Bill Reynolds - ProJo

[CeltsSteve@AOL.com]

04/23/2002 
 

Three mini-columns for the price of one... 


THE PATRIOTS: 

Now it's all up to Tom Brady. 

If someone had told you a year ago that the Patriots would be heading into the season with Brady, Damon Huard and some no-name draft choice as their quarterbacks, most Patriot fans would have been seen taking headers off the Tobin Bridge. 

But that's the scenario now. 

It was apparent midway through last season that Bill Belichick wanted Brady over Drew Bledsoe, that he felt Brady gave his club a better chance to win, regardless of how controversial a choice it was perceived to be at the time. That he thought Brady made better decisions, was more attuned to running the ball-control offense Belichick wanted. In retrospect, it wasn't that controversial, at least not to Belichick. He chose Brady, and he never really looked back. 

Now he has to live with his decision. The Patriots have traded Bledsoe, the Maginot Line has been crossed. Brady is the choice, and there's no safety net under him. 

For that's what Bledsoe was going to be if he came back. The backup quarterback with the glittering risumi. The bailout plan if Brady turned out to be a one-hit wonder, last year merely an NFL version of flash paper. As long as Bledsoe still was around, it was though Brady was on training wheels, that he still was some kid in the middle of some playground fantasy. 

And if that fantasy blew up in Brady's face? Bledsoe to the rescue, the ultimate safety net. 

Now, that safety net has gone to Buffalo. This is Brady's team now. There is no turning back. 

THE 76ERS: 

Last year, they went all the way to the NBA Finals, dancing on the game's biggest stage. 

Now, the Sixers are basketball Methusalas, old and broken down. At least they were Sunday when they they looked like some discount store imitation of last year's version. Dikembe Mutombo was a non-factor. Derrick Coleman was even worse, someone who looks as if he now belongs in a Sunday morning over-30 league. The surprising thing was not that the Celtics won. The surprising thing was that the Celtics seemed so much more athletic. 

By all accounts, the Sixers have had a lost year, one that's been sabotaged by injuries, a year that never really found any rhythm. To the point that last year seems very far away. Less than a week ago, they were playing the last game of the reguar season without Mutombo, without Coleman, without Allen Iverson. Any wonder why the Pacers bopped them by 23? 

It's not easy to turn it on in the playoffs when you've had a mediocre year, to wipe the page clean and begin writing some new story, as if the regular season simply was some long pregame warmup, as inconsequential as a layup line. 

Can the Sixers find last year's magic now that the playoffs have started? Does this group have one more sweet ride left? 

It's doubtful. 

PAUL PIERCE: 

He was the 10th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, the kid who fell on draft night as if he were some anchor moving through calm water. 

Or how about some of these names that went ahead of Pierce that night. Michael Olowokondi, Mike Bibby, Raef LaFrentz, Antawn Jamison, "Tractor" Traylor, Jason Williams, Larry Hughes. Think a lot of general managers don't want a mulligan? 

The word then was that Pierce had poor training habits, had had some lackluster workouts in front of NBA teams. 

Now? 

Now Pierce is as good as it gets. 

Sunday, the FleetCenter crowd was chanting "MVP . . . MVP" at Pierce. It was not a foolish chant. He's not going to win the award, but there's little question Pierce could be the MVP of the league, having quietly emerged as one of the genuine superstars in the NBA. 

In this, only his fourth season, Pierce has become unstoppable. He shoots threes. He takes the ball to the hoop. He even has a medium-range game, something that all too often seems to have gone the way of the two-hand set. He is quick, he is strong, and he has an explosive first step. He is too big for little guys, taking them right into the post and beating on them; too quick for big guys. 

He also has no conscience, not the worst thing for a scorer to have. It makes no difference whether Pierce misses 10 shots in a row. He's going to shoot the 11th with no hesitation, with all the confidence he would have if he had made the first 10. This is no small thing. It's the quality Bird had, that Jordan had, the kind of confidence all the great ones have, the feeling they can do whatever they want whenever they want. 

And Pierce has become a great one.