Re: Most Improved Celt:Pitino

[opi@unesco.org]

Personally, I have no problem with the fullcourt press used situationally in every
single game. Actually, the aspect of Pitino-style defense that raises doubts for
me is actually the halfcourt defense (traps & multiple switches into double teams
such as when the ball is located in or near to either baseline corner). At the NBA
level, I feel  that this has so far provoke fairly routine size and strength
mismatches, players caught out of position or lost in no man's land, and a lot of
wide open perimeter jumpshots once the ball rotates out of there. This is after
all the NBA. Most players don't panic...they'll either pass or exploit the
temporary size advantages. There's no margin for error.

People infer that the Celts are somehow athletically so inferior to the NBA norm
that can't even rank among the top 28 teams in defense. I actually think it has
been the system that has failed (or, if you are being charitable, the team's total
failure to grasp its intricacies even after playing it for their entire careers in
some cases). Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a viable middle ground
between simple man-to-man defense (which no one really uses) and the remarkable
complexities of Pitino ball.  If you take Pitino for his word, his defense is
apparently so damn complicated that he couldn't even budget time to teach offense
last season. Even good, well conditioned athletes end up lunging after awhile or
looking generally confused by all the counter-intuitive "leave your own man to
guard the passing lane near an opponent twice your size who doesn't even have the
ball" level of complexity.

A team like Detroit - which often has three point guard level passers positions on
the floor- tends to abuse the Celts when we use these kinds of gimmicks in the
past. Milwaukee, whom we trounced last week, also tends to spank us around.

So who knows, maybe our Celts (bless their hearts) are finally getting it. They
obviously have ten of their next thirteen games on the road but they are certainly
playing well enough right now to maintain or, if our prayers are answered, further
tighten this playoff race. Do you believe in miracles?...YES!

If I were Orlando or Milwaukee, I'd be a little nervous about who's in the rear
view mirror.

As loaded as the Bucks truly are, they still have a barebones center rotation of
starter Scott Williams (230 pounds) and Ervin "Don't Call Me Magic" Johnson (245
pounds). Not only do they not have a 7-footer on the roster but they also don't
really have any big man other than Traylor who outweighs freaking Tony "Batgirl"
Battie.

Go Celts!



****

Dan Forant wrote:

> The Celts were the only team playing this dizzying style of defense. If as
> you say in 1-2 years they learn the half court defense, they won't have to
> press, except for the occassional attempts, which all teams do.
>
> At 10:39 AM 3/13/00 -0500, you wrote:
> >Dan Forant <dforant1@nycap.rr.com> said:
> >> Whodathunkit. Pitino changes strategy for a few games and we start winning.
> >> No college pressing. The team is definitely playing much better defense.
> >> Pitino said he left the greatest job in Basketball, that's because he never
> >> coached the Celts before.
> >
> >
> >My feeling is that if this is the reason for the improvement (some
> >people also point to a spirited team meeting last week) then it's
> >probably mostly or all due to the simplification of the defensive
> >strategy that's helping, rather than it not being possible for the
> >press to work.  I believe the press can work very well if executed
> >correctly.  The problem is you've got a very young team implementing
> >it against much more experienced teams, and the experienced teams
> >pick it apart.  In college, all the teams have the same experience,
> >which is not much, so the press befuddles.  In the NBA, there can be
> >huge gaps in experience, so a poorly executed press will leave gaps
> >that an experienced passing team will calmly find and exploit.
> >
> >The problem is, the press takes so much time to learn that the Celtics
> >haven't put their full attention on learning man-to-man/halfcourt
> >defense.  They've decided to put full attention on halfcourt defense
> >until they've got it working well.  Simplifying is the key with a young
> >team.  Keep it simple.  Use the press only in situations where other
> >teams would use it, and bring it back as a weapon only after they've
> >mastered the half court, which means at least a year from now, maybe
> >more.
> >
> >Jon Mc
> >
> >