Great column by Bob Ryan in the Globe

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

Haven't seen this posted yet.  Makes all the points I wish I had...

 <<...OLE Obj...>> 
ust exactly how much basketball experience does it take to know, that,
unless your name is Kevin McHale, a shot while triple-teamed when your team
trails by 2 and really needs a basket is not a very good idea? 
The apparent answer is somewhat more experience than Paul Pierce has,
because that's what the lad did during yesterday's 98-87 loss to the
Vancouver Grizzlies. 
''At a time like that,'' said coach Rick Pitino with a sigh, ''a young
player has to learn that a pass can do as much damage as a shot.'' 
Pierce is talented. Oh, boy, is he talented. He is so talented he scored 27
points while playing a pretty bad game. He missed far too many makeable
jumpers, he was, as usual, one of many Celtics who didn't get back on
defense to help prevent transition baskets, and he even contributed a
damaging three-second violation when it was still a 2-point game (86-84)
with 4:23 remaining. He was a tepid 7 for 12 from the line. But because he
has innate physical gifts he somehow squeezed out 27 points. There are guys
in this league who couldn't get 27 if they were allowed to include three
days worth of practice layups. 
But mere physical talent does not translate into wins in the World's
Greatest Basketball League. You've got to make what the late, great Boston
College guru Frank Power used to call ''The Connection,'' which was Powerese
for the interplay of body, mind, and heart as applied to the essentially
uncomplicated sport of basketball. Teams such as the Celtics continually
lose games because they fail to make The Connection. 
Michael Adams knows. The lovable little 3-point shot artist is now an
assistant coach with the Grizzlies. This is only Adams's first month as a
Grizzlies assistant, and already he has seen too many losses that should
have been wins because his team couldn't make The Connection. Pierce's very
ill-advised shot is something Adams has seen before. 
''They looked like us,'' he said with a smile. 
''Youth'' and ''inexperience'' are practically swear words in the modern
NBA. The league has become infested with Talents who lack The Connection.
Night after night, and even occasionally in the daylight, Pitino strides to
the podium and delivers a wistful ode to the value of ''experience.'' And he
is hardly alone. Most coaches of second- and third-tier teams bemoan their
team's youth after a loss. These coaches very often finish up by
rhapsodizing about Karl Malone and John Stockton. 
Fine. It's a universal belief, so there must be something to it. We do know
that the NBA is infested with incomplete players (and, more importantly,
people) who have spent anywhere from two years in college, max, to none at
all. The greater the raw talent, the lesser the chances are of a player
reaching his third year of college. In most drafts, the best senior is the
NBA equivalent of Mr. Irrelevant. 
OK, so the NBA features kids. But what are they being asked to do, work on
the Manhattan Project? It's just basketball, in most cases something they
have done on close to a 365-day-a-year basis for anywhere from five to a
dozen years before they enter the NBA. Sure, there are differences between
junior high and high school and high school and college and college and the
pros, but most of those differences are physical. Is there really that much
difference in how the game is conceived? A well-coached high school team
ought to have a decent comprehension of how the game should be played. 
Certain concepts should be universal. Hit the open man. Help out on defense.
Take it to the hoop if the offense becomes stagnant. When in doubt, move it
inside-out. Maintain floor balance so as not to surrender too many fast
breaks. Box out on the boards. If there are two or three men on me, somebody
must be open. Are any of these things quantum physics? 
There is nothing on that list that should faze a moderately intelligent high
school player. 
One of the great contradictions of the game is that you can almost have too
much talent. An excess of talent doesn't make someone a bad person, but it
does breed overconfidence and an unwillingness to trust one's teammates.
Pierce has All-Star Game talent. But so do a lot of other people, including
one of his teammates (Antoine Walker) and at least two members of the
Grizzlies (Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby). Shooting the ball while
triple-teamed was not then, and will never be, the propitious thing to do. 
Pierce may only be 23, but he has played in several hundred organized games
against great competition. He's got an appropriate pedigree. At what point
does youth and inexperience stop being excuses for sheer bad judgment? 
It just isn't that complicated. ''You can't shoot in a double- or
triple-team,'' Pitino said. ''What you do is pass the ball around and get
your team an open shot.'' 
Do you need 10 years in the NBA to figure that out? 
Or do you just need a little selflessness and a reasonable basketball IQ? 
''You learn pretty quickly which players get it,'' said Adams. ''In two or
three years, you either grasp it, or you don't.'' 
Walker is in Year 5. Pierce is in Year 3. They need to start making The
Connection.