Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V6 #485

["Cecil Wright" <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>]

At least you recognize our shortcomings.  We are still a few players
(Fortson) short IMHO.  When he returns, if he is in shape, we'll become a
vastly improved team.  Good teams must rebound well before they can get
their offense in gear.  The thing that he will do that is most overlooked in
my eyes, is force the opposition to pay particular attention to him, which
will open up space for the other frontcourt players.

We have not played all that impressively, yet we are still in decent shape.
3 of our next 4 games are at home: Indiana, Spurs and Bucks, before we visit
the Hawks.  I think we are capable of beating Indy.  The Spurs obviously
create some matchup problems.  Milwaukee has that 3-headed offensive monster
(Allen/Robinson/Cassell) and I think we can beat Atlanta there.  I just hope
it's on TBS so I can see it.  Which makes the Bucks game a biggie.  That is
the kind of game where we miss Fortson.  Games where the other team shoots a
lot of jumpers are the games where he'll often standout most.  The Bucks are
not the best defensive team in the league.

I guess realistically, we should accept going 2-2.  But I think we could go
3-1 which pushes our record to 9-5.

Cecil


----- Original Message -----
From: peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>
To: Cecil Wright <cecil@hfx.eastlink.ca>; Celtics <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999 10:01 PM
Subject: Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V6 #485


> All very good points, Cecil. In fact, though I didn't see the Pacers game,
> from the box score it looked as though Antoine, Pierce and Kenny had
nothing
> to be ashamed of -- shot a good percentage, rebounded well, etc. The real
> "culprits" may have been Williams and Battie, who were a combined 2 for
15;
> had just one of those shots gone in, the Celts win. However, you could
also
> say Walker and Pierce as our stars DO have the responsibility for stepping
up
> to win a game like that, against an eminently-beatable opponent, by any
means
> necessary. It also would have helped if anybody in our backcourt could
have
> played defense that night; when you're getting beat by the likes of Fred
> Hoiberg, Randy Brown and Old Man Hersey Hawkins, are you really going
anywhere
> worthwhile? Maybe had Cheaney been healthy he could have neutralized those
> guys, but again, there's really no excuse IMO for losing a game like that.
> Teams that are serious about making the playoffs find ways to beat the
teams
> they should beat. That was the key to Pitino's first team winning 34
games.
>
> You're right, I am focusing on the negative. I could say, "Yeah, we've
also
> beaten some teams we 'shouldn't' have." But this team's not good enough
(yet)
> or experienced enough that it can afford not to take games like Chicago to
the
> bank. There will be many tougher opponents ahead.
>