Re: Calling All Walker Haters

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

Like others have said, I think this "Walker hater" stuff is ridiculous, but
I'm sure you're talking about me (among others). I think most of us who have
been critical of Antoine have complimented him for his play last night. He
was magnificent.

Having said that, one game doesn't prove anything has really changed.
Lorenzen Wright had a 30-point, 26-rebound night last week. That doesn't
mean he's going to do it again. Same with Antoine.

I really hope this is some kind of watershed moment for Antoine, but I'll be
surprised if anything really changes. We've seen him play good games before
(never this good, however), but then he plays too often as he did through
the first four games-terrible. Playing your "A" game once every two weeks
won't cut it. It has to happen consistently. Last night, he could have gone
5-for-15 and still been the best player on the floor. He took good shots and
made the right decision almost every time. But we need to see it again, and
again, and again.

I'm already a little discouraged because I haven't read a single quote from
our "braintrust" that suggests they recognize the fact that Walker was
playing against a smaller player offensively and defensively. Just Obie
genuflecting and Wallace reading the box score and asking "how many power
forwards could do what he did?" Don't they realize he basically played small
forward last night?

Mark




--- --- ---
Michael Gooen wrote:

What's it going to be today, folks?

Going to blame Antoine for not getting a hand in Laettner's face more
often?  For missing 4 of 15 shots?  For selfishly not coming out of the
game?

Or maybe today's theme will be:  "Great!  One or two more games like this
and the C's can finally trade [insert insulting, racially charged nickname
here] for [insert name of third tier one-time All-Star here]!"

Or, if you all want to be honest with yourselves, you can just shut up
about Antoine and turn to bashing Battie and Blount for making Laettner
look like -- well, that guy who used to play for Duke.  And I certainly
couldn't argue with that.

I think it's clear that there are going to be nights like this AND nights
like the NJ game throughout Antoine's career.  My guess is we'll start to
see more of the former and fewer of the latter -- particularly as Antoine
gains more faith in his teammates.