Re: Bulls Toy With Celts: Chicago 111-Boston 88

[Kim Malo <kmalo19@idt.net>]

At 11:04 AM 3/24/98 GMT, Bill Cooper wrote:

<snip>
>Coaching:  You can't help but contrast the effort the Celts displayed
>tonight, with what they've done earlier against the Bulls this season
>(I think that the Bulls played better tonight than they were earlier
>in the season).  The Bulls beat the Celts in all of the hustle
>categories, and got too many more loose balls.  And the 
>Bulls didn't seem to be taking things to seriously.  You really have
>to question whether this team can put out the same level of effort
>that hey did earlier in the season.  They look tired, and their
>schedule down the stretch, isn't going to help.

Yeah, I think it's become increasingly apparent that guys are wearing down.
Even with relatively limited minuted per game for all but Walker, they're
still almost all effective rookies playing a lot more than they ever have.
Add in the effort Pitino's system requires to begin with -in practice as
well as in the games- and there you are. 

At the same time, they aren't catching teams off guard anymore. A really
really key factor in reying to ficure out why they made more mistakes and
won a few months ago, but make less mistakes and lose now. Wonderful as that
first win against the Bulls was, a good chunk of why we got it was because
the Bulls weren't ready to deal with us then, physically or mentally. Does
the fact that they aren't surprising anyone anymore, and losing, mean they
have to give up on what they're doing, the oft-repeated 'you can't play that
way in the pros for a full season'? Nope, just means that have to improve
the execution, because they no longer have the benefit of surprise to make
up for lapses. Not likely to happen this season, given how far along it is
and adding in the injuries, rookie walls, personnel limitations, etc. But a
new surprise to work on handing the league for next year --showing that
improved execution can make this system work even better and this year's
successes weren't such flukes.

-Kim
Kim Malo
kmalo19@idt.net