Har Har ... That Was a Real Stinker

[bird <birdw@aloha.net>]

Well, it was a bad one, no doubt about it.  But at least the list 
conversation has avoided the usual knee-jerk negativity.  (The 
negativity is there -- how could it not after that game? -- but it's 
well thought-out).  I think Mark brings up some good points, but I've 
gotta side more with Cecil and Joe's point of view.  It's not like I 
didn't expect us to be 9-12 (or a similar record) -- easy schedule 
and all.  Nor did I think that we would necessarily beat Chicago -- 
last year's team proved that.  Still, it _was_ just one game (I may 
be a homer, I guess, but I can still count) -- no matter how you 
slice it, it's still one game.

I think it's easy to point to this game as evidence to support 
blowing up the team, or saying Pitino's gotta go, or trade Pierce or 
Walker or whatever, but, to me, it's just not very convincing, since 
I thought that things like this were going to happen throughout the 
season.  The C's will also beat one or two really good teams, and 
probably lose to a Vancouver- or Chicago-caliber team once or twice 
more, too.  Walker and Pierce had off nights, and no one else carried 
us, though I think Battie and Stith had pretty decent games, all in 
all, and, as someone else mentioned, V and Griff were playing hard, 
but not particularly well.

It's mostly about the defense, I think.  Though it sometimes looks 
good, workable, and even elegant, more often it looks lame, matador 
and layup-allowing.  More than wierd substitutions, player positions, 
or yelling on the sidelines (all of which irritate me), I'd say the 
team needs to reconsider what they are doing defensively -- what is 
our defense trying to accomplish (and how), and is it succeeding? 
Doesn't look like it to me.  A re-think is needed, and I like Joe's 
idea of playing more man-to-man and less gimmicky headless chicken. 
But let's be honest with ourselves -- that ain't gonna happen.

The team's going to have pitfalls like last night's game -- the 
nature of the beast.  If the players fall into the trap of the 
negative criticism, they'll only play worse.  If they can use it 
motivationally, and play out of this miasma, things could get better.

I'm just leery of letting any one game sway me into being either more 
positive than I think reality allows for (if they played well), or 
more negative (if they didn't show up like last night).

Wow, that really sucked hard, though.  And it was humiliating, losing 
to da Bulls.  At home.  Yikes.  I just don't see it as necessarily 
more important (or indicative of the team's "sucking") than, say, 
beating Cleveland meant they are  a great road team.

Regards,

Bill, Celtic "Tird"