re: Antoine and the Boobirds

["Josh Ozersky" <jozersky1@nyc.rr.com>]

Mark,

I respect your opinion, and even that of the Fleet Center
boobirds to some extent.   But people should be consistent.
If they're going to boo the guy when his shots miss, they
should also boo him when they go in, instead of cheering
wildly as they always do.  Antoine has won a lot of games
for us with his three-point shooting, and don't give me any
bullshit about the statistics.  I've watched every game, as you
probably have too, and I can't count the number of times key
three-pointers have been gamebreakers.  You can say,
"well, they've broken a lot of games for us, too!" but that isn't
really true this year.  Twon didn't take a single contested three
yesterday that I can remember, and he's used the shot consistently
to fake and penetrate for middle-range jumpers and passes.

But that's beside the point.  He IS a dangerous three point shooter
and the Celtics HAVE won a lot of games with him shooting the
shot often.  You may feel that no title team can be based on such
premises, but that's different from booing the guy, or putting him down
when he takes a shot.   Even Mike Dunleavy, the announcer your refer
to, said he took all good shots.  And he must not have been following
the Celtics much if he thinks other teams are willing to give Twon that
shot.  Their unwillingness to that is a big part of his passing game --
another fact you begrudge him.

Come on, Mark!  Give the guy a chance to fail, will you?

Josh