Re: Its over

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
No offense taken. Everyone is entitled to an opinion here. I agree that they 
have been screwed royally by the refs. Thats part of my reasoning. What 
makes you think it will not continue in game 5? I just really feel as though 
they needed to get 1 of the 2 in philly. I honestly don't even see Friday as 
a close game.
--- end of quote ---

I agree with Shawn. It's over. Not only did the Sixers gain major psychological
advantage with this win, but St. Paul turned into what we all thought Evil
Toine to be - a guy who cares more about being The Man and showing people up
than about winning the game. The chemistry between our stars was clearly
missing tonight, not to mention the silent war between Pierce and Obie.  Add to
that the fact that the refs will continue making phantom calls for the Sixers
and their beloved Alley I., and I don't really see how the Celtics can win on
Friday. A lot of things have to go right for the Celtics to win: Pierce getting
with the program, our stars + one more player have strong games, the Sixers
playing poorly enough for us to build enough of a cushion tu survive the antics
that the refs will surely be pulling to put the Sixers through. Not very
likely. 

For the record, I thought the Sixers were going to win 3-1, and was overjoyed
when we pulled ahead 2-0. Yet even then I wasn't convinced that we were going
to win - I was just cautiously optimistic. I was so high-strung about this
series that I didn't even want to post to the list. But (I think) it doesnt'
matter now. Consider what happened tonight in addition to the other things I
and others have mentioned:
Philly figured out how to neutralize Pierce with McKie and how to get the ball
into Mutombo or Coleman for a layup or 2 at the line. Rogers still isn't
playing well in this series, McCarty has regressed to the mean, Battie has been
effectively benched in favor of RR, and Walker can't execute on the fast break
to save his life. Moreover, Walker and Pierce were more than happy to launch
threes, playing right into the Sixers' hands. Like some columnist noted, the
number of 3s over/under 20 per game is perfectly correlated with our win/loss
record against the Sixers this season. Tonight we had 29 threes. Pierce
launched a three or tried to drive - to the tune of 7 TOs -  seemingly every
time he touched the ball in the second half. Strickland is out of control at
PG, and Delk is of no help. These are all very bad signs.  I still have a small
glimmer of hope, but it's fading fast.
Kestas