Re: celts center 12/29

["Anne Yates" <bceltics@mindspring.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.

        I know I only saw this one game, but I beg for consistency.  I don't
care if he only scores 8 points and 5 rebouds.  If we could count on that
night in and night out, he would be much more valuable.   It must be hard as
hell for a coach to wonder whether or not his players are going to put forth
a complete effort before each game.  It's the coaches job to motivate them,
but the players themselves have to learn how to motivate themselves as well.

        Anne