Re: woohoo!! we won!!!!!!!

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

Cecil Wright said:
> I think Billups also had 9 assists.  Once near the end of the game, he shook
> his man, penetrated, and drew a foul.  Cooz mentioned again that Chauncy
> left his feet too soon.  On this particular play and at that late stage of
> the game, points were obviously going to be earned at the line.  Billups
> sank 2 and Cooz said "good job".
> 
> Is anyone else noticing these hypocritic moments?  Would he be happier if
> Billups mastered the set shot?

I remember that play and Billups DID leave his feet too soon.  He was coming 
down the lane and jumped right after he bassed the free throw line.  If he 
had one more dribble and step he could have taken a much more balanced shot 
and got the basket and the foul for a 3 point play.  Instead he took an 
off-balance shot as he had to turn in mid-air to prepare for the hard contact 
with a Clipper defender standing under the basket, who got called for the 
foul.  Billups could have been called for a charge on that play.  

What Cousy meant by "good job" was that Chauncy was at least taking it 
to the hoop and drawing the foul, which as we know the Celtics as a team 
haven't been doing enough of lately (or at all this season, but especially 
bad lately), so the play was both good and bad:  he had the right idea, 
but could have executed it better. 

I do get tired of Cousy's pessimism sometimes, but I think that most of the 
time when he mentions Chauncy leaving his feet, he's absolutely right.  After 
one pass by Chauncy underneath the basket to Mercer last night, Cousy said 
Chauncy did the right thing by going in the air that time.  It allowed him 
to draw the defender to him and get the pass over to Mercer, and you could 
tell he had the pass in mind when he went up, since it was all one
quick smooth motion.  Chauncey hasn't been going up in the air without a plan 
in mind as much lately, but he still is very out-of-control when he drives 
toward the basket.  Billups and Walker could learn a thing or two from 
the likes of Mercer and Declerq about getting their balance before they 
put up a shot.  

Knight could also improve his shot choices.  Too often I see the Celtic 
big men, Knight especially, put up a bank shot from 1 or 2 feet from the 
basket when there's no one blocking them and they could just DUNK the 
thing!  It's so damn frustrating to watch!  I think they're too afraid 
someone will come from behind and block them.  

And while I'm griping, where did the Celtics' energy and motivation go in 
the second half of the Utah game?  They just stopped pushing the ball up 
the floor, and stopped trying to take it inside until the last minute of 
the game.  It was like they gave up on winning the game when they still had 
an 8 point lead!  With the phantom technical call on Walker and the 5 illegal 
defense calls and all those phantom fouls that Malone draws, I would have 
been hopping mad and directing the energy from my anger into an agressive 
style of offense.  I think Pitino's timeouts were sometimes ill-advised. 
When the crowd starts getting into it, a timeout is good, but when the crowd 
has been into it a while and your guys are getting disrespected by the other 
team and the officials and you sense they're getting pumped up to fight back, 
you don't call a timeout and allow the emotion to dissipate.  Sometimes you 
have to recognize the energy is about to flow back your way, and just let 
them play, but Pitino's second timeout during Utah's 3rd quarter run prevented
that, in my opinion.  I'm sure he had important things to teach or say, but 
sometimes energy and motivation derived from the heat of the battle is more 
effective than any strategy you can devise. 

And while I'm on a roll, why the heck don't the Celtics tell their big 
men to just foul Malone hard every time he gets the ball down low?  The 
officials are going to call a foul on you if you even breathe on Malone's 
neck when he gets the ball in the low post, so you might as well get your 
money's worth and try to wear the man down and make him a little more 
hesitant to take it in strong.  You've got Knight, Declerq and Thomas to 
spread the fouls around.  Use them! 

Whew!  That's a load off my chest!  Thanks for being there to listen, folks.
That was very therapeutic!  :-)
 
Jon