RE: Antoine's moves

[OzerskyJA <OzerskyJA@cmog.org>]

well, obviously, you can't "develop" athleticism -- if you could,
Vitaly Potapenko would be an all-star, etc.  But I still think Alex
underrates Antoine's work down low.  I still say there are very few
single defenders that can handle him down there.  I saw him score
on KG on multiple possessions on the box when the wolves were in
town, and we've all seen him to the same to Malone, Oakley, Horace
Grant, and other strong defenders.  There are a few guys he's no match
for, mostly center types like Duncan and Ratliff, but that's no knock
against him.  It would be nice to see him wheel around and dunk on
two guys, like I saw Jermaine O'Neal do yesterday -- but I think you'll
see that Jermaine won't be able to shut Twon down when we play the
Pacers monday.  He might block twon two or three times, but he'll also
foul him, and get scored on too.  That's my bet.

Josh Ozersky	
Marketing Communications Specialist 
Corning Museum of Glass

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Alexander Wang [SMTP:awang@MIT.EDU]
> Sent:	Sunday, January 28, 2001 11:39 PM
> To:	celtics@igtc.com
> Subject:	Antoine's moves
> 
> It seems that with Antoine, there's always two extreme positions, with
> unnecessary insults hurled across the middle ground where the truth
> probably is. I don't think it's ever productive to call the other side
> "stupid" or "ridiculous" or "clueless" and it drags the whole list down,
> as
> I've learned this through my own unfortunate participation. 
> 
> My opinion: Antoine's a decent low post player, but he only dominates
> weaker defenders. It's true that he frequently gets away with hooking the
> defender. I don't know why this is a problem; he should be doing what the
> refs will let him get away with if it helps him. That's smart basketball.
> It's similar to the way many top guards get away with "dribbling" in a way
> that would be whistled carrying in college. I mean, you can complain about
> how ugly Shaq's game can be, but he'd be pretty dumb by not using his
> strength because he wants to be a "pretty" player.
> 
> And it's not like defenders don't get away with some fouls against Antoine
> also. Does anyone actually believe that Walker is being favored by the
> refs? If so, he should probably be congratulated for his effective
> whining.
> I doubt that's the case.
> 
> But Antoine has trouble against the better defenders -- guys who are both
> long and strong. He has a separate problem of driving into multiple
> defenders from the perimeter. That's more of a mental issue. The low post
> problems - getting blocked or otherwise struggling against certain
> defenders - come from his lack of vertical athleticism, in my opinion.
> Antoine relies on quickness, trickiness, and using his body (including his
> off arm) to beat his opponent to a spot. He doesn't rely on elevation,
> because he's not that long and he doesn't jump well. I think that's why a
> pump fake won't really help him. A lot of times, the defender gets a block
> without even jumping, just by getting to the spot. If Antoine's pump
> faking
> and the defender's not biting -- and he shouldn't -- then he loses that
> element of surprise, the trap converges, and we have another turnover.
> What
> would really make him a much better player is to develop some more lift.
> Then pump faking could actually help.
> 
> Still, Antoine's enough of a low post threat to draw frequent double
> teams,
> even though the opposing coach knows that he passes well out of it. If he
> ever develops that athleticism, watch out, because the other parts of his
> game are really coming together.
> 
> Alex