Re: Weathering December

[opi@unesco.org]

It could get bumpy tonight, but the Celtics need to play to win against
Cleveland and not quit until that job is finished. I'm convincing myself
that they will pass the ball for most of four quarters, get their big
men better involved (a slight advantage in our favor), and try to build
and maintain a lead like the've done to other good opponents we've
played.

We've got to admit that Cleveland is very tough at point guard,
perimeter shooting and at power forward. But the Celtics are at home and
- if they have any pride at all after the humiliating Bulls loss - they
will focus on what it takes to disrupt the Cavs offense and send them
out of here with the loss.

Key matchups are Kenny versus the potential 48 minutes of quality
Cleveland point guards, Antoine and Pierce's offense against slightly
slower/frailer defenders, Griffin and Pierce's defense against the Cavs
wing shooters (shut down either Person, Sura, Langdon or all three), and
Vitaly, Pervis and Battie building any kind of scoring/rebounding edge
on the Cavs big men.

I don't think we should worry about Cleveland's talent, so much as
whether the Celtics 1) can effectively focus all their pride/hunger
following the Bulls debacle and 2) can start playing a little more like
NBA veterans (i.e. with far better consistency to go with their evident
talent).

It's true that a lot of the marginal Eastern playoff teams are a lot
more talented than you'd expect this year, and it's kind of daunting to
look at the talent on these rosters. In a lot of ways, Cleveland has a
roster that even Larry Bird's Indiana team would envy. But you better
believe the Celtics are also talented enough to make this flawed
Cleveland team look bad, on any given night.

We're basically trying desperately to tread water against equally
talented but more experienced teams, until the day we finally get back
the offensive rebounding dominance that we traded for this summer
(Danny). That's when our "payback" tour around the NBA will start to get
into full swing. If you replaced all of Battie/Pervis' minutes to date
with even 8 or 9 rebounds per game from Fortson, we'd probably have
beaten the Bulls and hung on against either Detroit or Indiana. In other
words, we'd have the best record in the NBA.

The Celts shouldn't hang their heads, they should believe in themselves.

Joe

------
Josh Ozersky wrote:

> I sure hope we get back to our winning ways soon.  If
> you look at the schedule, December is far and away the
> toughest month of the season.  If we can get through
> it .500 we will be in good shape.  Likewise, if we can
> get to the end of next week (Miami, Spurs, Buck) and
> be .500 I will also feel a lot better.  This last week
> has been very confusing and vexing, no?
>
> --- Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu> wrote:
> > It looks like the playoff race in the Eastern
> > Conference is going
> > to be close and competitive, as there seem to be
> > very few dominant
> > teams (maybe just Miami), and Philadelphia has
> > worked its way
> > back to respectability while at less than full
> > strength. If the
> > Celtics win against Cleveland, they'll be tied for
> > 3rd in the
> > Eastern Conference; if they lose, they could
> > possibly drop out
> > of the top 8! Should be exciting down the stretch,
> > and every
> > game should be important. The Celtics will make it
> > because they'll
> > keep improving as the year goes on and the new
> > players adjust
> > (including Fortson).
> >
> > Alex
> >
> >