Re: Another Win

["John Lyell" <johnlyell@hotmail.com>]

I agree with Alex, I  am pleased with Stith's play but disappointed in Chris
Carr's invisibility. I thought he would ad some key bench scoring also.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexander Wang" <awang@MIT.EDU>
To: <celtics@igloo.igtc.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: Another Win


> 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
>
>