Re: In praise of sluggish play

[David A Wickerham <aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu>]

Heinson didn't cut the C's any slack on the schedule.. As he put it,
"nobody played 40 minutes in any of those games".  I've got to believe the
2 a days are much more tiring for the players than the exhibition game.  I
think the Cs came out and saw a team with only 2 true NBA players (JJ and
McLeod) and decided they could win by just tossing their jocks on the
floor.  They played in brief spurts and still managed to stay in the game.
I think the lack of an audience (I don't think there were 1000 fans in
attendance) also contributed to the lackluster effort on both sides.  I
wish I could agree with Gene, but unless I hear a lot more embarassment
from the Celtics on this stinker, I'm guessing that no meaningful essons
can come  game.

Regarding Moiso, the statistics in this game don't tell the real story.
His rebounding instincts and athleticism are fine, but he's as clueless
about the offense today as he was in Game 1.  Several times, he ended up
standing next to other Celtic players and stopping an offensive flow that
was week to begin with.  He needs a lot more tiome on the practice floor
and I wouldn't be sad to see him go on IR for awhile.

****davew

On Wed, 25 Oct 2000, Hironaka wrote:

> "Berry, Mark S" wrote:
> 
> > Last night was the fourth game in five nights. None of us like it, but in
> > the NBA you see games like that in those situations.
> 
> I think that's an excellent point and the most relevant one to make about last
> night. The Hawks were playing on three nights rest besides, and were anxious to
> end their 0-6 start to the preseason.
> 
> Still, there really appears to be little margin for error on this Celtics team,
> even with Pierce back in the lineup and especially without him.
> 
> Last night the Celts starters went all out in minutes against a weak team that
> lacked two of their three players who averaged double-figures last season in
> Alan Henderson and Dikimbe Mutombo (who is only the best defender and rebounder
> in the conference) along with lottery pick DerMarr Johnson. Combined
> Mutombo/Henderson provided over 21 boards per game last year.
> 
> When you subtract those two from the lineup, Atlanta should not have been able
> to stomp us on the boards with a +9 differential (47 to 38).
> 
> If you are tracking trends, the offense-free Hawks shot a handy 46.6 FG% and
> Boston's rebound total was even less than their average over the past four games
> (40.0), which as noted yesterday would have ranked them easily dead last in the
> NBA in rebounding last season.
> 
> The lack of rebounding so far will make Boston's margin for error even smaller.
> Above-average performances from both our franchise players in the same game
> won't necessarily guarantee a win this season, whereas on many NBA teams that
> would generally be the case.
> 
> I, too, am concerned about the trend that has seen Eric Williams start the last
> couple of games and the talk yesterday in the papers that he has "won" a
> starting job. Williams is not a very multi-dimensional player. If someone can
> confirm to me that's he been playing good defense in the preseason, then that
> would add a second dimension I guess.
> 
> Moiso has played slightly better for two straight games now, and he could still
> climb out of the 12th man/IR list all the way up to starter sometime during the
> season. In the meantime, I'd much rather see Adrian Griffin get twice as many
> minutes as Eric Williams.
> 
> But like Mark says this was four games in five nights. And it was a good lesson
> and a respectable enough achievement to get two legitimate road wins out of the
> five.
> 
> ----
> 
> 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
	  Dave Wickerham
	  aw623@freenet.buffalo.edu
	  Saratoga Springs, NY