Re: ? on Walker

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

FWIW, I think Walker is looking for more contact in the 
paint. While you hardly see him lob up grenade type shots 
anymore, he still often takes a quick peek as he's 
releasing, rather than locking his eyes onto the rim and, 
better yet, aligning his body into balance. 

One problem is that he's got a low starting point on his 
release, out in front of his body. That's true even on 
his three-pointers.

Most of the fouls are body blows, and only superstars get 
those calls. Opposing coaches know they can get away with 
this, and its appropriate that they do so until the refs 
start whistling it. Flying hip checks don't get called, 
especially if the defender is also airborne. And even 
more so when the offensive player isn't completely under 
control.  

You see hard hack down fouls too, but at least partly 
ball. I don't think Walker's ever gotten the foul on a 
partial ball foul. But on the other hand, Walker is 
throwing more upfakes than before, and they always work, 
even if he rushes at times on his shot. 

If you take only Antoine's top post plays this year, he 
looks like a one-of-a-kind hall of famer, creating 
something from nothing with his dribbles and spins. These 
don't look like lucky shots anymore. He's quick in and 
out of his moves, and he has as good a left hand as any 
post player. I just wish he would look at the target just 
a split-second longer before releasing. You don't 
need "hang time" to do that. Look at Cedric Maxwell.

Relatively speaking, its rare that Antoine gets blocked 
this season. Pierce probably gets blocked as often. My 
impression is that the Celtics actually take it to the 
hole a lot, but statistically, there are 18 NBA teams 
that allow more blocks per game. So we've gotten smarter 
in that department, I don't think there's any question.

The days of Walker getting swatted by two guys at once 
seem long over.

Joe H.

p.s. thanks for all the partial game summaries of Philly. 
My wife watched it but I missed the whole thing because 
of a YMCA game. That explains my bias too, because the 
Celts are 0-3 in games I've missed in entirety, and 0-2 
in games where I missed the entire first quarter or half. 
So from my perspective, the Celtics look unbeatable (12-
1). I wear three layers of green when I watch. I try to 
start and finish something completely at work that day, 
and try to drink and eat the same things on game night. I 
read somewhere that Red Auerbach always ate Chinese food 
on game days, so that's usually what I try to do. Michael 
Gooen tells me he goes with "home cooking" whenever that 
seems most appropriate. Maybe I'll try that tonight. I'm 
sick of Chinese takeout and the Celtics need to start 
winning at home. Philly's got a tough schedule coming up, 
and Boston conceivably could be in first place by this 
time next week. You can't look past games at this point 
of the season. Everyone's bunched up around the fourth 
seed.

 





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