Bucks game

[DJessen33@aol.com]

All in all a nice game by the C's. Excellent defense throughout. Walker was 
cold in the first half but warmed up in the second. He played the entire game 
but wasn't the rebounder we saw in the previous two games...We were really 
playing well and had a four point lead. Pierce came back in and was a little 
cold. Walker also appeared tired to me after having no rest in the second 
half. Walker tried his thing from the left wing twice with no avail. Pierce 
tried to slash twice looking for a miracle shot or foul and nothing to show 
for it. They started a play with Stith on the right post but he passed out 
since he is much more successful from the left post. So we just couldn't get 
anything on the offensive end when we needed a basket. We went down by four 
and Brown turned an ankle. Our next opportunity saw Kenny snake to the basket 
to put up a weak attempt resulting in a fast break three score on the other 
end. Now that sounds familiar, doesn't it? Then we try Stith on the left 
post, under great pressure, he throws it away. Then little Cassell calls for 
the ball so he can post up Kenny in the post and he scores to put us down by 
9 with two minutes left and the game over. A great effort that was just lost 
by just not getting the ball to the people in their favorite spots to score. 
Otherwise, it was a great effort...I still love Palacio on D. He seems to be 
quite weak offensively. He will pass the ball up the court and seems really 
unselfish.  He had a nice pentration to lay down to V who got his shot 
blocked. I would like to see Palacio pentrate more to see what he can 
create...It is something to see Pierce break open on the wing early in the 
halfcourt offense to see Kenny just look at him and continue to pound the 
ball....It was embarassing to see Cassell call for a post on Kenny...I really 
liked the substitution pattern for the first time this year. Pitino subbed 
Griffen in for Pierce early along with Kenny for Palacio and VP for Battie. 
Thereby we bring back some offense and deffense and still have Walker in 
there. Then, we subs out Walker and Stith and brings back Battie and Pierce. 
Again he brings back some offense and defense. Very nice and there was some 
nice continuity. Griffen got three fouls and he had to go with Eirk Williams 
so it wasn't paradise but left hope for the future....Griffen continues to 
look better but still has a ways to go....If you think that Tommy complains 
about the refs, you should have heard the Buck announcers. It was unreal. 
Sure the Celts were shooting more free throws but the Celts were going to the 
basket where the Bucks were content to shoot from outside...With the game 
tied near the end of the game, Battie was guarding Glen Robinson. He did a 
great job but Robinson scored anyways. Here again was an instance showing 
that Battie can play small forward or at least should be playing power 
forward....Note that the Bucks no. 1, Prsybilla, didn't play just like Moiso 
didn't...

                                       .........Merry Christmas!......

DJessen33