Re: One more prediction (44)

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Jim Meninno wrote:

> So, as I get out my calculator, I predict that the Boston Celtics will win
> 44 games this year, roughly on par with last year's Toronto and Detroit
> teams.  While Joe is hoping that his prediction of 33 will invoke the spirit
> of Larry Bird, I guess I'm calling on Danny Ainge.

Well, I'm glad at least you aren't invoking the spirit of Bill Russell (or,
worse, Robert Parish).

I'm posting Cofman's article about defense below, because I think both of our
cocaptains have some excellent, positive things to say.

Go Celts!

Joe


***

Simple plan: C's need `D'
by Mark Cofman
Tuesday, October 31, 2000

The Celtics should be able to score lots of points this season. Whether they can
stop opponents from doing the same will determine their fate.

On the eve of their regular-season opener against Detroit at the FleetCenter,
the Celtics know it's really that simple.

``We're all very aware of what we have to do to get this team over the hump this
season,'' third-year star swingman Paul Pierce said after the team's practice
yesterday at Sports Authority Center in Waltham. ``We were in most of our games
last year mainly because we had the ability to score points.

``A lot of times we'd hit a big basket at the end of a game and figure we were
in good shape. But we lost some of those games because we didn't seem to make
the necessary (defensive) stops at the end. We watched a lot of close games slip
away from us.''

Reflective of Pierce's assessment, the Celtics lost 13 games last season by
three points or fewer. And while some of those games featured unlikely
buzzer-beating shots, the reality is the Celtics never should have been in that
position. Often, a series of defensive breakdowns down the stretch had as much
to do with a Celtics' defeat as any last-second heroics by an opponent.

``It wasn't so much that the effort wasn't there defensively for us, we just
weren't athletic enough,'' Celtics coach Rick Pitino said, warming up to his
favorite topic. ``The athleticism was really lacking on defense.

``We had guys who weren't the quickest laterally and they were getting beat off
the dribble. I think we're better than that this season.''

Pitino's optimism centers around the additions he and general manager Chris
Wallace have made to the roster. The second-unit personnel (newcomers Randy
Brown, Bryant Stith, Chris Carr, Jerome Moiso and holdover Adrian Griffin) would
appear to have the athleticism to put Pitino's pressing-and-trapping style to
work in an effective manner.

At the same time, however, Pitino's call to arms defensively must be embraced by
the team's higher-profile players - whether they're pressing or playing
conventional half-court sets.

``We don't have any choice but to focus on defense if we want to do anything
this season,'' said Antoine Walker. ``After last year, it was pretty clear that
defense was what we were lacking in getting ourselves to the next level. We just
didn't get the job done, especially in critical points of the games where all we
might have needed was one or two defensive stops.

``I think we have enough offensive firepower to compete with the playoff teams,
but we have to eliminate the thought we can outscore people. Defense is
something you can control because it involves a lot of effort. You can't control
how many shots you're going to make on a given night because everybody has off
nights offensively.

``So by dictating your defensive effort and strategy, you'll be able to bail
yourself out of some games where you're not hitting your shots. That's how the
good teams rack up wins. That's what we have to do.''

Added Pitino: ``Where last year I would say on a scale of 1-10 our defense was a
2-3, now I would rank it as a 5-6 with a chance to get to 8. I don't think
you're ever going to have a perfect situation defensively unless we get a major
shot-blocker in here, but we can get to the point in which we're a very good
unit with team defense. That's our goal.''

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