RE: RP show - December 6, 1999

["Sampath, Venkatesh" <Venkatesh.Sampath@microcell.ca>]

Thanks, Alex, for the highly informative post. Glad to see that the players' shots are being broken down into shots, drive-ups, etc. - this amounts to R&D on an impressive scale! Hope that this will produce results before long. From Bill Cooper's posts and the e-mails posted to this group, it seems to me that the Celtics are suffering from the mental hump of not being able to finish games - lack of the "killer-instinct" that all championship-bound teams have to possess in order to win close games on a consistent basis. 
I saw the Toronto-San Antonio game last night (my first full NBA game on TV this season) and came away impressed with the combination of veterans and young guns that Toronto has (they won 98-92). It makes me wonder how we managed to get them the first time round. Both Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley were able to provide the leadership required (by way of defensive stops) when it looked like San Antonio would come storming back and win the game inspite of Vince Carter's and Tracy McGrady's scoring capabilities. Toronto has the mental toughness that Boston lacks - and one of the reasons it does have toughness is the presence of veterans on the floor who are capable of stepping up when it matters - the last minutes of the 4th quarter. 
Mental toughness is a funny thing. As a rookie, nobody expects you to do anything, so you just go flat out and play to whatever extent your talent allows you to. All of a sudden, you find yourself beating a team with a name and then you start thinking - "Wow, am I really beating this star? Can I keep my level of intensity up to the end? etc." - and that's when the bubble gets pricked. Your play falls off and you wind up losing a game which, by all counts, you should have won comfortably. This is where veteran presence is critical and the only half-way decent one we have is Kenny Andersen. Is it a co-incidence that we've won most matches where Andersen has stepped up in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter? 
I must, admit, though, that I'm a little disappointed in Walker. He has to step up and play the big-name teams (like he did during his rookie year). He has to provide leadership and focus - in other words, he has to show, by personal example, that the killer instinct in him is alive and kicking (pun intended). However, I guess it is hard to find the motivation required when you are so young (23) and are being paid millions of dollars just to put a ball through a basket (in the words of the eloquent Charles Barkley). The *hunger* to win may probably not surface for some more time yet. In the meanwhile, we'll go through more agonising losses like the ones against Chicago (ugh!) and Philly. 
Still, I'm far from having given up on Walker (or anyone else on the team for that matter). Consistency is not something you develop on an overnight basis - it requires personal discipline and that is a quality *you* decide to go out and acquire - no coach can drill it into you (though the coach can certainly preach it). 


venkat 

-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Wang [mailto:awang@mit.edu]
Sent: 06 December 1999 01:13
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: RP show - December 6, 1999


This week's Rick Pitino show was really excellent, actually. I think
the six days off may have helped. I'll dig up my notes for the past
two weeks and send summaries of those too.


3. He needs fourth-quarter leadership on the defensive end. Teams like
Miami and San Antonio have Mourning and Duncan who step up on defense
in the fourth quarter to shut the other team down. The Celtics need
to do it as a team.



5. Coaches' clinic was on stats. He gave a small example of the level
of detail that the coaching staff breaks down stats; on the individual
level he focused on field goal percentage. He broke down each player's
shots into drives, post-ups, and "other" shots - these may have only
been inside shots. Anyways, Walker was 39% on drives, 42% on post-ups,
67% on "other" which includes fast breaks, offensive rebounds, etc.
This shows that the staff has to work with Walker on finishing his moves.
Williams was 4/13 on drives because he tends to turn his back to the 
basket on drives. Pierce was a poor 8/27 on post-ups because he never
had to develop a post-up game before, but 74% on "other". Griffin was
0/8 in the post, 21/27 on others. Potapenko was 38% on post-ups. You
get the impression that nobody on the Celtics can score on a post-up.

He then examined outside shots, breaking down to 3 pointers, 17
footers out to three point range, and 5 to 17 footers. Walker, though
he was a respectable 18-51 on threes, was 1-10 on 17+ footers and 4-17
on 5 to 17 footers, which confirms what we've all talked about with
his complete lack of a midrange game. But going down the line, almost
every player shot better from three point range than on the midrange
jumpers. I don't think this was as obvious. So the staff, in practice,
works with the players on these midrange jumpers.

Alex