RE: Miss Cindarella; your coach awaits.

["Wright, Cecil" <Cecil.Wright@JUSTICE.GC.CA>]

-----Original Message-----
From: JB [mailto:JBMetzEA@yahoo.com]
Sent: January 22, 2002 8:56 AM
To: Celtics Stuff; Celtics@igtc
Subject: Miss Cindarella; your coach awaits.


   As much as the Detroit game showed me a team, not of playoff caliber,
last nights game displayed a  team that can play at that level. 

* Which is one reason why I emphasize not over-reacting to such a loss.
There is plenty of season remaining to get too low from a bad loss or too
high from a win.

As a
measuring stick, of this aspect of the team play, I've been looking for
those "good," or productive possessions, that give the team a better than
average chance to score and I saw very few "bad" possessions, last night.
Two stats. from the box score underline this:
   1. We had thirty assists. When is the last time we saw that?
   2. We shot .513 (they shot .425).
   Playoff basketball 101. Smart, unselfish possessions, good defense,
against a quality team.

* As I tried to say in a post to Mark yesterday, Antoine is a catalyst in
the assist department.  Anyone who has played the sport at ANY level
appreciates the skill which a good passer brings to the court.  That was one
of the great similarities between Bird and Magic during the glory years.
Among other issues which were hotly debated about the two was who was a
better passer.  That was one of the big reasons why FAs wanted to play
alongside them so badly.  I am NOT comparing Antoine to Bird/Magic, merely
pointing out that he has a rare ability to move the ball for a player of his
size.

   I am stunned at the following quote from Shira Springer, writing in the
"Boston Globe," who did not give her source. No other writer mentioned this
today: 
   "With the blessing of coach Jim O'Brien, Antoine Walker took over the
Celtics huddles in the fourth quarter last night."
   One of the articles this AM, noted that it was also Antoine who called
for the two isolation plays for Anderson;  one that led to the Battie dunk
and the other, that spectacular drive and lefty hook over Keon Clark. Can we
presume that it was Walker also who put the ball in Kenny's hands, for those
last 4:25 seconds, when the team held off Toronto's late charge?
   What to say ? I'm in shock.
   Tommy Heinsohn's last word on the game: "Well, they got the ball into
Kenny's hands, just at the right time."
   If Walker can make those kinds of decisions, again, taking the ball out
of his own hands, as he has often done to get Pierce more involved, he truly
is a special player and deserves all of the confidence that Jimmy O'Brien
has shown in him.
    
* This will be a source of controversy if/when Toine's game plan fails.  OB,
as coach will be second-guessed, at length, for not following his own game
plan and BOWING TO THE WISHES OF HIS IMPETUOUS PF.

Cecil



                  Unchain My Heart !