Pacers

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

Flipped between the Celts and Pacers last night. Great game between Indy and
Houston. Isiah officially is the worst coach I've ever seen. Twice--TWICE--
the Pacers held three-point leads with time winding down (they played three
OTs), and gave up late 3-pointers to tie. Every other team in the league
would switch on every pick in that situation to guard against the 3-pointer,
but not Isiah. He had Jalen Rose chasing Cuttino Mobley around a pick or
Reggie Miller chasing Moochie Norris (who had the most incredible overtime
session I've ever seen in the third OT). Stupid, stupid basketball. Then
when the Pacers had the ball with nine seconds to go in a tie game, Isiah
set up a play to give Reggie the ball at mid-court and spread the floor (the
1-4 that all coaches seem to use in these late-game situations--it's a nice
way to keep from actually drawing up a play, but that's another subject).
Anyway, Reggie Miller? Did I miss the part of Reggie's career when he became
a feared one-on-one player? He's a great shooter off of screens and he uses
fakes well to get to the line, but he's never been a face-up, dribble past
you kind of player. Anyway, he dribbled the clock away, passed late to
Austin Croshere for a rushed 3-pointer and on to OT. Just a terrible
possession. If you're going to cop out and run that 1-4 spread play, give it
to Jalen Rose or Travis Best, not to Reggie Miller!

Isiah's idiocy is keeping the Celts in this thing. I'm beginning to think
he's going to be just bad enough to let the Celtics in the back door. The
Celts have lost 9 of 12 (I think) and remain just a game out of the last
playoff spot. Unbelievable. Need one win in the next two on the road.
Otherwise, it's home to face San Antonio (ouch) and we're staring at a
five-game losing streak. I guess McDyess is day-to-day with a sore knee. It
would be nice to miss him in Denver.

On the subject of tanking... I don't think the Celtics should do it. The
difference between making the playoffs or missing them probably is going to
be picking 10th or 14th. You miss out on the chance to get lucky and land in
the top three, but it's a slim chance. My biggest concern with making the
playoffs is that it would give the guys who make the decisions for this team
the idea that they're closer than they really are. Let's face it, this team
is going to finish with about the same record as last season (maybe even
worse). The only reason we're talking about the playoffs is the conference
is so weak. I hope three playoff games don't fool the braintrust into
thinking we're making progress and no changes are needed.

Mark