RE: RP show - December 6, 1999

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

Perhaps I am guilty of trying to generalise on the basis of the one game I saw - I admit that. But I DID see mental toughness in Toronto's game against San Antonio and I am attributing that fact to the presence of veterans (Antonio Davis and Charles Oakley) on their team, not to Vince Carter scoring 39 points. In fact, it was the defensive stops by Davis and Oakley that gave Toronto their win last night, not the scoring by Carter and McGrady - impressive as it might have been (especially some Jordanesque moves by Carter). 
The Admiral left the game for all of two minutes - he was struck on the neck by Davis when both went for a rebound. In fact, that was when Dee Brown stole the ball from Duncan (who was looking over at the Admiral clutching his neck) and gave it to McGrady who dunked and generally acted as if he had planned all of this from the beginning!
In their previous game against Washington, Toronto blew a 17-point lead and was down by 6 points before coming back to win on Dee Brown's 3-pointer as the clock was ticking away. So they haven't exactly been pushovers either. 

In any case, I haven't give up on the Celtics (I never will) or Pitino or Walker, for that matter. However, I AM concerned that Walker has not shown signs of building that mental toughness and taking the game to the opponents (which he was able to do during his rookie year). I do appreciate the fact that the Celtics are at .500, but being the eternal perfectionist, feel that they could so easily have been at 10-6 or even 12-4!  
     
venkat

-----Original Message-----
From: Cecil Wright [mailto:cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca]
Sent: 06 December 1999 16:40
To: Sampath, Venkatesh; 'Alex Wang'; celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: RP show - December 6, 1999


I also watched the Toronto-Spurs game.  I've had the opportunity to watch
several of their games now and I do NOT share your assessment of the
Raptors.  You're talking mental toughness and Carter had a career day
against them with 39 points, scoring 40% of their total.  Not to mention
that the Admiral sat a spell as a result of an injury.

They have 6 losses, while we have 8.  Granted they have a couple big wins
over LA and Miami, but their losses have been just as ugly as ours.

L - #1 - 13 pt loss to the C's where we shot 52% and they committed 17
turnovers
L - #2 - 3 pt loss to the 76ers where the Raps shot 37% and committed 18
turnovers
L - #3 - 9 pt loss to the Wiz.  Raps shot 33% with 16 turnovers
L - #4 - 1 pt loss to the Suns.  Christie clanked 2 free throws with 5.1
secs and Lafrentz had 18 rebs
L - #5 - 25 pt loss to Denver, despite Mercer shooting 6/20.  Raps had 23
turnovers
L - #6 - 18 pt loss to the Hawks.  Raps shot 38% while Atlanta shot 54%.

I'm not sayiing the Raptors stink out loud, but they are not the mentally
tough team which you thought you saw on all occasions.  They also suffer
from a case of nerves e.g. Christie bricking 2 freebies for the win.

Pitino is doing a good job.  8-8, though we could be 10-6, without Fortson,
is not reason to abandon ship.  The C's will improve.

Cecil

----- Original Message -----
From: Sampath, Venkatesh <Venkatesh.Sampath@microcell.ca>
To: 'Alex Wang' <awang@mit.edu>; <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, December 06, 1999 11:59 AM
Subject: RE: RP show - December 6, 1999


> 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
>