Re: Selfishness

[Dan Forant Sr <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Is it too early for Ba humbug or whatever they call it? 

At 05:04 PM 11/4/99 -0800, you wrote:
>I really don't want to make too much of a two-game win streak against
middling
>competition, and I fear many on this list might be getting too caught up in
>the joy of the moment and become terribly disappointed later on. (As Peter
May
>eleoquently put it, "This is like the Iowa caucuses of the NBA season.") But
>as May also put it, it's awful hard not to be intrigued. And for that reason,
>this line struck home: "No matter what kind of record the Celtics achieve,
>they've shown this could be a fun year because they've stopped being selfish.
>They're finally following Rick Pitino's philosophy of looking to pass first
>instead of shoot." I know it is terribly unfair for me to keep demonizing
>Mercer, who does seem like a quality person, but I can't help but notice that
>his subtraction (and Griffin's addition) have, for now at least, totally
>changed this aspect of the team. Many (including Sports Illustrated) had
>predicted the Celts would continue to bicker this year, and the proof of the
>pudding will be how much they're cheering for each other when the team
hits an
>inevitable 3-game skid. But for now, it looks like a classic case of addition
>by subtraction -- like when the Pacers traded Detlef Schrempf's firepower for
>Derrick McKey's overall hustle, defense and rebounding, and went to game 7 of
>the East Conference Finals. And the nice thing is, when Danny comes back,
this
>good feeling should continue, because he won't be demanding the ball.
>
>The bottom line: we've beaten two teams we should expect to beat if we
want to
>make the playoffs. That was the hallmark of Pitino's first year - the Celtics
>rarely lost to a team they were equal to or even slightly inferior to. I
don't
>expect them to sweep Charlotte, Indy, Detroit and New York, but I *do*
believe
>they're capable of beating any one of those teams ... especially if they
>continue to play with "poetry," to cop a line from "Bull Durham."
>
>