Orlando Payback

["Bob George" <bgp@lightspeed.net>]

Missed most of the 1st half...but I sure saw enough when I got home!

What were you all thinking when you saw that pass that Pierce threw? 
Anyone have Bird flashbacks??  Sure made me stand up and holler!  But
leaving that great pass alone, what about his ability to steal??  He had 5
steals tonight, and leads the league in that category.  And his career is
just beginning, folks.

Yes, Orlando looked like kaka tonight, but it was a good solid effort by
our boys too.  Good D, excellent ball movement and passing.  In his press
conference, Pitino talked about how the Celtics looked like "one man
watching four guys cut" versus "four guys watching one man shoot".  I
thought that pretty much summed things up.

Pitino was very gracious to Orlando, and to Hardaway (zero points!!),
saying that they "merely had an off night".  I might have been less
gracious.  After watching Nick Anderson torch us 2 weeks ago, I at least
might have played the "payback time" card.  Okay, Orlando is the #2 team in
the NBA, but Anderson was out of his mind 2 wks ago.  Nice to see him and
his mates come down to earth.

Pitino also mentioned that "we are not in basketball shape yet...we are not
yet properly conditioned".  Totally agree, and I'm glad he said it. 
Everyone out there who is quick to complain about the makeup of the team,
the lack of maturity of the players, or lack of rebounding, this
conditioning issue is often overlooked especially following stinkers like
Sunday at Wash. and Friday at Portland.  Heinsohn mentioned that "if the
Celtics play this type of running basketball, they will blow a lot of teams
out".  I agree.  Pitino's work is far from done.  I like what I see, and I
understand when we sometimes look horrid out there.  (We still need a
rebounder, though!)

I again implore the KA-bashers to just give him time to get his full game
back.  He passed great tonight, doing all sorts of things that won't show
up in the box score.  He made some marvelous pinpoint passes tonight, and
paced the game well.  And he let the other men handle the perimeter
shooting, too.

The more I see of Andrew DeClercq, the more I like.  I believe he should be
the starter with Riley and Schintzius off the bench in that order.  Too bad
DeQ isn't bigger...but he works hard and can make tough shots.  He's no
Kevin McHale, but at times works down low like Kevin used to do.

Nice transition game by the Celts tonight.  How many times did they have
"numbers"?  Wow.  Again, a few blown layups, but overall very impressive. 
If I were Chuck Daly I'd give my players some pep pills tomorrow, at times
they looked like they were just standing around on defense, and this was
before it got really out of hand.  By and large Orlando looked either tired
or lazy or both.

Bottle some of this for the Bricks on Friday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob George

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