ready or not!

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

The Boston Celtics open with four games in five nights to start the 
2001-2002 season tomorrow. If you break the season down into mini-segments, 
this first batch of games takes on some real meaning. The Celtics face 
three teams (Cleveland, Nets and Bulls) that we have to establish routine 
superiority over in order to lock up the 8th seed. But we are talking about 
beating a Dream Team starter in Jason Kidd, a team that lit us up once in 
the preseason in Cleveland, and a Tim Floyd coached team that always seemed 
to get the better of us during the Pitino era. Finally we play Milwaukee on 
the road at the tail end of a B2B, and that could be an ugly result for 
Boston. Still, I'll trade adequate preparation to win the first three games 
for a disappointing result on the Milwaukee trip.

A .750 start would be great what with five of the next six at home, and at 
least two nights of rest between each game. Nevertheless, the Celtics will 
probably need to get off to an impressive looking record (say 8-3) just to 
stay even par for 41 wins. The early schedule is stacked with easy games 
(relatively speaking) and the Celtics don't have time for growing pains. 
These are "must" wins. Really, I actually view it as life or death.

Obie's focus obviously will first be on a repeat win against Cleveland to 
open the season, but this time with Andre Miller in their lineup and both 
teams' best plays in. Toine and Pierce have to take it up a notch on the road.

Last week, the Celts perimeter defense held shooters Lamond Murray and Wes 
Person to a combined 11-37 brickfest, maybe in part because Andre wasn't 
directing the offense but also because Obie stressed this as a goal. We 
also managed a +8 rebounding differential (another Obie goal/concern) on a 
Cavs team presently built around a soft frontline of Chris Mihm, Michael 
Doleac and Murray.

Tyrone Hill and Zydrunas Ilgauskas are both on the IR. The Cavs added Brian 
Skinner to the roster over the weekend, but I don't know if he'll play 
much. Jumaine Jones (8.3 rpg in the preseason) might be their best 
rebounder. But I read somewhere that Philly traded him because he was 
allergic to defense.

Wes Person came out gunning this preseason averaging nearly 6 treys per 
game and hitting an even .500. He was one of five Cleveland players who 
averaged between 14.0 and 11.8 ppg during the pre-season.

Although Bryant Stith started some exhibition games, he finished as the 
team's 11th leading scorer (3.8ppg) behind rookie Jeff Trepagnier (5.0 
ppg).  Stith only shot 25% from the field in four games.

The Celtics need to get through this early stretch via steady performances 
from our "veteran" captains.

(Not including the weekend game) Walker and Pierce averaged an identical 
8.3 per game during the preseason, where they each played over 30 minutes 
per game and did not miss a game.

Walker scored 21.0 points with 5.4 assists and 2.0 steals. The up-and-down 
Pierce averaged 20.1 points, 1.9 assists, 0.9 steals. Both captains 
averaged 4 turnovers and shot a crappy .395 from the field.

But Walker did shoot .432 on treys and led the Celts with 47 trips to the 
line converting a solid .787FT% (again, not including the Wiz game).

Our "third scorer", Eric Williams, delivered 7.6 ppg and 3.4 rpg on .371 
shooting. Bright side for Obie? That's a major advance from his 6.6 ppg and 
2.6 apg on .362FG% last year in 81 games. Williams, 29, is a .387 shooter 
in his last four NBA seasons since he first left Boston.

Our other "third scorer", Kenny Anderson, rolled out of bed to the tune of 
6.3 ppg and 3.3 apg on .421 shooting. He had just 10 turnovers in the first 
7 games. In a sign of how little the offense runs through the point, Milt 
(1.6 apg) and Forte (1.0) and Herren (1.0) put up Kevin McHale type assist 
numbers.

Our centers need to keep rebounding the ball better. In the first seven 
games of the preseason, they averaged 13.7 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 0.9 
assists in 53.7 combined minutes per game.

BTW, Obie said in the Herald today that Eric Williams will play backup 
power forward, in part because he felt uncomfortable putting two of the 
three Celts big men on the court at the same time. I know I'm harping on 
it, but in the past three seasons Eric Williams has 2.43 boards in 21 
minutes per game.

Since I don't want to end on a negative note, Milt Palacio along with 
Antoine (on his treys at least) showed the best offseason improvement in 
shooting (team leading .474FG% and .400 on treys).

The Celtics are 24-24 plus 4-4 pre-season under coach O'Brien. They've lost 
one key veteran, Bryant Stith, but added one new coach (Dick Harter) and 
five "new" players in Tony Battie, Kenny Anderson, Joe Johnson, Joe Forte 
and Kedrick Brown.

The 2001-02 tipoff is tomorrow at 7pm ET. The Celtics' home opener is the 
following night at the same time versus the Nets.

Go Boston Celtics! I'm very excited and look forward to living through 
another season with all of you IGTC guys.

Please, someone, kindly volunteer to do game summaries this week. Sorry for 
the long post.

Joe