Re: celts center 12/29

[jmc@ptc.com]

Anne said:
>5.  Where was Battie?  Does everyone "relax" after they sign long term
>contracts?  It's like getting married.  Once you say "I do", does that mean
>you let yourself go?  You still need to work hard to keep the "contract" or
>marriage.

Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com> said:
> You can't play basketball with 5 guys. Not one, let me say it again, not
> one bench player has stepped up, and there are no signs of any improvement
> either. Battie's got his dough and doesn't know what day it is, Barros is
> over the hill, Cheaney more dead meat, Ellison should be doing community
> work, McCarty is doing community work, Williams another loser, Fortson
> should watch out, he'll catch the dreaded bench rot also. These guys
> clearly need to find other opportunities in life besides basketball.
> Exception Fortson. To make matters worse our coach mass subs these
> characters all at once for the opponents to feast upon. This team is short
> at least 2 good players.

How can you watch Tony Battie play this season and say he's not putting 
forth the effort?  I can understand Anne's wonderings, since she only 
saw one game, but Dan, I assume you've been watching more than just the 
last game, haven't you?  There have been many games where Battie has 
been the ONLY Celtic playing with any intensity, and where he's single-
handedly kept the Celtics in the game while the rest of the starters and 
bench seems to be sleepwalking.  He needs to do it more consistently, 
but whenever he gets pumped up, you can see the intensity on his face, 
and he starts blocking shots and dunking all over the place, and crashing 
the boards for offensive rebounds and loud putbacks.  It only happens about 
once every 3 or 4 games, though.  If he can get that game face on almost 
every night, he'll be an all-star in no time.  

If you watch every game, you'll see that the desire is still there... he 
just needs something to get him pumped up.  Perhaps the desire for more 
money was enough to pump him up before, but I know that's not his only 
motivating factor. 

I'd also like to hear you back up your claims about Barros and Williams, 
Dan.  They've gotten inconsistent minutes but have given the effort and 
tried to do the right things when they do play, although the results 
haven't always been great.  It sounds like you're just letting off steam 
more than making a point. 

Jon Mc