Re: Good win

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

Although Anonymous may not have picked up on Cecil's spoof, I think his
"day-in-the-life-of-the-NBA" breakdown of rancid shooting stats by the
game's biggest stars (Duncan, Kobe etc) was actually very useful in
putting things in perspective in the great Antoine debate. It was partly
one of those "grass is greener on the other side" things.

Antoine's shooting may seem uniquely shaky compared to the other
established NBA stars who also happened to bring terrible games that
same night. But in the specific context of the Eastern Conference, you
have two forwards with more All Star votes than Antoine (both were
picked this weekend as deserving All Stars by our own Peter May) whose
shooting or shot selection throughout the entire season has been
distinctly Antoinesque.

Jamal Mashburn (#5) is at .418 while Latrell Sprewell (#3 and thus by
default an All Star starter due to Grant Hill's absence) is shooting
only slightly better at .425. As noted before, both players have
inferior rebounding and assist stats. In this sense, Walker's erratic
shooting won't be what excludes him from All Star consideration. What
ought to exclude him and Pierce, if barely, is that their team hadn't
played .500 ball until the coaching change. Others have noted this and I
have to agree. Still, I'd like to see one or both guys show what they
can do against the best, even if it is all in fun.

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