No Subject

[bird <birdw@aloha.net>]

>From: Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
>
>The old
>pro Anderson had a good game after being out awhile, maybe someone will
>need him more than we do and swing a deal.

Well, we can hope.  Though Kenny played well, I'm thinking back to 
when he first showed up and most folks thought he was a savior (me 
included).  He seemed to really want to push the ball in this game, 
too, which is unlike him.  I'm not sure it will last, but I hope so. 
He did have that "thread the needle" pass in the first half (I think) 
-- the one I thought had no chance of making it through the 
defenders, but it sure did.

Maybe the way to get the best out of Anderson is to play him in these 
3-4 minute stretches, even when he gets his wind back.  This gives 
minutes to Brown/Herren (when they're healthy), and maybe that'll 
help Pitino use Kenny more effectively.  Seemed to work decently this 
game, but it's only one game.

As for the rest of the game, any win is a good one, but some things 
still stand out.  What is the deal with Violet Palmer and Leon Woods? 
Violet is probably the worst official in the league, and it has 
nothing to do with her gender.  I don't remember Leon being 
particularly bad, but he certainly refuted that in this game.  Well, 
you can't do anything about the refs.

Moiso got a lot of minutes.  Whatever happened to Pitino's line about 
Battie getting more minutes as Walker's backup?  I told myself I'd 
believe it when I saw it, and I haven't seen it yet, but I saw a lot 
of clueless Moiso out there, even at the pivot for a time.  I don't 
know about the rest of you, but I'd rather see Blount in the game.  I 
know Moiso needs developmental time out in real games, but this was 
real close to a must-win game, and I didn't think Moiso getting 15 
minutes or so was a good call.  Didn't hurt us like it could have, 
though.

Dan is right (and I'll deny I said that if it ever comes up again) 
about Walker having perhaps his best game of the season.  He really 
looked to pass at times, and would have had more assists if Denver 
didn't do as good a job as they did making sure when they fouled the 
basket wasn't made.  (I wish the C's would do that -- almost nothing 
worse than the pansy foul that allows for the ball to go in the hoop, 
too.)  I'm not sure it _was_ Walker's best game, but it was pretty 
close, and I'll take this kind of production from him all the time, 
even with his 7 TOs.

Stith continues to impress me.  Nothing really spectacular, but when 
you see him constantly battling for the rebound in the paint with the 
big trees, you've just gotta like that.  He did have a really bad 
shooting night, as far as percentages go -- what was he, like 3-12 or 
something?

But by far the biggest thing that sticks in my mind was the stretch 
and the last shot.  Going into it, I just didn't have a lot of 
confidence in the team's ability to get a good look at the end of 
games, and certainly not a lot of hope that the basket would be made. 
When was the last time a buzzer-beater went our way?  Two years ago 
in Washington with Walker making the shot, wasn't it?  Not only did 
Pierce make the shot, he got a good look to win it, and he even got a 
good look at the end of regulation.

Perhaps the real story of the game was the turnovers and points made 
off of them, though.  Similar TOs for both teams (19 and 17), but we 
scored 25 pts off them, and they scored 9.  Not bad.

>From: Douglas342@aol.com
>
>Pierce tries, gets
>the foul called, and, it seems, almost always misses the first free throw.

It seemed like it, but he went 13-16 from the line -- not bad by 
anyone's yardstick, I'd hope (81%).  This doesn't really translate 
into him "almost always" missing the first one.  It _did_ seem like 
it, though; I was suprised to see the percentage when I looked at the 
box score.

Though I didn't mention them, there were the usual gaffs and 
Pitinoball or Celtic player mistakes -- the expected stuff.  They 
just didn't lose the game for us this time, for which I am greatly 
thankful.

Regards,

Bill, of course the Celtic "Tird"