Comments on this weekend's games

[jmc@ptc.com (Jonathan McIntyre)]

This weekend's games showed why the Celtics' needs most of this year 
have been a point guard and a legitamate center.  

Anderson made a huge difference in the Celtics' offense in both games, 
especially in Seattle.  The Celtics hit for a high percentage in Seattle, 
and got off to a high shooting percentage early against Portland.  

Dana Barros got injured with less than a minute left in the Seattle game 
as Pitino had the Celtics pressuring the inbounds pass, when the game 
was pretty much out of reach already.  It seemed like a poor strategy, 
as Seattle was able to get some quick scores off of the pressure, and the 
increased risk of injury came back to bite the Celtics, as Barros was out 
for the entire Portland game, and they could have used his shooting, and 
the extra relief for Anderson and Edney and other guards in terms of stamina, 
especially on the last game of a long road trip. 

But having Barros probably wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome in
Portland, as it was the center position where the C's were really
overmatched.  Sabonis was awesome.  No one could stop him... Ellison,
Declerq, Knight, they were all helpless against him.  He moves slowly, but
very efficiently, and protects the ball well, and shoots well close to the
basket.  He had 7 assists, too, and kept killing the C's with his
behind-the-back passes from the post to a teammate cutting through the lane.
He's a real smart player.  Once he even dribbled from the backcourt and when
no one picked him up he drove all the way for a layup, like a point gaurd.  I
don't think anyone on the C's had the guts to get in front of him.

That's the missing piece right now for the C's.  All they need is a legitamite 
center, and some experience learning under Pitino.  Antoine could learn a few 
lessons about passing from Anderson, too.  Walker finally decided to make a 
bounce pass up to Mercer on the break last night instead of taking it himself, 
and bounced it 10 feet in front of Mercer and out of bounds. 

Jon Mc