Re: Pitino's Final Play

[David A Wickerham <aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu>]

Not true.  First, the last play occurred as a result of a missed Houston
Free Throw, not a turnover.  Pitino called the time and designed a play
for the far side of the court (away from the bench).  The referees tried
to force Adrian to take the ball out on the near side, but after a brief
argument by Pitino, they allowed Adrian to move to the far side as
diagrammed by Pitino.  That is when VanGundy called his last time out.  As
far as the final play goes, Pitino says that the designed play had 5
options, none of which involved an inbound pass to Walker behind the 3
point line on the other side of the court.  Adrian seemed to be
dangerously close to a 5 count, and I think the Celts paniced in the face
of a good Knick defense.  

I'm not too concerned at the last play.  The Celtics were lucky to have
that opportunity in light of the way they played after the 1st quarter

****dave


On Mon, 13 Dec 1999, Dan Forant wrote:

> After the Knick's last turnover the Celts called time out. Pitino called
> for a play on the wrong side of the court from where they were actually
> going to take it out from. He lost track of things evidently. Luckily,
> VanGundy did the Celts a favor by calling another time out, therefore
> allowing Pitino to right a wrong. As it turned out after Walker botched the
> inlet, we would have been better off with a broken play, it may have worked.
> 
> 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
	  Dave Wickerham
	  aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu
	  Saratoga Springs, NY