Re: Whatever you say Obie...

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

I wanted to write yesterday after the game but "things" happen. Anyway,
watching the game yesterday with a Lakers fan who happens to be a friend. He
has bad taste in teams but some things can't be helped. He hasn't seen the
Celtics play all year but since they were on NBC he decided to join me. One
sequence sums up the whole "reverse the ball" debate for him and me. The
Celtics were making a come back at the end of the first half. The came down
court, passed the ball to the wing, inside and then back outside...a
beautiful sequence of ball movement, but unfortunately it wound up in the
hands of Eric Williams foul-line extended. As soon as my friend saw the ball
in Williams hands he let out a big laugh, the smile left my face as Eric,
wide open, put the ball on the floor. The defense reset, the 24 second clock
was winding down, and an opportunity was lost. I think Williams passed up
the open shot and took a miserable shot or lost the ball or just sat down
and cried. That's the problem with ball reversal on this team. I'll write
more later.

Paul M.


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

> Did anyone else see this in the Herald today? Is Obie being serious?
Outside
> of the occasional moment when the planets are aligned (the blowouts of
> Orlando and Detroit three weeks ago), do the Celtics ever reverse the
ball?
> Antoine and Paul "moving the basketball more now"... Sure, Obie. But hey,
if
> he says they need to do a better job of recognizing the double team and
> reversing the basketball he runs the risk of alienating his "stars" and we
> know what happened to the last guy who did that. Maybe if he keeps saying
> they're moving the ball, it really will happen. If that's the strategy,
> someone tell Obie to start repeating "Eric Williams sure can shoot..."
>
> Check out this note from the Herald:
>
> <snip>
> When O'Brien looks at the Pistons, he can't help but notice similarities
> with his own team. O'Brien's perspective goes beyond the fact the two team
s
> are among the league's biggest surprises.
> ``One of the things that strikes me about Detroit is they're getting it
done
> in similar fashion to the way we are attempting to do it - with good,
solid,
> hard-nosed defense, and relying on reversal of the basketball.
> ``I think you could make a parallel between (Jerry) Stackhouse and his
> assists (increasing with a more balanced offense), and Antoine (Walker)
and
> Paul (Pierce) and how they're moving the basketball more now.
> ``I really think we're trying to get it done the same way, and that
accounts
> for much of the improvement you're seeing with both teams.''