New Jersey

[opi@unesco.org]

New Joisy has gone 13-5 to reverse a 2-15 start, and are probably would
act embarrassed if they can't beat us despite our identical records.

The Nyets have won three straight, including road wins at Miami and
Orlando.

They have had five different top scorers in the past ten games (Marbury
3 times, Kittles 3 times, Van Horn twice, Gill once, Newman once) and
seven different guys leading or tied for the lead in in rebounds (Feick,
Kittles, Cage, Gill, Marbury, Van Horn, McIlvaine) over that span.

In our 13 point win over them on November 19th, the Celts had a good
game from Antoine (25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 7-9 FTs, 9-17FGs in
just 33 minutes) and shot 50% from the field (Griffin was 7-10 with 11
boards, 5 assists, 3 steals)

Despite the undeniably impressive recent won-loss results, the Nets
still have a way to go to polish up their ugly individual stats.

Both Van Horn and Marbury are shooting just .414 from the field. The
next two leading scorers are at .433 (Kittles) and .405 (Gill). Big man
Jamie Feick is clanking away at .421, McIlvaine at .363.

The team as a whole is shooting a rancid .421 while allowing .463 for
opponents.

What are they doing right? Hard to say.

They are being outrebounded, outassisted and fouling more. They do force
a large number of turnovers (17.5) and commit very few (13.7). They are
a great FT shooting team (.783) with no bad foul shooters (Feick at .720
is lowest) among the top nine players in terms of  minutes per game.

Don Casey is the coach. Sherman Douglas also plays for them. The
seemingly immortal Johnnie Newman (36 years old and averaging 10.2ppg)
and Michael Cage (38 this month) have been in the NBA since the Celts
"glory days" of the mid-80s.

A win on Saturday night would mark the first weekend victory for the
Celtics this season. But unlike other tough losses, this one is not a
back-to-back.

The Celtics have at least a day of rest to prepare for the next four
games (NJ, Wash on the road, Toronto, Seattle at home).

The Celtics have never fallen below 5 games under .500

Our guys need to reestablish either their shooting eye (.406FG% in the
past four games) or defensive ability (NBA worst .471 for the season) or
preferably both in this game, leading into three more tough but equally
winnable games.

If they play to 85% of their ability when they have played at their best
this season, the Celtics will win.

If Antoine wants to be captain, he needs to step up and tell the guys
its time for some serious unselfish ball movement, total defensive
concentration and manic aggression on the boards. Paul Pierce also needs
to show some maturity beyond his years.

Time to head home for me.


Joe