Bird chat and my thoughts on the Celts...

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

Larry Bird had a chat on ESPN.com yesterday. The transcript is at
http://dynamic.espn.go.com/espn/chat/chatESPN?event_id=1258
<http://dynamic.espn.go.com/espn/chat/chatESPN?event_id=1258> 


One interesting note: 

Q. Are you still considering heading a team of investors that would buy the
Celtics? 



Larry Bird: Just the Celtics. Not interested in any other team. We have a
group together but the owner is not interested in selling at this time.

One other thing from the chat, when asked about what he didn't like about
the game:

Larry Bird: I don't like the shooting percentages and the free throws. They
never seem to get any better even though they keep shooting. That is what
turns me off on the game is the shooting percentages.

---back to me---

On the Celtics... Losing to the Kings is no disgrace, but you'd like to
think they'd compete and, with Webber out, try to take advantage. I'm seeing
some dangerous quotes from this group. They're using injuries, fatigue,
schedule, etc. as excuses. Fact of the matter is they've been remarkably
healthy (try losing Grant Hill, Antonio McDyess or Marcus Camby for large
stretches). Everyone is banged up and tired at this point of the season. You
have to suck it up and compete. They didn't last night.

That has been very unusual for this season's team. The last few seasons it
was common practice-find an excuse to mail a game in. They did it a lot. But
this year they weren't doing that. They were playing hard. Not lately. And
last night they mailed that game in. No effort. Hopefully they'll get
refocused during the break, because if they take that attitude west with
them they'll be killed.

Even just two wins on the seven-game trip would allow them to tread water.
They have to find a way to get two wins. The Denver game is huge. They'll be
rested and playing the weakest team on the trip. If they lose that, they're
looking at three games in the next four nights and the trip gets
progressively harder.

Mark