(fwd) Season Opener

[kevin <bostonceltics17@yahoo.com>]

"Robert Chin" <bobchin@shore.net> wrote:

Wow...

Just got back form the game.  How can I describe it?  Lemmee see.  How
about
this...The half time show (Blue Man Group) was the best thing going to
that
point of the night.  The C's were riding a bicycle with a flat front
tire at
the Indy 500.  They were like the ugly girl with big boobs.  You don't
wanna
look, but you can't help yourself.  The C's were just GOD AWFUL in the
first
two quarters.

It's not often you can say that you're fortunate to be down by only 16
at
the half.  In this case, it was entirely true.  The C's came out
firing on
no cylinders.  By my count, the C's were down as much as 22 points in
the
first half.  Yet somehow, mostly on the efforts of Paul and Kenny,
with a
little help from Milt Palacio, who drained a couple of huge shots, the
C's
not only hung in, but they crawled, I mean crawled back into the game.
They
opened the 3rd with some quick hoops, getting the lead from 16 down to
9 in
fairly short order and forcing NJ into a time out.

A few minutes would go by, then the C's crawled back to within 6.
Then
later, they'd get it down to 4 or 3, then 2...

They would expend great effort playing some very strong defense in the
second half  The C's stopped NJ from scoring for streches in the 3rd
and
4th, something they couldn't do in the 1st half.  For some reason,
Boston
just couldn't translate the defensive effort into offensive momentum.
They
only had moments.  Whenever the C's got to those milestones, closing
the gap
steadily with tremendous defensive effort, they invariably would shoot
themselves in the foot.  A turnover, a foul, a bad (usually Antoine)
shot, a
missed ( again, usually Antoine) shot or, worst of all, missed free
throws.
How many times did they make a move to a hoop, get fouled in the act
of
shooting, get two free throws, and come away with zero points?  I
mean,
ZERO, goose egg, zip, zilch, nada, none, empty.  No basketball team at
ANY
level can do that and win.  If they had simply shot a COMPETENT 75%,
instead
of an almost Shaq-like .484, they would have won by 5, despite playing
horribly.

It was a trainwreck of a basketball game, yet there they were in the
last
minute with an opportunity to take the lead and possibly, win the
game.
Make no mistake, the comeback was no thing of beauty.  It was not
figure
skating.  It was not Formula One racing or the Miss USA Pageant.  This
was
roller derby, or a tractor pull, or Miss Monica Lewinsky.  It was a
blue
collar effort.

And it was the fact that it WAS a blue collar effort that had the
crowd
confused.  They really really were on edge tonight.  There were boos
in the
first half as the C's sloppily fell behind by double digits and stayed
there.  In the second half, the quick strike opening to the 3rd got
the
crowd back on their side.  The tremendous defensive effort, followed
by the
constant AND consistent shooting off of the feet, had the crowd
confused.
Every defensive stand was cheered.  Every bad shot, every missed free
throw,
every turnover was deflating.

It would be EASY, too easy to blame Antoine for this loss.  Make no
mistake,
his finger prints are all over this crime scene, but he had help, and
lots
of it.  Let's start with the "0'fer 2 at the FT line" bunch of Vitaly,
KA
and Eric Williams.  Kenny's were particularly crushing, but there is
no
excuse for Vitaly and Eric either.  Simply ONE from EACH, and maybe
we're
talking a whole different ball game.

Before talking about Antoine,  let's start with the mastermind of this
loss,
and that IS Jim O'Brien.  Last night in Cleveland, you could take the
C's
poor excuse of an offense, play a truly bad team, make the shots and
win.
Tonight, run the same offense against an improved and probably a mid
level
NBA team, DON'T make the shots, and you end up with an ugly root canal
of a
game.  Earth to O'Brien.  Did you see what a pro, NBA level offense
run by a
point guard looked like tonight?  You have THREE on your roster and a
rookie
who someday might blossom into the best of the bunch, yet you think
it's a
good idea to have Antoine or Paul start the offense, and have three
other
players stand around?

Secondly, why was the Human White Flag (of surrender), Walter McCarty,
in
the game AT ALL?  You had him in there when the C's were down by
oodles
inthe first half, yet you did not think to give Joe Forte some time?
You
remember Forte, don't you?  Red's favorite?  Score more points in 22
minutes
in the last preseason game than McCarty does in 3 months.  If Forte
could
not play THEN, Jim, then when?  There was a noticeable groan in the
crowd
when McCarty checked in.

Thirdly, and this had to do with your substitution pattern again, when
your
team needed points, why did Joe Johnson rate 23 relatively quiet
minutes and
your most resourceful and offensively GIFTED rookie, Forte got ZIP?
Jim,
Joe is a rookie.  If he gets in, and he doesn't do anything for 10
minutes,
that should be it for the night.  Put the next rookie in.  You drafted
three, develop three.

Fourth, what happen to "third option"?  Pierce and Walker took 57 of
the 88
shots.  Do you understand what that means Jim?  11 players got playing
time
in the game.  2 of them took 57 shots.  the other 9 shared 31.  I said
it
before, I said it again, this is NOT a recipe for a winning record.

Okay, I got that out of my system.  Now onto Antoine.  What a crappy
shooting night.  Just AWFUL.  That hot 3 point streak had to run out
some
time, we all knew that.  Why O'Brien lets him shoot it, I don't know.
As
bad as his 3 point shooting was tonight, every other shot was just
awful
too.  I mean, he went to the hoop often and could not finish ANYTHING.
He
looked really tight tonight, and was short arming everything.  I mean
everything.  It didn't matter if he was 5 inches or 5 feet from the
hoop.
Everything was front rimmed.  He worked hard tonight.  He really,
really
did.  It's just that nothing on the offensive end worked for him.  He
did
not pass the ball.  I'm not talking did not pass the ball well, I'm
talking,
HE DID NOT PASS THE BALL.

One thing I have to make a note of.  As bad as the refs were, Antoine
did
not spend a lot of time barking at them.  He tried his very best to
talk to
them, to work them the way a veteran player should.  I don't think he
showed
them up once.  In fact, at the end of the game, when KA got called for
a
foul that resulted in 3 Jason Kidd free throws, Antoine was the one
pulling
Kenny away from the refs and possibly saving him a tech or ejection.

Except for the two big free throws at the end that could have put the
C's up
by one, at a time when it's good to be up by one, KA had a pretty good
game
at both ends of the floor.  Heck, he was credited with 11 assists to
Kidd's
10!  Kenny's prettiest pass of the night went for naught as Eric blew
the
lay in by hesitating just a moment.  But for those two free throws, KA
had 6
rebounds and 5 steals and shot .500 from the floor to go with the 11
assists.  Not bad line, but the two free throws rendered all this good
for
naught.

Paul came up huge in the second half, expecially in the 4th, scoring
19
points.  Yet he, like Antoine made things a lot harder for himself.  A
lot
of Paul's shots were forced and he really would have made life easier
if he
had passed the ball instead of forcing up shots.  He (along with
Antoine)
really, really needs to rethink his shot selection right now.  It's
just
plain bad, despite his 36 points.  If O'Brien does nothing else, he
needs to
hammer into Paul and Antoine that there are other players who can
shoot.  MP
was 2 - 3 from 3 point land, and looked very good shooting the ball.
KA was
4 - 8.  Battie was 3 - 4.  Blount 2 -2  and looking very smooth.  Ther
are
guys on this team that can score if you get them the ball where they
like
it.  This is true of every damn ball player I know.

Of the centers, Battie came up with some big plays, but Blount seemed
the
best equipped to handle MacCulloch.  MacCulloch was much to strong for
Tony
to handle, and Pots, in his 3 minutes, got pistol whipped by the NJ
centers,
MacCulloch and Williams.  I wonder why O'Brien saw fit to call it a
short
night for Potapenko, but insist on playing Waltuh at all and leaving
Forte
on the bench.  (Can you tell that I am peeved by that?)

Other Notes:

As much as I like him, why does O'Brien insist on starting Eric
Williams at
SG?  O'Brien...the "S" in "SG" stands for "Shooting".  The guy playing
that
spot should be able to shoot.  Eric can not shoot, at least not from
beyond
15 feet.  Eric Williams should be backing up PP at the SF position,
for 10 -
15 minutes a game, depending on if you want to develop K. Brown or
not.

What happen to the C's fundamentals?  All the little things they did
right
on offense the last two preseason games totally disappeared tonight.
I
mentioned the little things they did right like advancing the ball up
the
middle instead of the sidelines, looking up, passing the ball and
getting
good shots.  All of that was gone tonight.  They took quick shots.
They
settled for jumpers often.  They brought the ball up the sidelines
tonight.
One particularly bad play was a, I think, 3 on 2 fast break in the
first
half where the three C's, instead of filling the lanes like that had
done
before, were almost running up each others back in the middle of the
floor.
Needless to say, they got nothing out of that trip.

Jason Kidd has made the Nets dangerous.  Who says he can't shoot?  His
pressence makes Van Horne and Martin MUCH better.  If they stay
healthy,
they can make noise.  Also, what a cold blooded son of a gun.  He made
all
his free throws when the game was on the line.  8 - 8.  That is a pro.

Speaking of staying healthy, Martin nearly sent the Nets back to the
lottery
when he dove after a loose ball and took out half the NJ bench.  I
swear,
for a moment, it looked like Martin and maybe 4 other Nets would be on
the
IR tomorrow.

MacCulloch was a beast.  'Nuff said.

WTF is this Richard Jefferson?  He was doing one hell of a Dr. J/MJ
imitation.  His reverse, offensive rebound putback basket was a thing
of
athletic beauty.  It looked to me like he had a couple of other nice,
thank
you very much dunks as well.  He is better than any of the rookies the
C's
have (except for maybe Forte  ;-) ).


kevin lok
48-34