re: Antoine and the Boobirds

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

Josh, there's no question Antoine has hit some huge shots this season. And
he's shot them out of games plenty.

I just think we've made excuses for him so much we're blinded by the truth.
He misses a ton of shots and keeps shooting. He handles the ball constantly
but doesn't really involve teammates consistently. He rebounds OK (first
half-season better than OK, but he really has dipped; he's not even in the
top 50 in rebounds per minute anymore). He averages eight 3-point attempts
per game! Let's stop making excuses about the coaching and all the other
stuff. He was firing up 3-pointers when Pitino was screaming for him to take
it inside. So it's not like he suddenly was ordered to station himself at
the 3-point line when Obie took over. He just finally had a coach either
willing to let him fire away or unable to stop him.

Are the boobirds inconsistent? Yes, but I'm not. I roll my eyes or groan
when he launches a lousy shot whether it goes in or not. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Antoine Walker is not unique in
the history of basketball. The Celtics as a team are not unique. I refuse to
believe that shooting 39 percent, launching eight 3-pointers a game and not
running the floor suddenly are traits of a great basketball player. I refuse
to believe that this team is built in a way that makes all his numbers
excusable.

Celtics basketball used to be about hard work, unselfishness, intelligent
basketball. Some fans have been watching the opposite for so long they no
longer can tell the difference. The circumstances haven't changed so much
that intelligent basketball suddenly would be less effective than the style
this team plays. Antoine is at the center of all of it.

I'm just tired of the apologists... "Yeah, he shoots a lot, but..." "Yeah,
he misses a lot, but..." "Yeah, he's not a good defender, but..." "Yeah, he
shoots too many threes, but..." "Yeah, he takes some bad shots, but..."
"Yeah, he's out of shape, but..."

Enough buts. Watching him is absolutely exasperating for a basketball
purist.

Mark

P.S. I'm going to go a little off-point here to demonstrate my frustration
with Antoine and try to show the difference between having the talent to do
something and actually putting that talent to effective use. Has anyone been
watching Indiana during this NCAA tournament run? Jared Jeffries, on that
level, is the kind of player Antoine Walker should be at this level. He's a
big man with ball-handling, passing and shooting ability. But he knows how
to use all those skills. He scores inside, he passes out of double teams, he
creates, he rebounds. He's such a smart player. His performance has been
very reminiscent of Danny Manning's memorable run with Kansas back in 1988.
These are the kinds of players Antoine could be. They aren't necessarily
great scorers, but they do all the smart things. Make the right plays and
elevate their teams. Antoine has done it on occasion (about four times this
season), but most of the time he's doing his thing. I just give up. When a
sophomore in college (Jeffries) has a better understanding for the game than
a sixth-year pro, then the writing is on the wall.
 

--- --- ---

Josh wrote:

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?