No Subject

1) Pitino says that after the Cleveland game when he vowed to
make changes, that the team needed to grade better than 65 on
defense. But when he looked on the tape, only Garnett and Bowen
graded above 65. So he decided to stick with what he had. 
   Of course, that brings up the question of why he didn't start
Garnett and Bowen, say. Not that I think that giving Bowen and 
Garnett big minutes helps our winning chances.

2) He doesn't think that the team has given up on him because he
has too much security for that. He says that players generally
give up on interim coaches or coaches on their way out.

3) The one bad shot that he thought that Walker took was a 
contested 3-pointer early in the shot clock. I am guessing
this means that an open 3-pointer by Antoine is okay, which actually
I would agree with in the later seconds of the shot clock, given
his shooting percentage from 3-point land.

4) He thinks to some extent that Antoine is paying for his trash talking
and brash statements to the media by being lambasted by other players,
the fans, and the media.

5) During the coach's clinic, he went over the pregame shootaround. 
They get there an hour and a half before game time and get in several
hundred shots in each. Players like Garnett who don't get playing 
time work with coaches on skills like ballhandling. 
   The idea is to take "game shots", shots that would occur in a true
game situation like a catch and shoot off the screen, or pulling up 
on a drive. Pitino points out how Barros practices his catch and shoot
while visualizing being in a game. On the other hand, he singles out
Pierce as "getting nothing out of the shootaround" because he was 
basically putting up shots in a very lazy way. 

6) The game in which the Celtics graded the way Pitino wanted was the
win at Miami early in the season, when Popeye was playing and Mercer
was out. He points at Popeye as a good listener as opposed to the 
younger players.

7) I think at some point during the Pacers game, Pitino mentioned that
he loves Antoine's skills and competitiveness, and just needs to get
him to work on his body and conditioning. If he does that, he can be
one of the top ten players in the league, said Pitino. Otherwise, 
he'll just be "a little better than good".

Alex