Re: Game

[opi@unesco.org]

Jim Hill wrote:

> (...) my response:
>
> To compare Griffin's stat's of one game to Walker's stat's for one game is
> silly.  Were Griffin's shots ill-advised or did he just miss?  I haven't heard
> any complaints about Walker "missing" good shots, just taking ill-advised
> shots and a perceived lack of effort.

Don't forget the "good" shots he's been missing. That's why Pitino said Toine should
stay in a gym shooting until he gets himself out of this particular slump, if he
wants to continue being a shooter. Bill Cooper's reports also mention the number of
makeable shots he takes but misses in the course of games. Not that he would, but
Pitino has nor mentioned ill-advised shots or lack of effort.

> If you think commitment to working hard to achieve success is "80's" thinking,
> or that it isn't required in the new millenium, I feel sorry for you.
>
> I also didn't read any comments bashing Walker for this last game, so I don't
> know what your referring to.  However Walker didn't keep us in this game, we
> were never in it to begin with.

According to Bill Cooper's summary, we were down by just four points after 3Qs, but
started the final quarter with Griffin and four bench players and the lead quickly
jumped into double digits, where it pretty much stayed. Again, though, this is one
game....just as Griffin rare game shooting less than 50% from the field is just one
game.

> While I am pleased for Walker that he had a
> solid game, he needed it for himself I'm sure, just as Bird or McHale needed
> big games to get out of slumps if they had them.  I wouldn't read to much into
> it.

Me neither. Last night could prove to be a springboard game for Walker (and I'm also
very happy for him and how he's handling himself in general), but we also thought
the same thing with Tony Battie a week or so again. As inconsistent as "El Busto"
truly proves himself to be, he's probably been more consistent in many areas than
Antoine Walker has been this season.

So you can look at the overall Walker vs Malone game as the start of a potential
breakthrough for Walker, but I suppose you could equally regard it as the first time
in fifteen games that Walker has managed a double figure rebounding effort. Will we
go another 14 games without ten boards from Antoine? I hope not. Actually, he's
averaging one double-double every 7 games.

> The 36, 12, 4 are not normal stat's this year. The 9-12 FT stat is great
> improvement.

It is a season high in attempts. But regarding percentage (75%) it's not that
"great" an improvement considering his season average is .717. In truth, Antoine's
right us there with our "Old School/Throwback" saints Paul Pierce .727 and Adrian
Griffin .714.  But getting to the freethrow line is important for this team, and 12
trips is a pretty high number without any doubt.

> It isn't unusual for a team which knows it won't be a contest to
> play soft defense on the other teams "star".  Why have Malone get beat up in a
> guarenteed win?

Again it wasn't a guaranteed win judging by the boxscore. I wonder if this means
you'd use the "why have Antoine get beat up" argument for some of the Celts
blowout-type wins where Antoine purportedly didn't get back on defense. :-)

> But that said, Walker had a big performance last night and I applaud him for it.
>
> <Jim

Same here, Jim. A decent string of games like this and I believe we'll both be much
more optimistic about the future. In the short term, Antoine will be facing some
wily and talented power forwards (Duncan, Webber, McDyess)  for the rest of
December. We'll see if he's anywhere near up to the task.

In general, I think Walker still has too broad and unfocused a repertoire of shots
to develop dependable bread and butter PF moves, which take tens of thousands of
repetitions over many NBA games. Low post players are basically specialists. The
reason they can hit a high percentage is because that's the only range of shots they
ever practice four hours a day on, leading over years to an impressive level of
proficiency.

Sure, Antoine should do what's working for him depending on the matchup, as he did
last night. But if he keeps on taking no two shots alike from every conceivable
court location and angle, then he's bound to stay a 40%FG shooter for quite some
time before he turns the corner, if at all.

Joe