Re: Another Win

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

These are the little things a coach would do, like tell Pierce the game
doesn't end if he doesn't get a call, keep moving and thinking. This
pouting habit should have been broken a long time ago. He really doesn't
have status yet for this behavior. Celts seem to be jelling some but the
other teams are getting their act together also, we needed to have a better
record at this point. Tough games coming up.

Dan

At 05:00 PM 12/3/00 -0500, you wrote:
>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
>
>