Mav game etc..

[Jim Hill <jahill@leasingservice.com>]

I was at that game and there is no question in my mind that Pitino was
either out coached or lost the game on purpose.  When VP was replaced by
Batgirl after picking up a foul it was like "Am I watching a different game
then Pitino?"  Vp had what 17 points at the time and he is banished to the
bench for the rest of the game?  Was he scoring to much?

It was great to hear some cheers rewarding the hustle of Rodman, even if it
was a just a showboat move.  He clearly could not save the ball and it was
in a location that was safe.  But it was more hustle then the Celt's were
doing.  The part that is annoying is that the fans really backed the team in
this game.  It was all positive.  The cheering, stomping etc..  And then the
team let them down with ego driven basketball after playing unselfish ball
for the first half.  Walker had some outstanding passing inside in the first
half.  Then he just stopped playing team ball.

As an example, in the second half I saw Pierce trying to get Walkers
attention when a time out was called to discuss the previous blown play
between them, and Walker just ignored him and went over to chat up a ref.
Pierce was clearly p*ssed off.  His play went down after that.

It is a fact of life that when one (or more) members of a team, whether in a
sport, school or work situation doesn't add to the team the whole team
breaks down and everybody's output declines.  Hence the term "addition by
subtraction".  This has been the case with Mercer in his stop over with
Denver and perhaps with his current team.  It has also been the case with
other players in the league.  This may be the case with Walker.  The guy has
some great basketball skills.  However skill alone doesn't really carry the
load if it's not used properly.  It is clear Pitino can't control him or
doesn't see it.  Either situation is a problem.

Is it time to blow up the team?  Who would want what we have?  The Celtics
are being treated like the Clippers when teams deal with us.  I don't
believe Pitino is trusted by the other GM's.

I do believe the article by the Sportsguy that we are in worse shape now
then 4 years ago, if only because we would be out of the problem by the end
of this year.  Would Radja, Wesley, Fox, Walker, Brown, Mercer, Billips
etc...  be worse over the last three years then this group?  I doubt it.

Sorry to rant, the frustration is settling in.  No light at the end of the
tunnel to be seen.

<Jim