WOW

[Ryan Lee <rlee_at_channing@yahoo.com>]

   Saw the game last night...from Balcony 322.  The
house was rockin'.  I don't think I've ever seen the
Fleet so packed.  Normally you can walk right into the
Fleet with your ticket and go up the escalators but
there were so many people, they had a mile long line
outside the building to get into the game.  It was
surreal.

As for the game....

Two things Walker did last night that most of the
anti-Walkers on the list have been harping on: CUTTING
DOWN ON THE 3's AND PASSING, and what did it lead to? 
Possibly his best game ever.

  As one of the biggest Walker critics on this list, I
even have to give him props.  He was money last night.
 And even though he did so well, box scores do not
tell the enormity of his game.  Yeah he shot 11-15 but
it wasn't his usual
hit-all-my-jump-shots-for-the-year-in-one-game deal. 
Almost all his points were smart points and by smart I
mean he took it one on one against his defender and
not one on five.
Jordan's remarks before the game about him must have
finally cracked that big noggin of his because Walker
looked like a REAL All-Star.  On the double teams that
he saw all night, Walker would kick out to JJ at the 3
or a cutting Milt for a 15 jumper.  And this was for
the whole night. Normally Walker passes out to his
shooters once or twice a game and then spins into 3
defenders for a blocked shot but tonight he did what
he hasn't done his whole career, he trusted his
teammates and gave them the ball.  Even the stat
hounds can look at the numbers and tell you last
night's game was different from all the rest.  1)
Toine took ONLY ONE THREE POINTER - Toine for the
first time of his inconsistent career finally played
the 4 spot correctly and took it down low and even got
some offensive boards.  2) Toine had only 1 turnover -
He finally let his point guards do the dribbling and
kept his to a minimum.  When he got the ball, it was
dumped to him on the low post and not his usual drive
it in on the whole team deal.  
3)EVERYONE contributed - There must have been 4 or 5
players in double digits.  Normally when Toine has 8
or 9 assists a majority are usually to Pierce and the
rest of the team is in single digits in scoring.  
   For the first time in a long time I was actually
rooting for Toine.  By the second quarter, I could
sense this was not his usual game.  Although he was
passing the ball out of double teams, I was expecting
him to go stir crazy from the lack of shots he was
putting up due to the multiple coverage.  Any minute I
thought he was gonna go melon on us and jack up 20 3's
and start building his brick House of Walker from all
his missed shots he was going to have.  But no, not
this night.  He was patient and let the offense come
to him.  He did not get frustrated by the double teams
and try to get his by shooting dumb shots.  And he let
ALL his teammates in on the action which was a first. 
Because of his shot selection and team play, this has
got to be Toine's best all around game to date.
Hats off to him.  Hopefully he can continue this and
not do what he does every year which is revert back to
his usual self after a big game (case in point, the 49
he dropped on Webber against the Wizards, or the
Portland game last year where he had a massive game
and went back to doing crap).  BUT keep in mind this
was against the Wizards who are not a defensive force
in the league.  What will he do against a tougher
defense like Charlotte's and New York's or against big
time shot blockers in Atlanta (Ratliff) and Philly
(Mutombo).  Only time will tell.  

Pierce - Had a decent game considering he had Jordan
on him.  His 3 was on and he had a hand in his face
the whole game and he still hit the shot.  I thought
he forced it a few times trying to post up Jordan
which was stupid on his part.  Jordan is that much
harder to post up now since he's put on some weight
and Pierce is trying to bang into him down low.  You
gotta use speed on a slower Jordan, not power.  On one
play, Pierce was trying to backdown Jordan in the
paint with all this bumping and grinding in the post,
and when he whirled around to release the turnaround
over MJ, MJ stripped him and took it down court for a
fast break.  You can't use Jordan's backdown
turnaround on the guy who created it.  Hopefully
Pierce learned some lessons from his Airness.
On the Pierce block on Jordan in the fourth quarter,
like all the blocks on Jordan this game (Battie had
one and so did Walker surpisingly), the shot clock was
winding down and Jordan had to put up a bad shot which
resulted in him getting blocked.  By no means would
Pierce or anyone else for that matter block Jordan on
a normal play.

Kenny - did rather well.  He did miss some open
jumpers but I think this was the most shots he's taken
in a game for quite a while.  Credit that to Walker
giving up the rock.

JJ - Had an ok game and hit his open jumpers, even a
baseline 18 footer with MJ in his grill.  I was
surprised his 3 pointers were so off (2-8).  It seemed
like JJ couldn't hit the 3 if a defender were charging
at him but he could hit it if he was extremely open
with no defender near him.

Milt - missed alot of open jumpers in the first half
but he was smokin in the second half.  

Strickland - probably would have scored 20 if he had
more playing time.  He hit his open J's and had this
one crazy pump layup on the fast break through 2
defenders.  He's basically instant offense off the
bench and in this game at least, it looked like a
smart idea pick up this guy.  

Jordan at the free throw line - only Jordan could have
the entire arena photographing him every time he was
at the free throw line.  As soon as he released his
free throw, you could see (even from the nose bleed
seats) a hundred flashes from people's cameras.  I
don't think any other player gets that type of
treatment, even Walker doesn't and that was his home
court.  Amazing.

R

Balcony 322, Row 15 (the top of the world), Seat 21

And no I am still not a Walker fan, I mean it is only
one game.  
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