Re: The real problem

[KK <Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU>]

Mike Dynon wrote:
> 
> I don't believe for a minute that the players are tuning out Pitino. 

Then how do you explain their lack of effort on defense? Surely Pitino did not
tell them to quit on D? 

> In
> a postgame interview, Bowen was stunned that Willie (Pulitzer) Maye even
> asked him about that possibility. 

I wouldn't expect any player to say in this situation, "Sure, we've tuned him
out"; the least of all Bruce Bowen, who has Pitino (and Wallace) to thank for 
his current employment. To me, BB seemed to be caught off-balance by that
question, and appeared to emphasize that it is _his_ opinion that there's no
"tuning out" going on. As in, "_I_ don't think we're tuning him out", [but the
other guys may], he seemed to imply.  Of course, this is completely
speculative and open to individual interpretation. 

> Even when the Celts play reasonable
> "normal" defense, as they did last night (87 points allowed isn't bad), 

The 87 points probably had more to do with the game's slow-down tempo, the
T'wolves' playing their scrubs for large parts of the second half and shooting
15-27 from the FT line, than any defensive stand by the C's. Six forced TOs, 1
steal, and 3 blocks tell part of the story (the season averages are 17.5, 9,
and  5.5, respectively). Subjectively, I saw as many open shots by the
opponent as has been the norm lately, which is to say, a lot.