Re: They Still Lost People

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

They lost to the Spurs, who are one of the three best teams in the league.
If Ray's point is that even at their best, the Celtics aren't as good as the
Spurs, then he's right. Are any of us surprised by that? Are you Ray? Does
that make you some kind of basketball genius?

I do think it's important for the team to not be satisfied with a moral
victory, and was thankful to read Antoine's quotes to that effect this
morning. The fact is that San Antonio has been very average against winning
teams this season-something like a .500 record. So the Celtics shouldn't be
satisfied with coming close at home, even if we're pleased that they played
well. 

A few thoughts:

This is a critical time for the Celtics. They're almost as close to eighth
place in the East as they are to first place. The good start was great, but
they need to right this mini-slide before it turns into a Detroit-style
nosedive. The Pistons' troubles coincided with a dip in rebounding, which
eventually led to disheartened defense. The Celts need to guard against the
same problems, because rebounding remains their biggest weakness. They were
great on the boards last night, so that's a good sign.

The tightening rotation, I think, is causing some problems. We're down to
seven/eight regulars, and there's a long way to go in the season. Antoine
and Pierce already are showing signs of wearing down late in games, and it's
only going to get worse. Fatigued players get lazy on defense, get beat on
the boards, and commit a lot of fouls. I'm painfully aware of how weak the
bench is (is Chris Wallace?), but you have to find another 3-4 minutes a
game of rest for these guys. You have to commit to those bench guys because
it will pay off down the stretch of the season, when you need your horses at
their best for big minutes. Do you realize that other than Duncan, no San
Antonio player averages even 30 minutes per game?

Antoine... I've been hard on the guy and still have problems with the way he
plays (and even more so with a team built around an undersized,
perimeter-oriented power forward, but that's not his fault), but the guy
seems to be trying to mix up his offense of late. He's cutting down on the
lazy threes. Unfortunately, instead of attacking the rim, he's shooting more
of those stop-and-chuck 18-footers that really aren't his shot. But it's a
start. (Side note: Obie must be pulling his hair out with Antoine right now
since 10 3s a game were part of the plan, and Antoine was only following
instructions. Right? Right?) I know Antoine probably feels like he doesn't
get any calls, but he has no understanding of how to take the ball really
strong to the basket. Even when he does post up or drive to the rim, he puts
up soft shots, often floaters fading away. I'm guessing this habit developed
when he was having the free throw problems, but he's a good FT shooter now.
He should be looking for contact, searching it out, using a fake to get
defenders to commit and then going to the line. That's how undersized guys
make their living around the basket. Anyway, if his knee is seriously
injured, forget it. The team is done. 

Pierce... OK, he takes some shots that would make Michael Jordan blush, he
doesn't run as hard in transition as he should, he's a shaky ball-handler
and passer... BUT he has become darn near unguardable. The guy has the
complete package on the offensive end. Range, the dribble-drive, the post-up
game and that step-back mid-range jumper has become unstoppable. That shot
separated him from a pretty good pack in my opinion. He's rebounding well
for a player of his size, too. Turning into a great player.

The rookies... OK, I'll get hammered for this, but count me among those
concerned that we came away virtually empty with three picks. I'm not giving
up on Kedrick, but he's 6-for-31 on the season and 1-14 on threes. He's
athletic, but shows absolutely no sense of how to use that athleticism. We
keep hearing about what a great practice player he is. I hope so, but there
have been a lot of outstanding athletes in the NBA who never became great
basketball players. McGrady, straight out of high school, was more advanced
at this stage than Kedrick. His first season he averaged 7 points and 4
rebounds on 45 percent shooting. Other "super athletes," like Ricky Davis,
Eddie Robinson, even Deshawn Stevenson, performed better in limited minutes
as rookies... Joe Johnson is solid. He's also passive and disappears for
long stretches. Just like in college. If we were looking for a solid role
player with the 10th pick, we probably did fine. If we were looking for more
than that, I'm not so sure. I'd use him as the bait for a big man, but I
know Wallace won't... Forte simply was a mistake. Parker, Tinsley obviously
were better options.... The fact that we're basically using seven men in the
rotation and Kedrick and Forte can't get on the floor says a lot. Does any
team in the NBA have more dead wood than the Celts? It's a credit to the
seven guys who carry this team.

All and all... Holding my breath on Antoine's knee... Frustrated by seeming
disinterest in roster upgrades on the part of Wallace (especially now that
it appears the luxury tax isn't going to kick in this year)... Concerned
with downturn in rebounding and shortening rotation... Not sold on the
rookies... Completely sold on Pierce.

Mark