Biggest win of the season

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

Unbelievably important win last night. Think about all the factors: The
Celtics' slide, their struggle since the trade, the improvement of the
mid-level teams in the East, the Sixers able to catch the Celts with a win.
It was a huge game for both teams, on Philly's home floor-a team the Celts
haven't been able to beat-and the Celtics won. Not only did they win, but
they did it thanks in large part to the two new guys. Rogers and Delk were
huge.

I've said all along that Rogers and Delk are tremendous upgrades and if the
Celts (captains/Obie) could work them in, it makes the team much better.
Last night showed it. Without that trade-without Rogers and Delk-the Celtics
lose that game. They had lost eight straight to the Sixers. Rogers and Delk
made the difference. Of course Walter deserves a lot of credit for his
contributions, but without Rogers and Delk, his heroics aren't enough.

Antoine was rock solid last night. It didn't show up in the stats, but he
was solid. Pierce forced things early, then settled down. The thing I love
about Pierce, and I know he has his detractors, but I love that when he
struggles with his shot, he tries to attack the basket and get to the line.
12 points from the line last night, offsetting a poor shooting game. Iverson
is good at that, too. Antoine should take notes-that's probably his biggest
weakness as an offensive player. On the nights (and there are plenty of
them) when he isn't shooting well, he should try to get himself to the line
for easy points. He doesn't. How differently would we view those 8-for-23
nights if they came with a 10-for-12 from the line?

Questions coming out of this game:

1.	Has Obie settled on a rotation, or was this dictated by no Battie
and the desire to nullify Mutombo? I still have my concerns. When we were
nine minutes into the first period and Blount and Walter were in the game
together but Rogers still hadn't taken off the warm-ups, I was ready to kick
Paul M.'s dog.
2.	Antoine and Rogers played well together, but most of the time it was
as a PF/C combination. Can they get away with that all the time? Will Obie
ever put the two of them out there together at the forward spots for an
extended period of time? Is Obie determined to always be undersized at every
position on the floor?
3.	Rebounding still hurt, but the Sixers have a huge frontline. Still,
it would be nice to see a big lineup with Walker, Rogers and VP/Battie in
there from time to time.
4.	Delk starting at shooting guard doesn't look so bad against the tiny
Iverson-Snow backcourt. But if/when Delk is abused by McGrady and
Stackhouse, will Obie do anything differently? I'm not so sure. His answer
against Iverson seems to be to put McCarty on him and try to bother him with
length. Not going to work all the time. 
5.	Can the Celtics maintain the kind of focus and intensity we saw last
night? It was reminiscent of the early-season Celts-tough, resilient,
defensive-minded and poised. We've seen that here and there since the
all-star break (Portland, maybe LA) but it hasn't been consistent.

The next two games are HUGE. Orlando has basically drawn even and the
Pistons have surged ahead of the Celts. Both teams will be taking on Boston
in the second half of back-to-backs. Wins here impact playoff seeding. The
Celts need to nail down that third or fourth seed. That's imperative. I
don't know how the seeding works, but ideally you'd want to avoid Milwaukee
for as long as possible. The Nets' home-court advantage isn't going to be as
strong as the Bucks'. It's time to start thinking about that, and I'll be
really disappointed if the Celtics aren't thinking the same way. They've had
their stumble, they've worked the new guys in-now it's time to increase the
intensity for the playoff run. They have the personnel. No excuses anymore.

Mark