Re: seattle win

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

This win actually didn't surprise me. I expected them to come out focused
and playing aggressively after the poor showing in Vancouver. O'Brien and
the players can talk all they want about every game being important, but
with the trips to Portland and Utah next, leading into the four game in five
night stretch, they obviously knew the importance of a win in Seattle. They
also correctly predicted a rusty, sluggish Sonic team that hadn't played
since before the All-Star Break. The Celts desperately needed this win, and
they got it. That's big.

I know everyone is hoping for three wins on the trip, but after the
Vancouver loss, I'll take two and run. 2-5 isn't a killer at all. It isn't
great, but it's passable. More than that is possible, and it was made moreso
last night. If they had lost that one, I really think it could have
deteriorated into a disastrous trip, maybe even 0-7. Last night was the
biggest win of the season in my book.

Good to see Herren back. Looking forward to seeing more of him as he works
his way back into shape. Jim, I know you like Kenny, but my hatred (that's
not too strong a word) for him has nothing to do with Pitino. He's terrible
and he hurts the team on so many levels. Yes, he's a great ball-handler. So
what? That's like the pro-Toine arguments that say "name a power forward who
dribbles, passes or shoots better than Antoine." Sure, he can dribble, pass
and shoot from long range better than Karl Malone, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio
McDyess, Tim Duncan, Chris Webber... but is he a better player? That's all I
care about. Kenny can dribble better than just about anyone, but he's awful.
I shouldn't have used Toine, because he's playing well and I don't want this
to turn into a Toine thread, but he's a perfect example of not seeing the
forest for the trees. Accept what he is, and if that's good enough, fine.
But don't try to take all of his individual skills and wrap them up in a
package to make him something more than he is. It's not that simple, not
with Toine, not with Kenny, not with anyone.

Mark