Re: Rumination

[opi@unesco.org]

Jim Meninno wrote:

> >From: peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>
> >
> >Jim Meninno wrote:
> > >The team finally looks like the well coached, well prepared team >we have
> >been expecting for two years now.
> >
> >You know, I think we (and the national and Boston media, to a much greater
> >degree) have been far too hard on the Celtics.
>
> I'm in total agreement with you Peter.  The first Pitino year was a joy,
> even if I would have liked a few more wins.  Last year just plain sucked for
> a number of reasons.  The difference between year 1 and so far this year,
> however, could not be more dramatic.  Year 1 the team played their hearts
> out and overachieved based seemingly on intensity alone.  This year they
> look prepared, organized, composed, and other words you could not attatch to
> the team that first year.  I'm not knocking Pitino saying this.  He brought
> the intensity in year 1, just as he's bringing the preparedness this season
> (of course having a lot more talent doesn't hurt either).  I just expected
> the Celtics to execute well right from the start of his tenure, and they
> really haven't until now.  Even their best games over the past two years
> didn't feature the kind of execution we are seeing now.  It is an absolute
> thrill for me to watch.  I truly believe we'd have seen more of this last
> year, had the lockout not occured, but it did.  I don't think I'm being
> unfair to, or even blaming anyone to say that it's been overdue.

I totally agree.

Last year, the Celts might have lost a game like yesterday's and thought "yeah,
but the Wiz (and Raptors) were at full strength while we didn't have Barros OR
Fortson", or "if only Pierce and Battie had played their usual games, we might
have pulled this one out", or "we just haven't gotten into condition yet to play
hard for four quarters".

This year the Celts are almost like a baseball club in terms of how many
different bench guys can provide just enough "heroics" on a given night to pick
up the slack for a missing or slumping player. First it was Walter against the
Raptors, then it was William's early and immediate impact against the Wiz (the
fact that he canned three long 20 footers is the best part of it all). Because
of improved depth, a couple of key guys can have a miserable off-night (all our
big men did on Tuesday, Pierce and Battie did yesterday) and we STILL deliver
whup-ass on two full-strength teams.

But the main thing is those 29 freaking assists. Crisp passing is a hallmark of
the great Pitino college teams that I'd nearly forgotten all about. When you add
ball movement and team depth to the equation, it seems that Pitino-ball has a
real chance to work.

These were two teams we had to beat to have a chance not to open the season 0-6.
I consider the Celtics to be clear "underdogs" for the next four games in five
nights (Charlotte, Indiana, Detroit and the Knicks). I actually think the
Indiana game is the most "winnable", yet we've never beaten a Larry Bird coached
team.

Joe

Of all the wonderful quotes in today's Herald and even Globe, the one that I
liked a lot is from Bill Russell during the Red Auerbach tribute:

``One last thing I want to say. I played in a building called the BOSTON GARDEN
and teams were scared as hell to come in there. What we want to do is make the
FleetCenter the same kind of hell hole for other teams. So I call on you, our
friends and fans, to give the other team hell. Make noise.''

-----

Back in the Bird Era when the Celtics were regularly winning just over 60-63
games a year they actually got close to two-thirds of that total on the parquet,
typically winning 39, 40 even 41 games at the Boston Garden and Providence Civic
Center. As great as those team's were, this means they were basically not much
better than a .500 team on the road.

For this year's Celtics to win even 41 games overall, they frankly will need to
have a really solid record at home. That means they need encouragement, not
boos, when they are playing lousy over a stretch and need a huge boost to help
them climb back into a game. Both Antoine and Pierce have shown they are capable
of getting over fatigue and discouragement from being way down to come back and
score a  ton of clutch points in the closing minutes of a game, provided the
fans help them find that "second wind". If you all remember the great Miami game
from last year, we were down 7 to 9 points for most of the fourth quarter and
Antoine was playing so-so basketball. Yet the fans treated it like a playoff
game (because of El Greaso's presence), and the next thing you knew Antoine and
the boys decided the game wasn't quite over and roared back for the last second
win against the best team in the East. It was like a "wall of sound" in the
closing 4-5 minutes. You could tell the Heat stars were flustered and barely
hanging on.

In every other game I watched, you never hear any of this clapping and foot
stomping. Instead all I'd hear during timeouts was that unbelievably irritating
1980's rock soundtrack (Billy Idol, Queen and the like) that sounded like it was
ordered straight off of some cheezy TV advertisement. It's the kind of stadium
soundtrack they play at all the uncool hicksville sports venues around the USA.
It's what they play at Buffalo Bills games.

I wouldn't normally write this stuff, because it sounds so "duh". But I guess
the "make-Antoine-doubly-sure-he-knows -how-we-hate-him factor" plus the years
of losing have made the Fleet Center a kind of "non home court". In an earlier
post, I noted that among other things Antoine scored a bit under 2ppg MORE on
the road than at home last year.

After the Boston Globe's half-hearted and condescending preseason coverage
issue, I'm not surprised that there were around 2,000 empty seats for the
Celtics home opener and Red Auerbach tribute. But at least they were the real
fans, and there will be more of them if the Y2K Celts can keep on passing and
hustling.

****