Magic Post Mortem

["Ozersky, Joshua A" <OzerskyJA@corning.com>]

(Sorry for the delay in posting this.  I had an all day job interview.  btw,
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS ADDRESS.  USE MY YAHOO ADDRESS.)

By now most of you know that last night's game was one of the worst defeats
in the history of unarmed combat, a complete rout on both ends of the floor
by the Orlando Magic.  I am writing this against the clock, but here is in
essence what happened.

The game began with several strange things happening for the celtics.  For
one thing, they couldn't score with a lineup which included Anderson,
Pierce, and Antoine, who barely touched the ball until five minutes had gone
by, and was a complete non factor.  Nobody could guard Penny Hardaway, who
played not just like an all star, but like an all star horsing around at the
local Y.  Pitino tried all kinds of weird combinations to try to shake the
jinx, including Garnett and Barros, Battie and Riley, and so on, but nothing
worked.  The magic moved the ball crisply for open jumpers that swished the
net in their halfcourt sets, and ran the fast break all over us time and
again.  On the defensive end, they smothered every scorer, kept us from
getting a shot off on several occastions, and generally played like
man-eater-uppers.  On one memorable occasion, Bo Outlaw blocked Antoine
twice on the same play, one of about 29 blocks he had in the game.
Naturally, it led to a fast break and a dunk on the other end.  This was one
of the those games you are bound to lose, but it was obvious that the
celtics have no halfcourt game right now.  As I mention below, that is I
think why kenny is struggling.  The team ended the half down by 13 points,
but it wasn't that close.

In the third quarter, the celtics closed the defecit to within one, but that
is an illusory figure, accomplished by a series of transition three pointers
and a three point play by pierce.  However, at no point could the celtics do
the first thing about stopping the magic, so (i hope) no one was fooled into
feeling optimistic.  The game cruised along for a while, getting worse and
worse, until finally the celtics were put out of their misery.  Question:
did anybody watch this on boston TV?  I had the sunshine network feed ,but
I'm very interested in what the Cooz had to say about our offensive
problems.

Analysis:

The team has no offensive chemistry whatsoever.  I think that Antoine's new
unselfishness, along with the absence of system experts Walter and Mercer,
helps to explain why the team is playing together like a bunch of guys who
just met.  Nobody knows where they are supposed to be.  On defense, the guys
just aren't in shape to play man to man the way they did last year.
Incredibly, we now have a legitimate rebounder/shot blocker in Eric Riley,
and Battie will provide help and hustle as he develops and is worked into
the offense, and as he learns to play the back of the press.  Then maybe we
can get a fast break going -- I don't think we had more than one or two the
whole game.

Players:

On offense, Kenny Anderson doesn't have a free man to pass the ball to, so
he is trying to penetrate and create by himself -- but he's not in shape
yet, and his shot is flat.  (I don't think he is used to carrying the extra
muscle weight around, to say nothing of being in Pitino shape.)  The
baffling thing to me is Kenny's bad decisions and timing -- I see guys open
that he doesn't.  I think Rick needs to give him a pep talk; this isn't the
way he plays normally, not that it would matter.  The teams badly needs the
week of practice coming up.  They really have no offensive sets to speak of,
and their spacing is atrocious.  Antoine can't even abuse his man, because
no one can get in position to get him the ball.  (Kenny keeps running the
pick and roll with him and not delivering him the ball -- why?).  Needless
to say, couldn't defend Penny Hardaway (who can?).  It should be said in
defense of all our guards that the refs called the game very close,
including every touch foul in the backcourt.

Paul Pierce:  Can't judge him on this game.  Had some nice moves, but got
eaten alive as well.  Didn't get a single good look at the basket in the
whole game, other than a few second shots under duress.

Antoine:  I think Antoine should try to stop showing how mature he is, and
start punishing people again.  He also needs to do more inbetween stuff --
he is either getting the ball forty feet from teh basket, or (rarely) on the
block with three men on his back. This is part of offensive chemistry.

Battie:  ineffective.  Had a real nice block.
Andrew:  really tough.  Adds that not-so-intangible fury to the mix, and
steals us a few points a game.  
Riley:  played as well as anybody -- not very.  
Dana: got stripped several times.  Shot the ball pretty well.
Popeye:  Great hands.  Tough.  Completely ineffective, but not even Michael
Jordan could have changed this game.

Opposition Players of Note:

Bo Outlaw:  How in the world did we ever not sign this guy?  So many of us
knew what he was capable of, and now he is like a young Dennis Rodman/John
Salley.  Destroyed us.  Destroyed Antoine.  Why didn't we ever sign this
guy?  Oh, I said that already.  

Penny:  I hope he doesn't think he's going to score like that next time.
Barely broke a sweat.  I want him dead.

We play tonight in Miami, their third game in three nights, with us angry,
and them missing Jamal Mashburn.  We have a good chance at this, if the team
can play organized basketball, and get at least six or seven fast breaks
going in the first half.
Joshua Ozersky
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