Wasn't there a game last night?

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

Haven't seen any posts on last night's loss, so I'll chime in with some
thoughts. Didn't see all of the game, so keep that in mind.

Good effort overall, although I'm sure Pitino will have concerns about the
defense. Considering Orlando is scoring a lot of points this preseason,
however, it doesn't seem quite so bad. Celts had little trouble scoring on
the other end.

Important overall point: The Celtics are just executing better this year.
They're getting better shots and running great plays off of inbound plays.
They seem to understand "situational" basketball better. They're doing a
better job at the ends of quarters in getting good shots. I think this  is a
credit to Pitino and the coaching staff as well as testament to the
importance of playing together and developing a little chemistry. Anyone
else noticing this, because it really jumps out at me.

Key stretch came midway through the fourth quarter after Celts had taken a
one-point lead with a nice run. Orlando responded with 10 straight points.
Celts still came back, but couldn't get over the hump. (A couple of shaky
calls went against them during this stretch.)

Good effort considering Brown and Herren were out (along with Battie, but
let's face it... he's always out). Miskiri had to play quite a few minutes.
That won't happen in the real world.

Individually, Toine played well again. He took 27 shots last night, but I
didn't feel like he really forced anything. He's taking a lot of 3-pointers,
which I thought he had said he wasn't going to do, but he's making a nice
percentage. His perimeter shot looks much better. He slipped at the foul
line (5-for-10 I think), but he's been better there for the most part. The
Celts need him to rebound better, because they are getting killed on the
boards.

Pierce didn't play especially well, but he came up with a big three-point
play down the stretch that kept the Celts in the game.

Kenny played pretty well again. He still drives me crazy with some of his
decision making. He took a couple of quick jumpers during that 10-0 run that
made the difference. You want to know the difference between Kenny and
Herren? Kenny beats his man and pulls up for a 15-foot jumper. Herren beats
his man and attacks the hoop to either score, get fouled, or create for a
teammate. If Kenny does venture into the lane, you know he's shooting. His
decision-making down the stretch may not be a factor once the season starts,
because I won't be surprised to see either Brown or Herren in there at
crunch time. Still, he shot the ball well overall. 

Chris Carr had another nice game. Pitino is going to have a really tough
decision to make on who to put on the injured list. McCarty seems like a
lock, but he's going to be joined by one of these guys: Carr, Bryant Stith,
Adrian Griffin or Eric Williams. This assumes no one comes down with a
legitimate injury between now and then (dangerous assumption). Pitino seems
to like Williams, so the choice really comes down to Carr, Stith or Griffin.
The question is what do you need more off the bench--Carr's offense or
Stith/Griffin's defense and all-around game. Griffin is improving but really
hasn't played as well as either Carr or Stith to this point. Maybe Adrian
gets some time to let his ankle heal. One last possibility: Moiso. He only
played six minutes last night and hasn't played well since his first couple
of games. Was fairly active last night. He seems safe only because his
absence would make the frontcourt awfully thin.

Blount played well again. Had two more blocked shots. He's a player.

Vitaly did what he does.

One trend to continue to keep an eye on: Rebounding. The Celts aren't doing
it well. The press (full and half-court) is forcing a lot of turnovers, but
Orlando got those lost shots back by hitting the offensive boards hard.
That's one of the problems with playing Eric Williams a lot of minutes at
small forward. He doesn't rebound at all. And with Pierce at guard, he is
out of rebounding position. That's one factor that may point to Stith
starting at that swing spot. He rebounds well for a 2-guard, and you get
Pierce's rebounding at the SF spot. It also explains Pitino's desire to
develop Moiso at that SF spot. He certainly would help the rebounding
efforts.

Overall, I'd say another encouraging outing. Remember, this was their third
game in four nights. Another back-to-backer tonight should show us
something. So far, they've handled this tough scheduling stretch
well--something they haven't done the last two seasons.

Mark