Mildly Optimistic

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

Hi all. My email and Net access were down all day yesterday, so I was unable
to get my Celtics fix. It was a pretty ugly sight, actually, not unlike being
in a methadone clinic.

I just wanted to say that despite last night's loss, I've been pleased with
the last four games. The Philly road win was huge, and even though it's sad we
barely beat a team that was playing without its starting backcourt and MVP,
any road win is a good win for this young team. Playing Indiana always seems
to bring out the best in us, and there is no shame in losing a close-fought
game to one of the league's best veteran teams. The Charlotte victory was
sweet, especially considering that the current edition of the Bugs is much
better than the one that spanked us earlier this month and sparked our
tailspin. And even though I was disappointed we lost to Detroit at home, the
Pistons are certainly a playoff-caliber team, and I don't think the Celtics
played too badly, at least the stahters. Other than Walker returning to his
33% shooting, the rest of the guys played well -- the problem was, nobody on
the bench could contribute anything.

Is it just me, or does our performance over the last four games coincide with
Paul Pierce's renaissance? It's amazing how much his play affects our overall
game. Walker, Kenny and Ron all have done a better job of playing within
themselves, hoisting up fewer bad shots, etc. If the problem against the
Pistons was that we were passing too much, I'll take that vs. the alternative,
which we've seen all too often. The rest of the season will continue to be an
adventure, but if we can perform as we have the past week and not as we did
the week before (the Minny/Cleveland/Chicago drubbings), we should have a
decent chance of splitting our remaining games, esp. with the home-friendly schedule.

I'll be in Joe H's stomping grounds the next few days, so I'll have to bring
my methadone along (or else try to dig up the International Herald Tribune for
box scores). I  hope to meet our list's poet laureate and his missus (BTW,
Joe, congrats on the baby-on-the-way!).

One last note: does anybody besides me wonder just why the hell any newspaper
in the world gives "Jersery Red" any ink?? The man sounds like he's suffered a
debilitating aneurysm.