RE: Antoine

[CeltsSteve@AOL.com]

<< This team is at its best when Antoine is penetrating and passing and hitting the boards. If you want lots of points from Antoine, you're going to need lots of shots. He's never going to shoot a high percentage or get to the line enough to justify those shots. When it was the Antoine and Paul show, you could excuse some of it. But now there are other options on this team. Continued indiscriminate bombing from Antoine is the LAST thing this team needs.>>

Well stated and I concur. 



<<You speculate Antoine has been hurt. Maybe, but we've had no indication. He has been playing lousy lately. He was better yesterday and seemed to be in "passing mode" which is all I'm going to ask at this point. He's going to make so  many bad decisions on shots that I'm going to have to hold my nose and my tongue. If he just passes the ball, I'll settle. His rebounding really has dropped off. In my opinion, this mini-slump has coincided pretty closely with "ball-hogging/no-rebounding" Antoine.>>

Is it fair to lump the blame on him? Probably not. But he's the de facto point guard on this team, like it or not. They're an undersized team that refuses to run, and in the half-court, Antoine is the point guard. He may not be labeled that, but he acts as that. It's his job to initiate the offense. That's why all those comparisons of Antoine's assists to other power forwards ring so hollow with me. He's a power forward in name only. He operates as this team's point guard in the half-court. When he's doing it unselfishly, it can be beautiful to watch. But too often his "initiating the
offense" means jacking a three before anyone else touches it. He averages about 5 assists per game? Is that satisfactory for a 43 minute-per-game point guard in the NBA? 

Yesterday was another 7-for-21, 1-for-9 on threes, no free throws game for Antoine. That's terrible. But he moved the ball and the other offensive players (and there are plenty now) carried the load. Antoine should have seen how effective he could be in a distributor's role in the blowouts of Orlando and Detroit, but that was yet another lesson lost on the guy.

Boston fans appreciate intelligent basketball and hustle, and even the watered-down corporate crowds in the Fleet Center know a transition 3-pointer with no rebounders and a lane to the basket is a dumb, dumb shot. They're a specialty of Antoine's. He makes so many dumb decisions, even my wife notices. She's no Celtics fan, but she used to play basketball (all-league in high school FWIW), and when she watches the games with me she's always saying "What was that??!!!" or "Why did he do that??!!" You can guess my answer.

The sad thing is Antoine controls things so much that he remains the key. If he's in passing mode, this team can make a long playoff run. If he's not, they're a quick out. I've been discouraged lately because he definitely hasn't been in passing mode. Maybe yesterday was the day things click, but I've stopped hoping for any kind of consistency from Antoine. >>



Mark,

A very lucid analysis and commentary. Most of it is absolutely right on. The only thing I will add is that Antoine doesn't hold exclusive patent rights on "dumb decisions". The C's other All-Star is equally as guilty.