Sunday's game impressions

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

I thought I'd interrupt the wailing and moaning with my impressions of the
Celts' last game at Shaw's. 

The game had just begun when we walked in and the Celtics were already down 8
points or so. When I saw whom the Hawks had on the floor (Ratliff, Demarr
Johnson, and Dion Glover) it became obvious that winning the summer league was
probably not in the cards. We sat directly behind Shira and Dick Harter in the
first half, who were talking throughout the entire game. Perhaps he is the
quoted "source close to the situation", not that it matters now. As to the game
itself, our guys were struggling against the Hawks' first-teamers, and for a
while, it seemed that they weren't going to score 20 points in the first half. 

The situation improved when the Really Big O checked in, followed by a cheer
from the sizable crowd (I'd say the gym was 90% full for the Celtics game). As
fat as he is, he was the best player on the floor for the Celtics, if not
altogether. He scored, he passed, he even blocked shots. He, Mott, and Songaila
hooked up for a few nice plays resulting in dunks or layups. Oliver found the
right guy basically every time and somehow managed to get rebounds he had no
business getting, at 6-9 and 400 or so pounds. I think he'd be worth signing,
even if he doesn't lose an ounce. 

Mott was another guy I liked. He's very vocal, directing the defense like a
traffic cop, and a live (and very chiselled) body. Showed a nice short jumper
and a lot of hustle on defense and in rebounding action, although it didn't
translate into many rebounds. He'd be a good guy to have around  as a poor
man's version of Bo Outlaw. 

Forte looked like a guy that will contribute for ... oh wait, he's gone. Never
mind. 

Kedrick (still with us as of this writing,  I hope) sort of drifted around the
perimeter mostly, attempted a few drives, snatched a high-flying rebound or
two, but otherwise didn't do that much. He looks smaller and not very muscular
in person. 

Bremer looked pretty solid with the dribble, had good shooting form from long
range, and worked VERY hard on D -  not that this stopped the Hawks' PGs from
doing what they wanted. He exhibited no particular aptitude for point guard
play, as it's conventionally defined (i.e., not what Obie thinks a PG should
bring to the team). I can see why he was signed over Cook, given Obie's
predilection for these qualities in his PGs. Speaking of Cook, he was walking
around in civvies, wearing this round hat over his eyes (is there a name for
it?), looking very sad and unhappy. Who can blame him? I later saw him saying
good-bye to Papile. Btw, he's not very big (i.e. smaller than me :).   

Songaila looked pretty good, scoring on a nice turnaround move, a few low-post
moves and a couple of drives. One of the drives was particularly impressive and
drew the loudest cheer from the crowd. He was being guarded by Ratliff near the
3-point line right in front of us, threw a few fakes as if he was going to take
the long J, then drove right by Ratliff and slammed it home over the Hawks' big
guys. He looks very comfortable driving on people, but is probably too slow to
do it at SF. He also manages to take himself out of a rebounding position a lot
by getting entangled with other big guys while angling for low-post advantage.
He did end up grabbing 5 rebounds, but for a position rebounder, he was out of
position a lot. 

I talked to Darius and his lovely wife Jackie after the game, and got the
impression from both of them that the Celtics haven't exactly rolled out the
red carpet for him.  They said they were really hoping that the Celtics would
offer him a contract, but when I asked them whether the "brain trust" has said
anything to DS to that end, they both said that the brass "aren't saying
anything on the issue". Not very encouraging.   Btw, DS is all of 6-9 - a very
big dude, huge hands. 

It's funny that, just like Josh with Obie, I had to wait a long time before
Shira Springer was done interviewing Songaila. Then some incredibly obese  guy
with a camera crew grabbed him for an interview.  I'm not sure which station he
was from, but I saw the same guy talking to Wallace and Papile earlier. I also
nearly bumped into the Really Big O and what I thought was the mysterious Demos
Dikudis guy, although I am not totally sure - it could've been some 6-9+  Yugo.
There's lots of them around these days.  That's all for now, gotta run. 
Kestas