RE: Bucks game

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Fair enough, Joe. Certainly Caffey spent some time at center, and Pierce
probably matched up with Tim Thomas at times... I didn't keep track of who
was guarding who on every possession... but a lot of the damage was done
against Walker and Pierce. They're just not good defenders. I'm not sure
Toine has much of a chance physically against most power forwards because
he's undersized and not very strong (although was this really true against
Caffey, Thomas and Kersey?). With Pierce, there's no excuse. Whether he's
playing SFs or SGs, he should not be overmatched. He generally gets the
weaker of the two opposing players at those positions (last night was a
pick-your-poison game). He's not alone, by the way. George Karl reportedly
is pulling his hair out trying to get Ray Allen to play defense.

The numbers from last night aside, you have to admit there has been a pretty
consistent pattern from the players guarded by Walker and Pierce--namely,
the opponents tend to have big nights. And my point stands--the Celts need
more than a push from Walker and Pierce. They don't have the depth of talent
to compete if those guys aren't winning their personal battles.

And you're right about Garnett, but I'd add one more thing to your
assessment--he's one of the best defenders in the league. He'll guard the
opposing team's best player and generally shut him down (regardless of
position). The T-Wolves are able to play Wally Szcerbiak significant minutes
at 2-guard (when they want to go big) because Garnett is capable of guarding
the opposing 2-guard at the defensive end, allowing the slower-footed
Szcerbiak to guard the opposing small forward. He's capable of guarding Kobe
Bryant one night and Tim Duncan the next. And he never takes a night off. He
might not play well, but I've never see him not play hard at both ends.

Anyone else think Chauncey is beginning to look like a poor man's Joe
Dumars?

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: Hironaka [mailto:j.hironaka@unesco.org]
Sent: Friday, December 1, 2000 2:02 PM
To: Berry, Mark S
Cc: 'davied99@netzero.net'; 'celtics@igtc.com'
Subject: Re: Bucks game


"Berry, Mark S" wrote:

> I shouldn't single out Pierce. Jason Caffey (!), Tim Thomas and Jerome
> Kersey (!) combined for 13 for 19 shooting and 30 points from the power
> forward spot (hmmm... ) So Walker and Pierce score 54, while their
> counterparts at their positions combine for 55. The Celts aren't going to
> win many games if Walker and Pierce don't beat the men they're matched up
> against.

Eric Williams started and played 30 minutes presumably at small forward, so
Pierce might deserves a share of the credit with Stith for Ray Allen getting
held to 11 points in the game (I didn't see the game). Similarly Caffey,
Thomas
and Kersey combined for 72 minutes played....I doubt Walker was out there
that
long.  I'm making these points based on the boxscore. Like I said, I didn't
see
or hear the game.

I'll say one thing...Pierce and Walker sure perform the "talk the talk" part
of
the equation pretty well. The quotes attributed to them (especially Pierce)
after the Cleveland game about the importance of defense gave me a lot of
hope.

That was just a tough loss.  It's always demoralizing when your defense gets
beat up by a great passing team, but Boston made a nice comeback and now
need
to rise to the bigger challenge of trying to win a back-to-back (at home for
once) tonight.

Not that he is coasting this year, but Garnett is so far not the
staggeringly
well-rounded player of last year. This year he is merely a guaranteed double
double scorer/rebounder big guy (hey, there are a few others like that),
whereas last year he put up monster numbers in every category (5 assists per
game last year, compared to 3.5 this year). His rebounding is also down from
11.9 to 11.1. Still he is in the NBA top ten in five NBA categories, at the
age
of 24. This is as bonafide a basketball superstar as you'll find in any era.
A
gem.

The second big story is Chauncey Billups. The 24-year-old is averaging 16
ppg,
5.7 apg and ranks in the NBA top ten in three categories, most notably three
point and free throw shooting percentage. Obviously, he is starting at
shooting
guard and not point guard (still an iffy proposition for him I think). But
his
assists-to-turnover ratio is finally above 2, and that's not bad for a
shooting
guard. Welcome home, Chauncey! Great kid he is.

The 24-year-old Rado Nesterovic is also coming into his own a bit. He's a
7-foot, 250 pounder averaging 7 boards and 7.5 points in 28 minutes. He gets
to
the line only once or so per game. Lucky for him and his team, because he
makes
just 40% of his free throws. He'll block some shots (1.4 per game).

Brandon and Szczerbiak are the other double figure scorers. Wally World's
three
point shooting is merely "okay", but he is hitting a solid overall .472 from
the field and 12.4 ppg.

The "Fonz", LaPhonso Ellis, averages 7.3 points and 5.3 boards in Joe
Smith's
vacated role. Anthony Peeler (9.7 ppg) is one of only six players averaging
20
or more minutes, and is the third cog in a pretty undersized backcourt.

Although the T-poodles have only 7 guys contributing over 3.7 ppg. Old
friend
Todd Day hit a big three-pointer two nights ago, in what turned out to be a
loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Minnesota is 3-5 on the road, 8-7 overall. Two of their three road wins have
come against lowly Atlanta and Chicago. On the other hand they've already
been
tested against some of the best teams in the NBA, including the Lakers,
Spurs,
Jazz, Kings and Sixers. They've lost three of the last four coming into
tonight
so don't expect to see them on cruise control, although their scouting may
be
already half looking ahead to the second leg of this road back-to-back
against
New York tomorrow.

Basically tonight is a chance to see one of the top five players in the
game,
Kevin Garnett, along with a homecoming for Chauncey Billups. I don't think I
could have standed all the ups-and-downs had we waited on Chauncey to
develop,
but boy is he a likeable player. He's clutch, he plays D, he's articulate,
and
he has the size and skills. It's nice to see his outside shot is working for
him. He was a way too streaky outside shooter for my tastes.

I remember in that first Pitino season always checking Chauncey's boxscore
stats before anyone elses. I wanted that draft pick to succeed so badly, yet
I
could see the numbers just not adding up. The "backcourt of the future" that
never was to be. I feel the same way about Herren now. Every game I look at
that damn boxscore and think "c'mon you can do it!". His shot (15-55) has to
start falling soon, or he'll play himself out of this league once Kenny
comes
back. Pitino's got too much at stake to keep him on for sentimental value
(look
how sentimental he was with Chauncey).

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