Re: Oh great!

[Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Baloney!! This argument of Dana's personal problems are like the
Government's theories of the homeless. If Dana even comes close to having a
game similar to the Indy game I would be surprised. If you throw up enough
some will go in, law of averages were on his side. If he's all we've got
fine, otherwise he's worthless. I like the cut, it will help in his
transition out of basketball. 

At 02:35 PM 11/24/99 -0500, you wrote:
>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
>
>