The Antoine and Paul Era

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

I think some of you guys are being a little hard on
Paul and Antoine, who are playing very hard on both
ends of the floor.  I mean, to listen to what Mark
Berry is writing, you would think Antoine was average
six rebounds a game, rather than being the seventh
leading rebounder in the NBA, less than a point behind
Shaquille O'Neal and Dikembe Mutumbo.  He shoots a lot
of threes, but he shoots 40% from there, an incredibly
accurate percentage even for a specialist who takes
three or four a game, let alone a guy who leads league
history in attempts.  And he's busting his ass on
defense.  The guy deserves SOME respect.  Look.  We
aren't in a position to content for a title now, but
we have one of the best forwards in the NBA in
Antoine, and an MVP-caliber scorer in Pierce.  Now,
Robert Parish might not be walking through the door,
but I know we can get some easy baskets, some fast
breaks and dunks off turnovers, some cutting and
slashing and one-on-one mismatches -- particularly if
we can get Joe Johnson firing on all cylinders again,
and Kedrick Brown somehow plugged in.  I just know we
can.  The Knicks got to the NBA finals a few years ago
with two all-star swingmen and a lanky 4/5;
Philadelphia got there last year with only one money
scorer, and half the roster playing with bum wheels. 
We're not that far.  

Even when I hate seeing the team play bad basketball,
I don't think this team needs a Tim Duncan to be
competitive.  Bring back the flow; the future will follow.
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