Maverick game

[DJessen33@aol.com]

I have been out of the country and have missed some horrible games. It seems 
the Celts have given up. Pitino is a goner. The recent Pitino rumblings of a 
major trade have me scared. I don't want Pitino trading anyone since he is on 
the way out. I want the next guy to fix the team. However, if he was able to 
get someone like Mutumbo but yet keep Walker and Pierce, I would be willing. 
A Rahim for Walker deal may also be interesting. However, I would really like 
to close up shop and just develop players (see Moiso, Palacio<sp>--the black 
Italian<g>)...Speaking of Moiso, I also think the Moiso sighting in the 
Denver game was a trade tease for the Nuggets. Pitino has always been in love 
with LaFrentz who is in the Frentz with Issel. Regardless of the mistakes he 
makes, he should be playing 10 minutes a game. At this point, what difference 
would it make? I was thinking this after the Celts went down by 17 in the 
first quarter to the Mavs. How much worse could any team do? As bad as the 
Clips and Bulls have been in recent years with very little talent, have they 
ever went down by 17 in the first quarter? At least the Clips developed their 
talent by playing their young guys. We should be looking long-term and doing 
also...I would like to see more of this Palacino or whateverhisnameis. I have 
said he has a great NBA body and reminds me of Billups or Quinn Buckner. When 
he runs, he really reminds me of Billups. Perhaps Pitino has sour grapes 
about Billups after watching him bloom with the Wolves. Palicino really helps 
out on defense even though he isn't stealing the ball necessarily. He wasn't 
able to stop Nash's penetration since the ref's were giving him the rookie 
treatment. His 3 attempt was 3 feet short. But he looks much more comfortable 
than what I saw a week ago. Pitino put him in with the game on the line with 
4 minutes left so he must also like him. The C's did come back in the third 
with him in the lineup. Is that all their really need? Just a little help on 
D?...VP had a nice game, playing with passion. Battie played with no passion. 
Pitino has yanked pretty hard on Battie's leash timewise and I suppose he is 
ticked...Pierce was unstoppable and Pitino pulled him for a prolonged stretch 
in the third. The Maverick kept questioning on why Pitino would do such a 
dumb thing like pulling the hot guy. The C's lost the momentum and fell 10 
back. Pitino puts Pierce back in the Hubert Davis was all over him like a 
cheap suit. Kenny (for some strange reason) couldn't get him the ball. Pierce 
hardly touched the ball in the fourth. When he did, he forced it big time. It 
is obvious that he gets frustrated when the guys don't pick him open or pass 
him the ball when he knows he is the man, at least on offense...I did like 
some of the little penetration things that Palacino did. I want to see 
more....Stith still solid. Erik Williams didn't play fortunately. Walter 
played just a little, also fortunately. I would rather see a Philly no. 1 out 
there rather than Griffen...Pitino actually did something interesting 
tonight, other than playing Palacino at crunch time. He put Battie on Nash on 
defense. It actually worked. Battie stopped his penetration 2-3 times. I 
don't know if it was Pitino's idea or just worked out that way but we need 
more of this. Remember a few years ago that Pitino put Battie on Grant Hill 
and Battie shut him down. However, Pitino can't get past the paradigm that 
Battie is just a center so we won't see any other creative things (like 
Walker at point or Battie at power forward) until Pitino is out of here...

DJessen33