problems from last night

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

Last night's game bodes pretty well for the early
months of the season, as has been noted here.  The two
teams definitely were not playing it like an
exhibition, and but for a grotesque (and no doubt
message-bearing) foul disparity, we would surely have
beat Charlotte on their own floor in regulation. 
However, there is still plenty of room for
improvement.  The more I think about it, the more it
bothers me that:

1)  Antoine blew an open layup that would have made
the difference in the game.

2)  Antoine missed a free throw that would have won it
for us.

3)  Pierce and Dana turned over the ball three times
in the closing minutes, which resulted in us not even
getting a shot off.

4)  Pierce getting two and a half open looks at the
hoop from three point range, and bricking all three. 
Oh for the FILA league again!

5)  We absolutely got killed on the boards.  I know
that Tony was out, but we simply have to do better. 
Vitaly, Pierce, and the other players have to block
out and go after the ball, which they didn't do last
night.  Also, when are they going to stop using Vitaly
in the high post?  February?  They have to wake up
eventually and realize what a waste that is.  He
should be banging with the DCs and Masons of the
league on almost every play, drawing fouls and keeping
them off the boards.  What a waste!  Travis could do
what they have him doing.

--- Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu> wrote:
> 1. Before Fortson's injury became known, Pitino
> evidently had him as
> the starting power forward, with Antoine moving to
> small forward. So
> in the long term, Antoine will be a small forward,
> which is what many
> of us hoped for.
>   Antoine also had the type of stat line last night
> that I hope he
> can duplicate consistently (except for the 6
> turnovers): 22 points, 
> 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals, 8-18 from the
> field, 5-7 from
> the line, only 2 three-pointers attempted. He could
> have been 9-18
> if not for a blown layup that should have been a
> dunk. Overall, it
> was an encouraging night for Walker compared to the
> first two games.
> 
> 2. Fortson's injury is definitely a big blow,
> because his presence 
> changed the team from a relatively weak rebounding
> team to a strong
> one, at least judging from the preseason and looking
> at the roster
> on paper. The PF and C positions are not deep and
> Antoine is likely
> to play mostly at PF until Fortson's return which is
> a setback 
> towards his development as our future SF.
>   In the meantime, hopefully Antoine will return to
> form as a great
> rebounder, and Battie will develop some consistent
> rebounding after
> all his summer work. I would guess that McCarty
> moves into the 
> starting lineup instead of Eric Williams to better
> balance the
> scoring between the first and second units.
> 
> 3. Pat Riley describes Adrian Griffin as a player he
> wish he hadn't
> let go. "There are a lot of players I let walk out
> that door that I 
> wished we would have kept," he said. "Adrian Griffin
> we developed him 
> last summer. The same thing with Bruce Bowen before
> that." Doesn't
> it seem like Pitino keeps taking players from Riley?
> 
> 
> 4. From Pitino's book, Success is a Choice, on Wayne
> Turner: "He was
> a great high-school star at a prep school outside of
> Boston, a high
> school All-American. He played in a weak league,
> where he averaged
> about forty points a game, mostly on taking the ball
> to the basket,
> an area of the game in which he is very gifted.
> Because he was able
> to do this so easily at the level he played in
> during high school,
> he rarely shot the ball from the perimeter - now
> this is the weakest
> part of his game. 
>   When Wayne arrived at Kentucky as a freshman he
> had some serious
> shooting flaws, but he really didn't see these as a
> problem because
> he always had been able to play to his strength. But
> as the competition
> got better, his weakness at shooting the perimeter
> shot became more
> pronounced."
> 
> Alex
> 
> 


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