Re: the press (on the court)

[opi@unesco.org]

Exactly! Excellent point Tom, IMO (the part you wrote about how demoralizing
the opponents easy layup drills have been for a losing program that's been
incessently nagged from the sidelines to continue maintaining the same high
level of defensive intensity).

"Pitino ball" isn't just synonymous with the fullcourt trap. The trapping
system (just a nice word for the double team) applies just as much to the
halfcourt and post game, not to mention any sort of inbound pass play. But of
course you'll still often get Celts players caught well out of position by a
good passing team, even without the full court press.

Joe

p.s. Jim "Mayor" Mennino pointed out that the Celts play the next four games
over 8 days, not 4 as I posted. My mistake. He also thinks the Detroit game
(which he'll attend) is very winnable. For some reason, I've managed to watch a
lot of Detroit games over the past few years and I don't recall a Pitino team
beating them regardless of how well our key players perform. Even when Detroit
is short-handed, they just seem to have our number (like the Bucks too). They
are an excellent ball handling and passing team that gets tons of casual layups
and dunks where the closest Celts defender is at the free throw line. But I
guess Dumars and Dele are retired, so on paper they are the weakest of our next
four opponents. We need that win.

****
Thomas Murphy wrote:

> Alex wrote
>
> >>He [Pitino] also said that the reason they didn't press was because
> Toronto had
> so much time to prepare for it that he didn't feel that it would be as
> effective. He plans to use the press out of strength this year, taking
> advantage of opportunities and surprise value. Today was a great example
> of exploiting Washington's second unit.<<
>
> With the electric energy of Kenny, the heady shot-selection of our suddenly
> super-CyberTwon and the overall wonderful play of Adrian Griffin, this has
> got to be the most underrated key to our revitalized Cs. Using the full
> court trap as a weapon and not a default has been a key. No longer can
> teams count on it for demoralizingly easy baskets. Now it is now the newly
> flexible Cs that are calling the shots and deciding when to turn up the
> pressure.
>
> All of them - Antoine, Kenny, Adrian and Rick - deserve credit!
>
> Go team Go! - Tom Murphy