hopeless optimism

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

	This is probably the result of staying up past 4am to catch this game from 
my time zone, but I imagine others may agree it was still an exhilerating 
NBA game in general, with positive trends (and lessons) for Boston.

	Like others among you no doubt, at halftime I kept going over in my head 
what Obie could possibly say to the team in order to pull off a miracle and 
not disappoint the home fans.

	Well I suppose it went something like: "to beat this team, we need to hold 
them to around 12-38 shooting and hope better defense and rebounding will 
somehow generate around 60 points in offense for us (compared to 39 point 
output in the first half). We can't let them score even 20 points per 
quarter." In other words, everything would have to go perfectly.

	The thing was that the Nets (quite unlike the Cavs) stayed rather poised 
(at least Kidd did) and made huge shots even in the third quarter and 
certainly the fourth. In light of that, this was a pretty awesome comeback. 
What matters is that our team nearly learned for the second night in a row 
the old Celtics precept that defense and offensive rebounding WILL turn 
games around. In this sense, it was fortunate that this causality was 
illustrated so emphatically in both games (sometimes the cause-and-effect 
is not that apparent). It was only the free throw shooting (15-31) that 
cost us a great game and a great lesson for the team.

	Ideally, at halftime I was hoping Obie could also pull Toine aside and 
tell him to focus as Bird would on team play and getting a double double on 
the boards to make up for an ugly shooting performance. Well Toine 
thankfully did get his second double double, but his passing was just as 
bad or worse than his shooting. It was one of those snowball, disaster 
performances where he hurt the team with the ball in his hands. This is the 
first time in recent memory that the Nets have had a shotblocking presence. 
Instead of setting up teammates, Antoine tried in the first quarter to 
score 40 one-on-one points on the Nets like he could in the past, and found 
out he couldn't. If you want to spin that as positive, his teammates nearly 
won the game while carrying him through his mistakes and misfortune in the 
second half. That's the second positive of the game. We showed the ability 
to carry a key player (Antoine) through a nightmare game.

	Give Pierce credit for turning his own game around in the second half (of 
course he wasn't getting booed, which helps). If you look at the final 
boxscore, Pierce shot 5-19 from two-point range compared to Walker's 4-18. 
He fought through just as horrible a first half as Walker...it was the 
threes that made Pierce a hero and Walker a true goat.

	Jason Kidd is to Phoenix what Dennis Johnson was to Phoenix. A colossally 
clueless trade it seems. Kidd was incomparable yesterday. The Nets are 
better now than they've been in many years.

	Its great to see Kidd in our conference, but if you want a true positive 
trend for Boston....try Kenny Anderson (the original NJ incarnation of 
Stephon Marbury).

	In 46 minutes of game time so far, Kenny has 17 assists and 2 turnovers. 
But we're also talking 7 steals and heady defense (have you noticed that 
Kidd and Andre Miller have shot a combined 9-27, and both are All Stars). 
We're also talking hitting the open jumper and not forcing offense (.500 
from the field so far). We're talking 13 rebounds from the point guard 
position, against two great rebounding point guards. Kenny's nowhere near 
the limelight from the point-of-view of fans (because he's not forcing any 
offense), yet he's been the best "team" player on the team. I hope he 
continues to play this great without the need for accolades or All 
Star-type numbers. And I really HOPE he stays healthy. He's doing what 
winning point guards do. Is that good news or what?

	But there are other positive trends....a lot of Celtics worked on their 
shooting this summer and it shows so  far. Our role players can shoot the 
ball off the double teams, and that's going to help a lot over time if it 
continues. When Milt Palacio entered for Kenny in the third, I was 
concerned. But all he did was hit two huge shots. Rotation players Joe 
Johnson and Kenny Anderson are also shooting .500. Team leader Paul Pierce 
is shooting .500 (24-48). And the three big men are shooting .714 from the 
field (10-14) so far and giving the team second chances (10 offensive 
boards). Blount hasn't missed a shot.

	Okay, Eric Williams is 4-15 shooting and Antoine is 12-49. I wonder what 
they had in their Halloween candy bags (2-week old Krispy Kremes, maybe). 
But EW also has 5 offensive boards and is passing better than I thought he 
could. And Walker "leads the league" in double-doubles. When his shooting 
is off, he's at least trying to do other things to help his team win. But 
he really needs to get back in the gym and find a way to climb methodically 
out of this 24% shooting situation.

	One more positive trend from an eternal Celtics optimist. The entire 
coaching staff focused on one major thing this summer: rebounding. Despite 
all my dire predictions, our boys are a shocking +15 on the boards so far, 
thanks to +13 in offensive rebounding. We did it against two very soft, 
girlie-man teams. But still, you only have to look back to last year to 
recall how rare it was that we'd stay even on the boards and box out. If we 
are even 5% better on the boards through basketball fundamentals, and all 
five guys rebounding, then games we used to win under Obie despite getting 
crushed on the boards may turn into easier wins.

Go Celts

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