da bulls game

[bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>]

Wow, lose one and the list turns on the team, and Antoine Walker, like a 
pack of rabid dogs.  Unusually, Walker had a good game in Chicago.  At one 
point he was 7-9 from three-point land.  Yes, I know, three pointers suck,
  and Antoine should be "down on the box!" but hey, what are you going to 
do?  It's what the coaches and players want.  So, like the myth of putting 
Walker at the three and getting a bruiser power forward, so too the sands 
of the hourglass... .

Here's what I saw: Walker kept us in the game on a night that Pierce was 
ineffective (hey, it happens) and the role players were mediocre.  Except 
for a few things (free throws (argh!), rebounds, shot selection near the 
end of the game) I thought the C's played pretty well.  They let Chicago 
get into it in the third, and that spelt trouble, with a capital T and 
that rhymes with... .  Plus, and here's the kicker for me, the officials 
really blew chunks.  Now, the team has to take responsibility -- they lost 
the game, and they should have won.  File it under a learning experience, 
and recover for the next game.  It's the NBA, it happens.  But to get back 
the zebras: boy, this game was really not well officiated at all.  The C's 
were doing the right thing in the second half -- taking it to the hoop and 
were getting no love from the authority figures.  Saw Marcus Fizer just 
drop Walker in the backcourt -- a totally unnecessary block that laid 
Walker out for most of the ensuing play.  Even Fizer stared at the ref 
with one of those "I know I did wrong" looks of expectation of his face.  
No call.  Well, as with other things, it's the NBA, it happens.

Why must there be this Walker vs. Pierce vibe?  Can't you appreciate both 
players?  Can't we all just get along?  Pierce definitely had an off night 
on the second game of a back-to-back.  He's still the Truth, because one 
game doesn't make all that much difference.  Walker was the only Celtic 
who was consistently effective, but didn't have one of those amazing games 
that could have won it for us without help from, really, any other player 
wearing green.  Yet, he just gets lambasted.

I really would have liked 12-6, too, but it's a long season, and the team 
is doing many things very well.  They still need to work on closing out 
those teams that like, Chicago, basically suck, in the third quarters of 
those games.  If that had happened, no amount of whistle-swallowing would 
have helped da Bulls.

The Celts have a good chance of bouncing back against the next three teams:
  New York is vulnerable (albeit also dangerous), Cleveland is lame, and 
the Chicago rematch.  Somehow, I think the team will respond.  If they 
sweep, it's 14-7 (not bad, not bad at all), and even if they lose to NY, 
it's 13-8, which is certainly liveable with.  This loss is just a bump in 
the road to where ever this team is headed finally.

Bird
(The Celtic "Tird")