Re: Oh great!

[jmc@ptc.com]

Dan Forant said:
> 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.

What else is he supposed to do on offense except score and make assists? 
The only other things he can do are rebound and play defense.  The 
rebounding isn't expected, but he still had 4 rebounds in just 20 minutes.

He'll always have trouble defensively due to his size, so the only 
thing you look for is for him to ignite the Celtics offense and avoid 
igniting the opponent's offense, and he did that. 

Agreed that one game does not a turnaround make.  We have to see Dana
score and pass consistently well for many games before we declare him 
"back".  However, there were some other factors that give encouragement 
that his improved play may be a long term trend.  

First, he was in a slump almost certainly because his grandmother died
during the first week of the season, and she was like a mother to him
as she had raised him pretty much herself.  Dana was deeply affected by
this.  You can tell that family is important to him by the way he
always has his son(s) with him when being interviewed after a game.

Don't anyone tell me that stupid line that "professionals" should be
able to block all that out and continue to play at their peak.  There
are a few rare individuals who can do that, but they're probably doing
themselves more long-term harm than good by suppressing their feelings.  
Dana went through his grieving right away, and is better off for it.
While it affected him short-term, it makes him a much more emotionally
stable person long-term than all the immature out-of-control kids
plaguing the NBA these days.

In Monday's game he came out with a completely different hairstyle than 
the braided look he'd been sporting, or the very short cut of past years. 
He just let it go natural and grow a bit longer.  Often this kind of 
change is a good way to get out of a mental slump or depression, so I 
wouldn't underestimate its impact on his play. 

Another good sign is that Pitino said after the game that Dana was 
"lighting it up" in practice on Sunday, so they wanted to go with him 
longer in the game.  That makes it a two day trend which hopefully has 
become a 3 day trend and will continue tonight. 

Another good sign is the way Dana responded when Larry Bird brought 
all his starters back in the game with about 6 - 7 minutes to go.  He 
raised his level of play instead of panicking.  After Miller hit a 
jumper to cut the lead to 4, Dana came off a screen and hit a 3 pointer 
to get it back to 7.  On the next play Indiana missed a shot and Dana 
came in and got the rebound, then he tried to penetrate in the lane but 
had the ball slapped away.  He dived to the floor just before Indiana 
picked up the ball, and knocked the ball back to Pierce to begin what 
became my favorite play of the game.  Pierce got it over to Chaeney who 
missed an open jumper on the right side, but Pierce got the rebound and 
put it back up only to get it blocked.  McCarty tipped the ball back to 
Pierce, who got it out to Chaeney, who swung to Dana then to Walter in 
the corner, and Walter hit the 3.  Timeout Pacers with 5 minutes left. 
Celtics by 10 and never looking back.  

After that I think Dana hit another 3 to get it to a 13 point lead, 
then later made a nice penetration in the lane to draw in Smits when 
he saw Battie open on the baseline, and immediately bounced a pass 
to Battie before any Pacers could foul him or slap the ball away.  
A wide-open Battie took a flying leap and dunked.  Barros clearly had 
it planned before he started the penetration, showing that he's starting 
to think playmaking again.  

Let's hope Dana can keep it up.  

Only time will tell. 

Jon Mc