Relentless negativity

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

I have to say that Pitino has a point about the "Fellowship of the
Miserable" on talk radio. I think there's a certain amount of that
from a very vocal minority on this list. So we lost the fourth game
of five, on the road, to one of last year's conference finalists.
I'd say that the Celtics have had a pretty impressive four game 
stretch to open the season.

Walker clearly struggled in this game. He took it to the hole 
one-on-one on Croshere and got stuffed a couple of times. He
definitely could learn a bit from Griffin by taking the shot when
he has the man beat, and just stopping and passing instead of 
forcing something up when he doesn't. He's just not going to get
that foul call when he doesn't have his opponent beat. I'd love to
see a shot fake when he goes into that move too. He also needs to 
let his teammates create for him more. There was a stretch when he 
was really into the game and he grabbed some tough rebounds in 
traffic. It seems like he just didn't put forth the same effort 
over the entire game, which is perhaps a result of him not being
in ideal condition and this being the fourth game in five nights. 

But to be fair about his scoring stats - 21 points on 23 opportunities 
(plus one turnover) is really not that atrocious. It's essentially
what Ron Mercer gave us game after game last year (actually, a bit 
better) and somehow we weren't complaining about him every night. It's 
an off night for Antoine, not a 3-18 disaster. If you adjust for his
three pointers he's still shooting over 50% for the season. 

The shots were really falling for the Pacers tonight too, especially
in the brutal first half. They really had an unusually good night
shooting the ball in that half. Their depth matched up well with the
Celtics' depth. And Miller was shooting the lights out early on, as
well as performing the usual flop jobs. He is a great shooter and his
ability to drive to the basket is underrated, but I hate the flopping.
There was one possession where Vitaly was just standing there and
Miller flopped into him and got the call. I wish that Vitaly has just
crushed him instead of playing good defense on the play because the
result would have been the same. I suppose we have our own flop artist 
in Eric Williams so I shouldn't complain too much.

I have to say from watching some other NBA games this season that we
are really hard on the Celtics for their offensive execution, too. 
In most games I've seen, there are quick three-pointers thrown up
and a ton of one-on-one play while everyone else stands around.

I think it's ironic how last year, when Anderson was injured, there
was plenty of criticism for him because the offense was running smoother
with Barros at the point. Now, in his first two games of the season
after missing a few games and practices, suddenly it's obvious that
Barros can't play point. Turner was unable to function as a point
guard against Muggsy Bogues and has five assists over three games
yet suddenly he's more of a point guard than Barros after what he
did for us last year? And I think that Pitino, who recruited Turner
and coached him for a couple years, knows a bit better what his 
capabilities are than some fan who has watched him play 50 minutes
of NBA action.

Alex