Re: looked too easy

[opi@unesco.org]

Elgin W Booth wrote:

> 1) Why didn't Eric Williams play? Very strange, either he has a slight
> injury that wasn't reported and would only be used if absolutely
> necessary, he's been traded, or Coach gave him a DNP. I don't see why he
> wouldn't play with Cheaney getting all those minutes and not showing
> anything. This worries me a lot.

You could sort of see it coming throughout the pre-season. Walter played well,
Griffin and Cheaney supposedly did well in practices, while Williams started
off very strong but tailed off badly. He basically was benched by the last
exhibition game, and as noted earlier shot just 20%FG over the final five
preseason games.

It's sad because he expressed such high hopes for this season so recently, and
must be feeling dumb and miserable now. If Griffin stays ahead of him in the
rotation, he'll also be impossible to trade since he's the third highest paid
player on the team and signed for a LONG time. My honest feeling is that those
four guys (Waltah, Griffin, Cheaney and Williams) will have up and down games
all year, and there will be key plays and big minutes for all of them. BTW, it
looks like Griffin started at shooting guard, and the Pierce/Walker tandem
started up front like last year. Basically Griffin (7 assists, 0 turnovers)
replaced Mercer from last year's regular lineup.

I noticed that Pierce and Walker's stats looked like a total flip-flop from
last year. Pierce contributed in every statistical category, took 19 shots and
made only half his freethrows (3-6). Meanwhile Walker played within himself
and shot a rookie-Paul-Pierce-like 9-13 from the field (even though Way Ray
boldly predicted Antoine would miss 17 shots last night).

Regarding the BSG Antoine Project, I'll note that in the past 7 games our
23-year-old has averaged only 14.28 shots per game and hit .490FG% .780FT%.
Although this couldn't be a more meaningless stat (combined exhibition and
regular season), I view it as something fans should encourage and support
rather than ignore. For the first time, Walker seems genuinely grumpy about
having to answer repetitive reporter questions concerning his weight and
relationship with Pitino. Considering the surprising progress he is making
(when, if ever, has he shot 9-13 and 10-13 in the same week?) and the recent
Bob Ryan article, I don't fault him for feeling that only his shortcomings
and none of the hard work are being mentioned in Boston.

> 2) Vitaly looks horrible. He cannot catch a damn pass.  Along with Battie,
> they must've dropped about 6 passes that could have been converted into
> easy baskets.  Let's hope he doesn't continue to digress.

In addition, there were 8 fouls, 6 points and 4 rebounds combined from
Battie/Ellison yet we still won. They must have made an effort on defense at
least, because Davis/Oakley/Willis combined for just 6/20 shooting (30%) and 6
offensive boards in 72 minutes, after eating the Celts alive last year. Last
year I thought Toronto traded the future (Camby and 2 first-rounders) for a
chance to be a borderline 40 win playoff team by adding the two 36-year-olds
(Oakley, Willis). The goal of the Celtics should be different, and judging by
last season will require a lot more patience. Building a team capable of
winning championships is not the same thing as building a team that can make
good on Pitino's playoff promise this year.

Anyway, I think it's safe to say our centers will be more productive than they
looked last night, just as Walter and Walker aren't going to shoot a combined
75% from the field tonight, and Griffin isn't going to walk in and totally
replace Mercer. It's just one game.

> Hopefully we will give an A+ effort tomorrow night against the Wizards.

Not to be overly dramatic, but beating the Wiz is critical if we are going to
have a .500 month in November. After tonight, it's Charlotte, Indiana, Detroit
and the Knicks. All those teams basically owned us the past two seasons
because they pass out of the Pitino press so well and get humiliatingly easy
layups. In many ways Indiana is the only team among them that the Celts have
consistently played "well" against, although we've yet to beat 'em since Bird
took over.

Joe

p.s. That "trick or treat" incident involving Pitino actually sounds plausible
(even though it seems too set up). He often seems brilliant in his post-game
press conferences (he rattles off stats off the top of his head, and is
extremely coherent even though he looks exhausted) but he also comes across as
a natural born used-car salesman, and says a lot of revisionist tales after
the fact that simply aren't true.

One minor example, I could have sworn I read a quote from Pitino prior to the
1996 lottery debacle saying that he had coached against Tim Duncan and that he
was not necessarily the answer to the Celtics problems (I believe Pitino did
in fact successfully coach Kentucky to blowout wins over Wake Forest (Duncan)
and U Mass (Camby) to get to the championship game). Anyway, I remember this
quote because I actually thought it made sense at the time, based on Camby's
disappointing rookie year and the fact that Duncan didn't seem much different
from Camby in terms of size and college productivity.

Now "Slick Ricky" tells reporter after reporter that he only predicted
playoffs in "three or four years" on the assumption that he'd likely have both
Duncan and Van Horn. If you ask me, he'd probably still have drafted Billups
with the second pick even with Van Horn available. He said Billups projected
as a Gary Payton type pro who could develop into a top five pointguard as a
veteran. Meanwhile, Van Horn was being questioned (by other scouts) regarding
his foot speed and man-to-man defense (a must for Pitino's system).

****