The loss

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

The Sixers game hints that even making the '01 playoffs and meeting
Philly in round one could prove to be as much a demoralizing experience
as a useful rite of passage. Do you remember all the first and second
round opponents Boston faced back in the 80s, where a sweep was not
merely a sure thing but the average point differential was usually +14
or something? What good did it do for the development of most of that
first round fodder to get crushed by Boston in a round one sweep? The
Celtics need some work to do in the draft before we try to become a
fixture in the playoff party every year
.
The 22-rebound differential really hurt last night, and represents the
story of the season as a whole. Granted it would have been nice to make
the "sweet sixteen" and have a second season to look forward to for
once. It would have been fun for the list. The Celtics are still capable
of winning all of their remaining four games, something I'm hoping for
even though it probably won't make a difference. It depends on the
tiebreakers. Indiana's veterans have gotten that team back on track.

Bear in mind that Boston was on pace for a fraction less than 29 wins
the day Pitino left, and probably would have tanked even worse because
the hardest part of the schedule hadn't even begun.

Another thing. Let's assume that Obie is just an "average" NBA coach in
terms of talent and experience. Despite this, his team (without Battie
or Kenny) showed the ability to play solid basketball against a mostly
playoff-caliber second half schedule. Yes we won a lot more close games
and road games than before, but we also lost a lot of close games that
we normally would have been blown out of. In other words, we were
genuinely competitive.

The Celtics currently own the rights to the 10th, 11th and 18th picks,
but it is in a draft which is maybe 1.5 times deeper than Pitino's 1997
draft or the Olowokandi and Kenyon Martin drafts. This year's 10th and
11th picks are likely to be much better than what Orlando had available
in terms of talent with nearly similar picks back in 1998. Several guys
with a Pierce/Walker development potential will definitely be available
with the tenth pick, whether or not we are smart enough to pick him.

FWIW, Boston also owns 11 ping pong balls out of 1000 in the top-three
sweepstakes for YaoMing/EddyCurry (I guess this year's NBA draft slogan
could be: "are you up for some Curry or Chinese?")

I wonder how many recent drafts have had a team crash the top-three
through the lotto? A surprising number I'll bet. For example, the Spurs
probably had a similar record to Boston's this year, back when they won
the rights to Tim Duncan in 1997. I hope Red Auerbach attends the lotto.

When we look back on this season, I really do think we saw some things
to be proud of as fans. We used to talk about Pierce's All Star
potential....now we know. And as for Walker, he has gone from being a
triple-double tease to a guy who averaged a triple double for an entire
week, has five triple-doubles so far, six additional games with 9 or
more assists (another six games with 8 assists) and is a workhorse who
leads the NBA in minutes played and minutes per game.  We are becoming
the type of young, dynamic team that even non-local fans around the
world can start looking at this offseason and think to themselves "damn,
that's a cool team".

-------