re:Pitino in Del Appa column

[opi@unesco.org]

Excerpts from Frank Dell'Apa's Globe article:


The Celtics' film and practice session yesterday lasted three hours in
preparation for Miami.

''They run their offense for [3-pointers],'' Pitino said. ''They
penetrate and either get a layup or a three. When we break down the
film, what strikes us, aside from the fact that they are an excellent
team, is the threes. This [Celtics] team has a great attitude and we are
working very hard, but we've got to improve our man defense. I would
like to be better than .500 right now but we have a chance to have a
very good December.''

"the most important thing we have to work on is our man-to-man defense.
Our field goal percentage defense is 47 percent, even though we are not
pressing, and we have to make that stat better. We are pressing less
than 10 percent of the time and before you press you have to be a good
man-to-man defensive team.''

''When you are a young team, it's not physical fatigue, it's mental
fatigue,'' Pitino said. ''A veteran team realizes that the fourth
quarter is played differently in the NBA.''

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