Re: Re: [Celtic_Pride] Does...

["pmaurice" <damekmo@teleport.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Berry, Mark S <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>

> Paul, you're right. Without Antoine, the team is terrible. Without Pierce,
> the team is terrible. For five years, with Antoine, the team was terrible.
> For three years, with Pierce the team was terrible. Saying Antoine is the
> only reason this team is over .500 isn't fair.

To be honest Mark, a lot of things are unfair. Here's one of them:

> His game completely lacks discipline.

Sorry, I disagree. Right now I'll just discuss this one. The other night he
came out shooting something like 2-10 in the first half and in the second he
took fewer shots and hit half of them. Last night he started out shooting
and doing nothing else. I think he started getting his assists, that is
passing the ball, during the second quarter. He started out last night out
of his mind and completely changed his game in the second quarter. Sorry
Mark, but saying that his game "completely" lacks discipline is one of the
exaggerations about Antoine that I hear over and over again that I just
don't agree with. And I can give you examples. But it fits into the many
exaggerations about Antoine that I read over and over again on this list,
like: "As far as Billups playing the point, for Boston, it was his feuding
with Antoine, over where the first pass should go, that got him traded, as
Rick felt he needed a veteran point guard to assert his offense." What?
Where did that come from? This is the kind of "Antoine is a selfish/cancer"
post that, to be honest, is just insane. Antoine is selfish and couldn't get
along with Billups so that's why Pitino made a stupid trade to get Kenny.
Like Ricky never proved he was capable of being stupid on his own. But it's
never ended. The insanity of "I know Antoine is selfish therefore.....he
fought with Billups and Pitino screwed up. Damn that Antoine." How many
times do we have to read stuff like this. Just make it up as you go along to
prove to yourself that Antoine is satan. But the problem is that it just
fits into the entire package. An outrageous statement like Antoine got
billups fired and "His game completely lacks discipline." Sometimes he's
undisciplined Mark....and an awful lot of the time he changes things up, and
an awful lot of the time he's trying to do too much on the floor because you
can't just sit there and wait for the stiffs you're surrounded by to wake
up. Even Kenny admits that. The other day he said something like, "Antoine
and Paul are going to do their junk, we have to step up." But I'll have more
to say later. It'll be along the lines of "the day that the Celtics surround
their star player with a real center, a real point guard, and more than one
player who can drain the three - and I mean DRAIN them - the day that the
Celtics do what the Kings understood they needed to do for Chris
Webber...because if you put Webber in the same position that Antoine's in
right now this team loses and he's whining and moaning more than Rick
Pitino....but forget it. I have to go back to work.

Paul M.