Re: write the celtics "fan" mail

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

"R. Bentz Kirby" wrote:

> What kind of lines are these from a player 0-7, 4 rebounds and 4
> turnovers? 2 rebounds and 6 turnovers?

I actually predicted Antoine would get 2 rebounds and have a lousy game.
I'm a jinx machine.

BTW, contrary to a previous post, Antoine Walker leads Pierce in assists,
not just rebounds and freethrow shooting percentage. In fact, he leads the
entire team in assists thanks to Kenny's injury.

Turnovers are a glaring problem for Walker and Pierce. This is the second
season that Pierce is averaging as many or more turnovers as assists.
Look, on examination, I don't think you'll find many high scoring forwards
and big men who average much better than a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
That is to say, if the player in question only averages one or two
turnovers a game, it is because they also only average one or two assists.

For example, Battie's assist-t.o.-ratio is one assist for every 3.4
turnovers whereas Walker's ratio is one assist for only 0.93 turnovers
(about the same as pass-first Chris Herren's numbers this season). But no
one really talks about Battie being a turnover machine.

You want a bright side about last night? At least the Lakers lost too...

The Celts are our team. The 5 most exciting wins of the Pitino era (the
inaugural Pitino win against the Jordanaires, some of those Miami grudge
matches, the win in LA against the Fakers to move the Celtics to a 14-13
record in Pitino's first year) were just as thrilling and fun as the 5
most disappointing losses have been humiliating and demoralizing. We just
have to go with the flow as fans.

Giving up these absurd FG% every night is just one of those obstacles we
need to overcome. The Orlando game illustrates how small the margin of
error is when your defense is a league-wide joke. I mean how many times
have you ever seen a boxscore where a player, any player, delivers a
bonafide triple-double and his team still loses (particularly with another
teammate also having a career-type game with 41 points)?

The next coach has to realize Boston has better or at least equal
quickness than our opponents at all five starter positions, so there
actually may be potential remedies available to prevent open jumpers,
opposition layup drills and confused/frustrated play. I think the Celtics
have the energy and talent to play at least adequate as opposed to
league-wide joke defense. It is just too hard for our offense to get over
that nightly handicap on a consistent basis.

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