Re: Victory in Charlotte

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

Joe, I disagree with your assesment of Ron Mercer.  The
players you compare him to are utterly one-dimensional
3 point shooters whose entire job was to hang around
and take uncontested long jump shots.  Ron at the very
least is another Byron Scott, a dead eye shooter who
can finish like nobody's business, and drive like the
wind.  Ron has been abused on D, but he isn't a bad
defender for his age and station.  And as for him
taking shots away from Paul Pierce, I'm convinced that
no such thing ever happened.  Guys who want the ball
get the ball and take their shots, just as Ron is doing
these days, and as Antoine has always done.  Now that
Pierce is getting his head back into the game, you see
him taking more shots.  (although he backed off in the
second half in Charlotte -- I had hoped he would go for
thirty or forty.)

Josh


--- j.hironaka@unesco.org wrote:
> Thomas Murphy wrote:
> 
> > The key numbers in last night's victory were 12,
> 11, 10, 13, 10.
> >
> > These were the number of shot attempts by the
> starting five of Pierce,
> > Walker, Potapenko, Anderson, and Mercer.
> 
> Well said. It recalls the Celts of  Ramsey, Sanders,
> Heinsohn etc., although
> I'm too young to really know. Don't forget, however,
> that our opponents also
> shot 58 percent from the floor.
> 
> 
> > Walker in particular deserves credit, finally
> showing that he DOES have the
> > ability to distinguish between a good and bad shot
> attempt. Many people
> > have been after Walker for taking untimely three
> pointers, but any true
> > index of his poor shot selection would have to
> include the many times in
> > the past when he has forced up a shot resembling a
> shot-put attempt when
> > double- or even triple-teamed in the post. Again,
> to his credit, by my
> > count he only did this one time last night.
> Whatever the reason, Walker was
> > unbelievably unselfish - particularly in the first
> quarter when he
> > attempted only one shot (a wide-open three, which
> he drained). For those of
> > us looking for improvement in Walker's game, last
> night was a far more
> > hopeful development than the gaudier numbers he
> posted in Cleveland or
> > against Indiana. And it's about time, since if one
> stops to think about it,
> > Walker is probably the fifth best shooter out of
> the starting five, even if
> > one excludes his three-pointers.
> 
> I contest your last point. (Hey, I'm frantically
> working on my Hironaka
> wiggle). BTW, what was an average Bird year from the
> 3-point line? Maybe 37%?
> I think Walker is pretty dependable this year from
> that range, hovering above
> 35% occasionally and holding quite steady. He's the
> only one on the team that
> can get off and hit a contested jumpshot from that
> range, as opposed to catch &
> shoot.
> 
> 
> > Now let's hope this trend continues.The offense in
> general appeared to be
> > much more diversified. There was far more
movement,
> particularly away from
> > the ball. It looked to me as if
> > Pitino (and Walker) had finally unleashed Kenny's
> ability to distribute the
> > shots and run a pro offense, and as a result we
got
> an offensive
> > performance reminiscent of the first few games
> Kenny played with the team
> > last year (before Kenny was shackled to the
> 'Kentucky playbook'?). The
> > success on offense allowed Pitino to run his
> trapping defense (with mixed
> > results) thereby permitting Pitino to dictate the
> tempo of the game. In
> > this instance at least, Kenny's abilities on
> offense directly contributed
> > to Pitino's implementation of his concept of
> trapping team defense.
> >
> > Are the Cs out of the woods? Not by a long-shot.
> The key in the NBA is
> > consistency, and there's another test tonight
> against a Detroit team
> > already pumped-up by a road win in Atlanta.
> 
> Yeah, I think the Celtics may be back to the familar
> "win-loss-win-loss"
> holding pattern for awhile. Detroit is one team that
> by happenstance I've
> watched play rather frequently against the Celtics,
> and they have shown me a
> knack for handling our full-court press with ease as
> well as for getting
> critical baskets against our man defense when
needed.
> It seems they always have
> three veterans on the court who can dribble and
think
> at the same time, plus
> they have Grant Hill so enough said. That's a major
> challenge for Paul Pierce
> and Antoine Walker, and I hope the home crowd proves
> their intelligence by
> supporting them if they play smart.
> 
> 
> > Are things looking up for the Cs? After last
night,
> one has to conclude
> > that perhaps for the first time this season some
of
> the chronic problems
> > associated with this team are finally being
> addressed. Let's see if that
> > continues to be the case tonight.
> >
> > Best wishes
> >
> > -Tom Murphy
> 
> "Best wishes"!?  In our off-list and Celts-list
> exchanges, you really stick to
> the "politesse" thing.  I think Tom may be
> challenging our unchallengeable
> Celts-list Netiquette role-model, Dorine.
Personally,
> you're making me feel
> more and more like a philistine these days....this
> "fellowship of the
> miserable" crowd and all that. Well now just tell
> this list something they
> don't already know. :-)
> 
> Happy Oyster week-end, folks! Best regards,
> 
> Joe Hironaka
> 
> 
> BTW, Pete Delevett I hope you call me and my lovely
> (pregnant) wifey when you
> are in Paris this weekend. I'll lie to her that we
> are old prep school mates,
> to avoid any shame on my part.
> 
> 
> ****
> 
> 

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