Re: Web power

[jmc@ptc.com]

>    A win is a win but why was it necesary to take Vancouver dancing all 
>    thru 3 OT's ? What went wrong ?

What happened was that the Celtics haven't developed that aggressive 
killer instinct yet.  It may simply have to do with lack of conditioning. 
Heinsohn and Cousy mentioned several times how fatigued the players looked, 
especially Anderson.  Every time they got the upper hand, they relaxed 
or lost focus, and Vancouver would force turnovers or get to the ball 
first, and we'd be back to a tie game.  Every time Vancouver got ahead, 
the Celtics would get aggressive and show some heart and come back.  

Declerq was huge in the 4th quarter and overtimes, and Channell 68 gave 
him the player of the game, even though he had only 7 points, but all his 
points and most of his rebounds and steals were in crunch time, when they 
needed it.  Riley fouled out, and so did Mercer and Walker, so Declerq and 
Pierce were the men coming down the stretch. 

The good news is that the Celtics never gave up, even when down by 4 with  
a minute to go in the 3rd OT.  Declerq had a monster 3-point play as he drove 
through the lane and got clobbered after a nice pass from Anderson, that put 
the Celtics ahead to stay, and Pierce had lots of key rebounds and steals, 
including a steal on the final inbound play of the game to ice it, and a 
steal with about 10 seconds left followed by a heads up timeout call as he 
was about to get tied up for a jump ball, which saved the posession.  Pierce 
has really amazing anticipation, and goes quickly and aggressively to the 
ball. 

Another good thing was that Kenny Anderson, who looked bad once again
for most of the game, suddenly seemed like his old self when overtime
started.  He was suddenly more aggressive, and making good passes or
hitting shots in the lane, and he was the main reason the Celtics got
out to a quick 8 point lead in the first overtime.  For some reason
Pitino took Anderson out early in that overtime, and suddenly the lead
was gone.  Whatever the case, I hope it's a sign the old Kenny will
soon be back.  Maybe he's been thinking too much lately and he just
needs to "let loose", and Dana hitting that 3-pointer at the buzzer to
send it to overtime helped Kenny feel like it was a game they could
have easily lost so might as well take some risks.

The stat of the game was that it was only the 3rd regular season triple
overtime game in the Celtics' 52 year history, and the Celtics have won
all 3.  The first was in the 50's, the second one in December of 1996.

Jon Mc