benefits of coaching change

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

Here's another difference since the change in coaching - the reporters seem
slightly more willing to point out the obvious. These wacky kind of
substitution patterns were de rigour under the previous coach but I don't
recall ever seeing an article (outside of Peter May) that even addressed
them as in this case.
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Hot-shooting Pierce can't keep up pace
by Mark Cofman
Monday, March 5, 2001
http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/basketball/csid03052001.htm
The way he got out of the gates yesterday at the FleetCenter, Paul Pierce
looked like he might challenge the house scoring record. The Celtics'
third-year star, in a spirited first-quarter shooting duel with Charlotte's
Jamal Mashburn, had 15 points just 7:36 into the game.

But with 3:22 left in the opening quarter and his team ahead, 28-26, Celtics
coach Jim O'Brien pulled Pierce from the game for a breather. Pierce
returned a minute later, but did not bring his offense back with him. In
fact, the Celtics' leading scorer didn't collect a point for the next 24:49.

By the time Pierce broke his offensive drought with a pair of free throws
with 3:35 left in the third quarter, the Celtics were well on their way to
dropping a 116-97 decision to the Hornets.

``I started out so hot,'' said Pierce, who hit five of his first six shots,
including three 3-pointers. ``I got some of the same looks in the second and
third quarters, too, but I don't think I was as aggressive as I had been in
the first and it made a difference.

``It's like the first quarter everything was dropping for me and I felt
really comfortable taking any type of shot. Then suddenly things started to
tally off. I just couldn't kick it back up until the fourth quarter.''

Mashburn had 16 first-quarter points on 6-for-8 shooting, finishing with 27
points. Pierce wound up with 24 points, which on the surface would appear
like a standoff between the two small forwards. But, while Mashburn's
offense was instrumental in giving his team a 24-point cushion early in the
second half, Pierce's offense was nonexistent during that pivotal stretch.

As it turned out, Pierce didn't hit a field goal after the first quarter
until there were 4:52 left in the game. By the time he found the basket
again, it was far too little, and much too late. The Celtics were on the
wrong end of a rout, ending their seven-game home winning streak.

``Early on, we were trapping the pick-and-rolls, and when Pierce wasn't
involved in setting them, they had him stationed on the (weakside) corner,''
Charlotte coach Paul Silas said. ``If they rotate properly, which they did,
that guy in the far corner is going to be open.

``That's where he was getting his looks. When we stopped trapping the
pick-and-rolls and stayed home on him (defensively), that's when we were
able to slow him up a bit. We were also coming off the point to trap him
when he posted up. I thought both of those things worked pretty well for us,
even though a guy like Pierce is not going to be kept down forever. He's
going to find a way to score.''

Unfortunately for the Celtics, it didn't happen soon enough. While Pierce
was saddled to the bench with two fouls for the final 6:20 of the second
quarter, the Hornets built a 64-48 halftime edge. O'Brien, trying to protect
Pierce from picking up a third foul before the intermission, gambled and
lost.