Toronto etc.

[opi@unesco.org]

Lunch break for me. I just found a city mouse hanging around in one of
my desk drawers. Only in Europe do you see this kind of pestilence.

Tomorrow the Boston Celtics will host the Raptors (20-18) hoping to
close Toronto's 2.5 game lead in the playoff standings.

Raptors-List fans are probably more freaked out than all of us combined,
having seen their team win just three of nine games so far this month.
The Celts are 5-4 thanks to the losses to the Bulls and Grizzlies.

After a brief recovery, Toronto has again lost two straight games to
start their current road trip, both losses coming in ugly  21 point
blowouts courtesy of Milwaukee and Charlotte (last night).

Charlotte deserves credit, as they rebounded from 7 straight losses and
the death of Bobby Phils to beat Toronto behind an amazing 25-0 run
beginning at the end of the first half. David Wesley had 9 points and 9
assists.

Toronto will try to get revenge for the Celts season opener (103-90) and
try to reassert their sense of wily veteran superiority and athleticism
over us. In that game, Antoine shot 9-13 with 8 boards, 3 assists and 2
steals while Pierce shot 12-19 with 8 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals.
The Celts shot 52 percent behind Griffin's 7 assists and 0 turnovers.
Adrian and Pierce also held Vince Carter to just 3-10 shooting in 40
minutes.

Vince Carter is the leading vote-getter for the All Star game last time
I checked. He's hitting .458 FGs and averaging 24.5ppg, 6.0rpg and 3.9
steals. He's also among his team's leaders in steals (1.26) and blocks
(1.13) and is 22-66 on treys.

Pierce has gotten his full confidence back just in time for this
"showdown". For what it's worth, Pierce (19.6 ppg) is averaging more
rebounds and considerably more steals (2.37) than Carter and is the
better downtown bomber (41-109 for .373).

The Raptors use taller, non "true" point guards in 6-6 Doug Christie and
6-5 Alvin Williams, although Ty Bogues has been getting some serious
minutes (22 mpg). No Raptor player is averaging even 4 assists per game,
but amazingly 6 guys average over 3 per game (Plus McGrady averages 2.7,
nearly level with Antoine Walker's 2.8). The Raptors average 23.8
assists per game and will hope to tear our league-worst "outbreak" to
shreds.

Of the three aging power forwards, Antonio Davis has clearly established
himself as the finest. He is averaging 12.4ppg and an excellent 9.4
rebounds in just 31 mpg. The 37-year-old Willis (.389FG% in 21 mpg) and
to a lesser degree the 36-year-old Oakley (.419FG% and 8th on his team
in scoring at 6.6ppg) may be playing mostly on fumes.

But both these guys can cause Antoine some serious trouble. I strongly
believe Fortson can play effectively against them, so Wednesday will be
another sign of  Danny "Pukemon" Fortson's fitness or Pitino's interest
in playing him.

Frankly, Fort's playing time problem may boil down more to Antoine
Walker, who can't be expected to consistently guard McGrady much less
Carter even if he can probably abuse them just as badly on the offensive
end. I believe it must be this issue that is blocking Fortson from
getting anything but trivial backup center minutes on the outbreak unit.

Like Prof. Tom, I regard this as a genuine concern as opposed to a "just
be patient" thing. What if it is not even about money but rather playing
time (and winning) once Fortson turns into an unrestricted free agent
this summer? It's hard to envision Fortson getting starter minutes in
Boston with Walker around and given Pitino's apparent mindset.

I'm very much in favor of letting Walker go get "abused" at small
forward. I say make the other team adjust to our mismatches for once.
Some of the best Celtics teams from the 80s had very grave defensive
matchup problems at small forward, if you wish to dwell on it. When a
team is forced to make McHale a perimeter defender because Bird couldn't
cut it, that to me is a serious issue. McHale was a great overall
defender but please don't reply to this post by overrating his ability
to stop wing forwards. In one of our last 60 win type seasons, the most
non-descript small forwards (say Johnnie Newman) were literally lighting
it up one night after another against us.

Thankfully, we so dominated on the other end that teams had to adopt to
our mismatches (you'd sit a Johnnie Newman or Sean Elliot rather than
make them guard McHale). For example you'd start some 6-11 scrub at
forward for that game, which curiously enough was exactly our response
last week with Waltah guarding Kevin Garnett.

Even if they are a far cry from Bird and McHale, I think Walker and
Fortson can dominate in certain key aspects of the game. I think Bill
Cooper argued that Walker could get as many offensive rebounds as
Fortson in that alignment, just from all the space Fortson commands.
Watching Kittles or whomever try to guard Walker posting up would also
have been a treat.

Joe

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