Re: Pierce needs to sit

[Jon Mc <jamminon@yahoo.com>]

Jamey said exactly what I wanted to say.  Tommy Heinsohn has finally 
brought to the forefront the problem with the Celtics, and it all comes 
down to having young stars who are so talented that they were able to get 
by without learning fundamentals in high school, and they barely had time 
to learn fundamentals in their abbreviated college careers.  The other 
half of the equation is a coach who - despite knowing what's wrong - 
doesn't have the guts to sit his co-captains down when they don't follow 
the most basic rules of winning basketball.  

These players need to have fundamentals ingrained as habits so they don't 
even think about them, they just see & do them.   What I mean by 
fundamentals is things like getting back on defense CONSISTENTLY 
fast, passing the ball upcourt fast on offense and quickly filling the
lanes
on the break, looking for the open man quickly EVERY time you're double-
teamed (and actually having an outlet in mind BEFORE you're double-teamed),
frequently making a fake or two when shooting, or even a fake pass
one way before passing the other way, calming yourself down before taking 
a free throw, and  putting a body on someone when 
rebounding.  Once these are ingrained as habits which they don't have to 
think about, they'll be easily into the playoffs, then the players can 
start thinking at the higher creative level that's needed to win
championships. 

Until Pitino starts sitting players once they violate these basic rules, 
the Celtics won't get to that level.  A few guys already "get it".  
Adrian Griffin, Chris Herren and Randy Brown come to mind.  (Notice that 
these are all guys who've missed a lot of games due to injury so far, 
and were all effectively out of Sunday's game... so I still have hope 
for much better team play when they're healthy).  Some others 
seem to be coming around.  Tony Battie has been consistently good, and 
at times outstanding (5 blocks in the first half last Wednesday), and was 
the only one hustling on defense in the 2nd half of last week's horrible 
loss to Philadelphia.  His rebounding has improved, although his blocking 
out isn't consistent enough yet.  Still, he's showing effort and
improvement
in the fundamentals, which the co-captains aren't.  

WHY ARE THEY THE CO-CAPTAINS??

Pitino needs to stop shouting what to do from the sidelines, which just 
gets his players confused and hesitating, and let them play without saying 
anything until he's pulled them off the court and told them what they did 
that caused him to pull them from the game, and what he expects them to do 
next time if they want to stay in the game.  Hey, if nothing else he'll 
save his voice and feel a little less stressed to boot. 

Jon Mc

Jamey Rallis <rallis@vgi.com> said:
> Anyone who wants to know why the celtics lost, just needs to listen to
> Tommy H.  So much for being the team's cheerleader.
> 
> How many times is Tommy gonna get the chance to flay Pierce for not
> hustling back on defense (and Walker)?  I have the feeling Walker may
have
> been the wrong role-model for Pierce.
> 
> How many times will the cameras focus on Pierce driving into 3 players,
> get stripped, and then watch for 2 full seconds before he even STARTS to
> run back on defense, and then non-chalantly skip steps to start jogging
> slowing to half-court?
> 
> How many times will opponents race down the full length of the court
> before Pierce travels 10 feet?
> 
> How many times will we see Pierce jack up a shot against 3 defenders, and
> then complain to the refs while the other team scores?
> 
> Tommy made a great point about why Pitino needs to go.  A real coach
would
> bench a player that didn't hustle back on D.  But when you're 2 offensive
> players, Walker and Pierce, are the main culprits, how much does trying
to
> win offset discipline?  Personally I think Pierce especially needs to be
> benched.  Start Williams and Stith and bring Pauly-Girl in in the 2nd
> quarter.  And yank him first time he fails to hustle back.  And as Tommy
> says, if you're gonna let the leaders of the team do it, everyone else
> will start doing it.
> 
> That's why teams are shooting 20 layups a game.  That's why teams are
> shooting 60%+ at times.  Headless chicken is bad enough, but these easy
> layups while Pierce and company lollygag up the court is embarrassing.
> And THEN he usually can be seen holding up his arm to get the ball
> fast-breaking back because he failed to run back on defense.  Give me a
> break.  I never pass the ball to buttheads like that.
> 
> If Pitino can't or won't sit Pierce or any other player that feels like
> defense is a waste of energy, and I mean the simple act of getting back
> there, nothing more, then Pitino has to go.   He talks about loving his
> players, screw that, show them some tough love AND START BENCHING PEOPLE.
> 
> The Celtics are a league joke for one reason, Pitino has no balls.  He
> can't discipline anybody.  Get Cowens.  Get anyone with balls.
> 
> And BTW, I love the fact that Tommy seems to be drawing the cameras to
> look for this.  How embarrassing will it be for Pierce and Walker to have
> everyone constantly seeing this crap every broadcast?  They should show
it
> on the jumbotron.
> 
> Who cares if Pierce scored 41 points the other night?  he's giving up at
> least that much in fast breaks himself.  Girly-Paul needs to get with the
> program.  And Pitino needs to show him the program, ie riding the pine
can
> cause serious splinters, not to mention serious stat-cramping.



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