Drubbing in Charlotte

[Dan Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

Some thought from last night's game:

Does Kenny Anderson have a clause in his contract that says he gets to
take the first shot of every game?  For at least the past two games (and
it's happened other times this season), on the Celtics first possession,
Anderson dribbles up the court and without a single pass launches an
ill-advised shot.  Not exactly a good way to promote an unselfish
attitude.

Mercer looked sharp early with some early buckets including a true
Jordan-esqe type move that resulted in a hoop plus the foul.  After
scoring several baskets in a small stretch, the team completely forgot
about him as he didn't get the ball again for several minutes.  When he
finally started getting shots again, they were bricks.  The Celtics are
pretty consistent though - they almost always ignore whoever starts to
display a hot hand.

> ''The killer for them was that Antoine
> Walker,'' Person said. ''He had a bad 32.
> A very bad 32. I don't think that's good
> basketball.''

Oh, thank gawd someone noticed this.  I can't wait for the flurry of
messages claiming Antoine was the only one who showed up 'cause he got 32
points.  Antoine is the most stat-savy player I've seen in a long time and
could get good statistics in the worst of drubbings.  Doesn't translate to
good basketball, though.

It looks like players have broken down into cliques, as there were times
last night when players would *not* make an obvious pass, but seemingly go
out of their way to make a pass that offered no advantage to a different
teammate.

Is this team retarded on offense, or what?  One of the youngest teams in
the league, I'm sure, and they set up a half court offense almost every
play.  I spent all night screaming, "Run, dammit!" to no avail.  Posting
Antoine should be The-Offense-of-Last-Resort when nothing develops on the
fast break.  When they play the post up game, they get infected with the
dreaded NBA disease: one guy passes, one guy posts up, three guys stand
still and might as well be filing their nails.

Before rolling his ankle, Pierce looked like he was in a zone - just not a
basketball one.  Seriously, he look eerily spaced out.  I hope it's just
rookie goofiness and not a more serious problem.

Dan