Re: damn

["Jim Meninno" <Jim_Meninno@hotmail.com>]

----- Original Message ----- From: "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@usit.net>

> Damn, 91-89.  So close, and yet

This was one of those games where the Celtics played awfully, but still had
a good chance to win.  In fact, Pierce had a three pointer go down half way
and spin around the rim three times before popping out with about 20 seconds
left.  The Celtics shot the ball horribly all night though.  It looked like
they were getting pretty good shots a lot of the time, but just didn't hit
them.  Somehow, despite shooting 27-72 and missing 10 free throws, they only
lost by two points.  Probably because they had a rebound edge and a turnover
edge, giving them 7 more shot attempts and 6 more free throws attempted.
They did not seem to move the ball well, and I'm surprised to note that they
had 19 assists on those 27 baskets.

Those of you on a Battie watch might be concerned that he only played 18
minutes.  To me he looked just as active and aggressive as the first two
games (and the box score confirms he had 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in that
time).  Wow, that makes three games in a row for him.  He did suffer from
the same shooting funk as the rest of the team, though. Vitaly had his best
game of the year.  He wasn't great, but hopefully this is a good omen, that
he will be useful against teams with more beef.  Vitaly was used extensively
in the second half, when the Celtics narrowed the gap.  Battie did get in
alongside of him for a while, and I don't remember the results.

Pierce looked out of sorts all night.  Towards the end, Rick left him on the
bench, until it was time to make the final push.  Paul missed that three,
but it was a good shot that all but went in.  He also made a nice move to
get free in the lane, and missed the shot.  At the end, the Celts had one
possession with 10 seconds or so on the clock, down two.  The ball came into
Kenny, who handed off to Pierce, behind the arc.  Paul tried to make a move
and was stripped.  Game over.  Not the roughest evening Paul has had this
year, but it's probably second.  Tommy was speculating, and I agree, that he
may be more like 90% back from the stabbing, not 100%.  Big minutes in
back-to-back games seemed like too much for him.

Antoine got blocked.  A lot.  The Cav's had 12 blocks and (slight
exaggeration for effect)10 of them could have been against Antoine.  He shot
8-22, despite hitting a lot of the shots that didn't get blocked.  I think
this is more to do with the lack of team ball movement than anything.  When
he gets into the mode where he makes one-on-three low post moves, he eats
the ball.  He did grab 9 boards, though, and scored 25 points, primarily
because he's continuing to hit his free throws.  Has anyone noticed that
he's shooting 15-16 (.938) from the line this year?  Wow!  Keep it up
'Toine.  His rebounding has been good, but his assists are way down (1.7).

Also, even though he only played 3 minutes, I've just got to mention Jerome
Moiso.  I have simply never seen a player so lost on a basketball court.  At
one pint, he was guarding the wrong man, and Eric Williams had to go tell
him who to guard.  He keeps looking like he's in the wrong place on offense,
too.  He did score the first points of his career, though, and generally
looked like he was trying more to make something happen, like Rick has been
asking for.

All in all a pretty crappy effort from the Guys in Green.  They shouldn't
have such stagnant efforts this early.  Even though it was a back-to-back
road game, they haven't played enough to be tired yet.  The good news is
that they will not shoot this badly in many games this season.  They just
can't.  It would have been nice to get that back-to-back monkey off their
backs right away.  The next one is this Saturday in Philadelphia.  That's,
obviously, a much tougher win.

Jim