Re: Another Win

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

At 03:10 PM 12/3/00 -0500, Dan Forant wrote:
>Racking up wins early this season. I won't get excited till we get to
>around 25 games. Stith has really added punch to the team. Haven't seen a
>game yet. Won't pay for the NBA package because of the flukey Celts. Still
>winning without Anderson. Any takers?
>
>How has Stith looked in general??

Stith looked great today. It seems like Pierce looks to pass to him when he
is driving and the defense collapses. He scored a couple of open three
pointers early in the game which helped the Celtics open up their lead.
After Piatkowski came in, the Celtics made a deliberate effort to isolate
Stith on him. He burned him several times, which is where he got a lot of
his points. Also, on one possession, the shot clock was running out and the
Celtics offense was going nowhere. With about 2 seconds left, Stith got the
ball, upfaked his defender into the air, and drew the foul on a three
pointer, and then sunk the three free throws. Vintage Reggie Miller type
play. He's a solid, smart veteran player. His FG percentage (43%) isn't a
great indication of his offensive contributions because he gets to the line
a lot and makes them.

During the offseason I thought that two of our major needs were a solid
backup point guard and a swingman who could play decent D and hit the
outside shot enough to spread the floor. Randy Brown is a good addition
because he's so solid at the defensive end. I have to admit that when he's
dribbling up the floor against pressure, he looks shaky in a way that Kenny
never does. For our team, that's not as big an issue because Antoine
handles the ball so much. And at the swingman position, Stith seems to be
exactly what this team needs, and probably a better addition than Mercer
would have been, assuming that he's truly healthy now. So far this season,
he's shown the ability to consistently hit the open 3, which is what this
offense needs to complement Pierce and Walker. He doesn't seem to have an
ego where he feels like he needs a certain number of offensive touches, but
he's smart enough and talented enough to get points when the team needs it,
frequently by drawing fouls. He's a veteran and a solid defender. I'm very
impressed with him.

I hope that some of those basketball brains of his rub off on Antoine and
Paul. I saw today why people are down on Pierce, because he really
attempted quite a few ridiculous degree of difficulty shots. He also failed
to run back on defense if he drove it and thought he was fouled, which is
something we always bash Antoine for. On the plus side, he's pretty
aggressive going to the hole this year. He's also driving and dishing it
off to his teammates for some open jumpers. With halfcourt defense, he
frustrated Odom for most of the game, with the help of timely double teams
from his teammates. I think the coaching staff did a good job scouting Odom
although he came alive in the fourth quarter through sheer talent.

Alex

Alex