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com