Re: Oh great!

[opi@unesco.org]

Dan Forant wrote:

> The only thing that made Dana look good was his shooting, long time coming,
> and 4 assists. One good game out of 11 not counting his missed games for
> mourning, won't make him a back up point guard. I hope it works.

This is from Peter May's column, and man can I ever relate to what Barros was
feeling (being very superstitious and nervous on Celts game days.)

``I had to do something, man,'' said Barros, who had had a terrific practice
Sunday but was shooting an un-Barros like 34.4 percent. ``I was struggling. I
was trying everything :  socks, shoes, now the hair.'' Whatever works.

--------

Don't ask about my philosophy on "lucky Celts socks". I agree that Dana tends
to pause his dribble too far away from the basket to create meaningful shot
opportunities for his teammates, but I do feel that he has a good handle at
full speed and that he shows a professional awareness of the "assist-turnover
ratio" statistic. Put it this way:  if he had played for the Bulls, he'd be the
greatest complementary point guard Michael Jordan had ever seen.

I know Pitino is totally fronting when he talks about how valuable his bench is
(he claims he's not sure who is better, his starters or his "bum squad").
Still, these multi-millionaires bench players need to be big part of a total
effort to defend our homecourt against a classic two-man team like the Spurs
(all the players after Duncan and Robinson either kind of suck this year or are
washed up). It's patently clear the Celts won't be able to score inside on the
Spurs, but they might be able to pass crisply and create enough open looks and
perimeter bombs to give them a prayer to win.

Antoine versus Duncan will either be hilariously embarrassing or an eye-opener.
Toine needs to take Tim a few times from downtown and then drive around him,
making him feel distinctly uncomfortable. But first, Antoine needs to stop
being such a dainty, fairy boy. He's playing right into the hands of his
critics. I'm trying hard to think if I'd turn 180° into such a complete
swish-and-sway fruit boy if I suddenly noticed million dollar monthly payments
fall into my bank account.

My sense is that Toine is, in fact, trying to add intelligence and
unselfishness into his eventual "veteran" game repertoire, but that far too
much ability is getting lost somewhere in the translation.

Joe


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