We need this

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

We need a home win over Atlanta tomorrow. One win without Pierce sets us up
for our breakthrough on the road after he comes back. We won't get a better
chance than three days off before games at the Clippers, at Sacramento and
at Denver, with a day off between each game. I'm hoping for three of these
four, to get us to 13-15, then a real run when Fortson returns to start Y2K.
A quick schedule complaint: We have played eight of our 21 "back-to-backs"
so far. We're 1-7 in those games (our only win was the second game of the
season, at home, against the Wiz). Of the seven losses, six came on the
road. We have 13 back to backs left, 10 are on the road. My J-school math
tells me that's 16 road "second-halves" and just five at home. If ever there
is a good bet in the NBA, it is that a team playing the second half of a
back-to-back on the road will lose. It seems we have more than our share
this year. And it's a reasonable explanation for our miserable road record
so far. (We've had four "rested" road games this year. We beat Toronto, lost
a close one while undermanned at NY, and got drubbed while undermanned at
Cleveland and San Antonio.)

But, you have to play them as they come.

Mark