re:West Coast Swing

[opi@unesco.org]

The "Pitino Circus Geek Road Show" can still surprise us and finish .500
on this important West Coast trip.

Basically, the Celtics have to win two of the next three against
Portland, Vancouver and the Lakers.

I hope we beat the Lakers, but it falls ominously on the second night of
a back-to-back. A win against the Lakers will make the whole 1999-2000
season worth my wasting my time and energy on.

The Vancouver Grizzlies aren't as bad or nearly as lacking in talent and
chemistry as a Golden State team without their leading scorer (Antawn
Jamison), but they are still very beatable (8-18 at home). They beat the
Celts in Boston by 9 points, shooting 49% from the field, so the Celtics
have to be thinking about payback.

Portland matches up, um, pretty well with us. They rank number one in
the NBA in team FG% (.468). They are "only"  fourth in defense in terms
of FG% allowed (.419) but rank first overall in least points allowed per
game (89.2).

The Utah win was big for Boston, but the loss to Golden State was
frankly more typical of how our players respond to Pitino's sideline
antics. A typical audible comment when you watch taped games is Pitino
shouting something like "Kenny move your feet" or the surprisingly
common screech of "rebound" just as one of his players is in the process
of getting a rebound. I honestly don't believe Pitino is doing this for
the benefit of "teaching" but rather just out of his motor mouth habits.
Frankly, no mature adult reacts in a productive way to being singled out
for criticism in so loud and so public a way that you can hear it on
broadcast television. In the past, I've had some teammates (thankfully
no coaches) who by habit shout distracting, frankly useless commands at
teammates as you play. The worst is when they shout the obvious to you
just as you are in the process of doing it, as if you don't know what
the hell you are doing. This is what Pitino does.

he worst thing you can do in basketball is think too much, especially if
your reacting to negative reinforcement. A smart player has no choice
but to block out those voices.

It's obvious that game preparation is critical in an overall intelligent
and serious approach to the game, but once the game starts you have to
rely on instincts. Teams that are actually "thinking" on the court are
teams that throw away passes, fail to make an obvious pass etc. etc.
Basketball is not a "thinking" game. It's way to fast for that.

And obviously, pros have to play with total confidence and with the
fewest distractions possible. In some sense, if you played an entire
game wearing sound-proof earplugs, you're other four important senses
would be that much keener and better focused on the game. So just as I
applaud the few Celts players who can block out the crowd and other
pressures when they play, I also hope they can eventually learn to block
out the yap-dog coach.

I believe that even Pitino's assistants realize that all this yapping is
counterproductive, but they are lackeys and sycophants who like many us
admire how Pitino can take a very simple game and make it so complicated
that it resembles brain surgery.

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