Kenny left to wonder: Another playoff miss leaves guard frustrated

[kevin <kevin.lok@lycosmail.com>]

Kenny left to wonder: Another playoff miss leaves guard frustrated
by Steve Bulpett
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
Kenny Anderson is in his ninth professional season, which makes him a
veteran presence, a repository of NBA knowledge - and extremely baffled
by the way the Celtics' season has gone.
The point guard has tried to point to reasons why the club isn't
preparing for a first-round playoff series and he has come up with
what-ifs and some non-basketball stuff.
Anderson has taken full notice of the 12 games lost by three or fewer
points and all the fourth-quarter collapses. He has come to the
conclusion that the Celtics are not at all far away from being a
high-quality team. The proximity is maddening.
``That's what's so frustrating,'' said Anderson, who helped the Celts
snap a 10-game losing streak with a 99-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks
last night at the FleetCenter. ``We're so close. That's hard to look at
night in and night out. You see how close you are to being right there
and it kind of hurts.
``Everybody is here to win and it's tough when you're getting so close
every night and not getting it done.''
The difficulty with accepting the C's slide to another lottery position
has been magnified during the run of 10 straight losses the team carried
into last night's game. The Celts tried to remain upbeat (one of coach
Rick Pitino's favorite words) on the outside, but there can be no
denying the defeats dragged the outfit down to a degree.
``I really like the way the team was going, but now just mentally after
losing those close games, it beat us down,'' Anderson said. ``It kind of
took us away from everything we were playing for. I think guys are still
playing hard, but it's just not the same when your goal is out of sight.
It really can't be the same when you know this is it.''
As for advice to his teammates, he offers mainly attitudinal pointers.
Having seen what wins in this league, Anderson has seen where the Celts
have come up short.
``You've got to do it night in and night out, and you have to be playing
for the team,'' he said. ``If you get 10 rebounds and two points and
your team wins, that's a great night.
``But I think some players in the league don't really understand that.
They're like, they have to have 40 points. You have 40 points and even
if they don't win, that means you did your job to them. But it's the
little things that really make a difference. The little things are what
get it done.''
It's not as if Anderson is advocating roster change. He believes in the
team's strong nucleus.
``If we play hard, we're there every night,'' Anderson said. ``And I
think experience is the best teacher as for how to get over the hump and
start winning a lot of these games when we're right there.
``Our two go-to players are young. I'm not going to take nothing away
from them, they're great players, but until they go through the
experiences we're going through and get a few lumps, it's hard for them
to see certain things. Eventually, they'll get to the point where
they're committed every night. They're going to want to do it every
night.
``What we need is a good attitude and just smartness down the stretch.
We should be learning how to get an easy bucket, how to get to the line
. . . how to listen to the little details the coaches are telling us.''
Instead, the Celtics have been crumbling in crunch time, unsure of their
next step while opponents are cruising on by for victories.
``That kind of confidence is the thing we're trying to search for,''
Anderson said. ``But when you lose all these close games, you start
second guessing yourself and you don't have that swagger when there's
two minutes left in the game and you're down four. It's tough. But just
going through this now is going to help us a lot later.''