"Rick the Ruler" and other interesting quotes from today's papers

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

	>>Anderson reacted well to the ``rest'' he was given by the officials in
the first half. Three
                fouls put the point guard on the pine for all but seven
minutes in the first two periods.
                He came back with a vengeance. But when he picked up his
fourth foul 3:18 into the
                third quarter, Pitino had Dana Barros off the bench and
headed to the scorer's table to
                check in. Anderson requested special dispensation.

                ``I asked to stay in and Rick the Ruler, you know, he
usually pulls people when they get
                their fourth foul,'' Anderson said. ``But he let me stay
in, so I thank him, too. He usually
                runs his ship the way he wants to, but he kept me in, so
that was a sign.''<<
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/sport/celts02162000.htm

I was glad to see Rick - who is *constantly* bemoaning how young the team
is - finally make use of what little veteran savvy and presence the team
does have by trusting in Kenny and allowing him to stay in the game. A
little flexibility can go a long way. Now if only he could the same for
Fortson. . . 

	>>Toronto coach Butch Carter isn't forgetting about the aborted trade
between his club at
                the Celtics last week. The Raptors were hot on the trail of
point guard Haywoode
                Workman, who had just been waived by Milwaukee. According
to Carter, the Celts said
                they would step in and claim Workman ahead of Toronto
unless he took Fortson.

                The trade for Alvin Williams and Sean Marks, of course,
came apart when Williams'
                right knee didn't pass the Celtic physical.

                ``Boston basically threatened us and forced us to make the
trade for Fortson,'' Carter
                said. ``Then they took some heat and found the coward's way
of getting out of the
                deal.''

                Pitino insists it was a medical issue.

                ``This is just something that happens in sports,'' he said.
``We had it happen to us with
                the Dino Radja trade to Philadelphia. They examine
someone's knee and the examination
                doesn't go well. What can you do?''

                He added there is no lingering problem with Fortson's
return to the fold.

                ``Well, the young man wanted to be traded, so it's not
overly awkward,'' Pitino said.
                ``We told him, `Look, c'mon back and do the best you can
and we'll see what happens.'
                His problem basically is he's backing up Antoine Walker,
who takes a lot of minutes. It
                would be like backing up Karl Malone. For someone looking
for a lot of minutes, that's
                not the best guy to back up.''<<
http://www.bostonherald.com/bostonherald/sport/cnots02162000.htm

Fortson added 4 pts and 5 rebs to the intangibles involved in leaning on
the Mailman during his court-ordered maximum of 12 minutes. A game like
tonight shows why Fort could be such an invaluable commodity during the
rest of this season. KEEP THIS GUY. When Pitino went to other match-ups
(Vitaly only playing 21 min, Fortson the aforementioned 12 min - yet still
a combined 4-8 with 12 boards in 33 minutes) the Cs got mauled on the
boards. And without Fort or Vitaly helping "contain" (if that's the right
word) Malone, the team doesn't pull out a win. 

I think this game was also a good demonstration of why Fort should get all
of Waltah's and Battie's minutes (headless chickens 1 and 1a - it's sad to
think that so many ways Battie has become only a slightly larger version of
our beluved Waltah). Hell, I'd love to be able to offer Fortson the MONEY
that's wasted on the headless duo - I'm sure it ($5.9 mil next season!?!)
would more than accommodate whatever "ridiculous" demands his agent is
making. The chicken brothers were virtually detrimental when on the floor
whereas Fort and Vitaly could and did do the bulk to do the necessary
defensive/rebounding dirty work. Twice down the stretch Vitaly forced
Malone to resort to fall-away shots (which missed). Speaking of which. . . 

	>>Pitino dreams of the day his team consistently outexecutes a good team
at the
                end of a close ballgame, the way it did last night.

                ''That won't start happening until we get a 4 [power
forward] or a 5 [center]
                who can defend in the low post in a physical manner,'' he
sighed. ''At the end of
                the game, we have to double-team, and then the ball goes
outside and a Jalen
                Rose beats us with a three.

                ''Look at our team. Kenny is having a terrific year. Paul
will be a great player
                when his defense catches up with his offense. Antoine [
Walker] is getting
                better. But we need that inside presence. We have to
acquire someone,
                somehow. It won't come from free agency.''<<
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/047/sports/The_second_effort_wasn_t_half_b
ad+.shtml

Didn't Rick just watch the same game we did? Didn't he see Vitaly and
Fortson "defend in the low post in a physical manner"? Did I just
hallucinate all that? 

Well, at least it does seem that Rick realizes (even if he refuses to come
out and say it) that despite all the "talk" about "Twon being unable to
defend 3s" that Twon simply cannot guard a legit PF in the post (no knock
on Twon intended - the guy is just too small). For the very brief time Twon
WAS assigned to Malone, the Mailman had his way - until Twon (quickly)
picked up his 5th foul, forcing a change in defensive strategy.

A great (and needed) victory! Now if we (read: Pitino) could only learn
from such efforts. BTW I think the game also provided evidence for Alex's
contention concerning pressure D insofar as light full-court pressure after
made hoops (not the heavy duty dunk-a-rama stuff) helped get the Jazz out
of their accustomed pace without giving up TOO many easy baskets. Go Celts!

-TomM