Re: What's up Doc Stern ?

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>]

Cous had great peripheral vision. Now it is tunnel vision. To go out of his
way to applaud the Nets for their style of play and the greatness of Kidd
doesn't wash with me. I think they suck big time. Kidd hasn't show me yet in
this series where he has control for 4 quarters. He missed 4 three's at the
end of the game just for beginners. I think the Celts could use some
encouraging words from Cous rather than articles like this. His underwear
are a size too small and he's uncomfortable.

DanF

----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Odegaard" <grodeg@kalama.com>
To: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>; <birdwl@earthlink.net>;
<Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: What's up Doc Stern ?


> OK I did find it and though he does give high praise to the "style" of
play
> from the Nets, I can't find anything negative about the Celtics. Just the
> opposite. Where does all these sour grapes come from?
> Sad given the wins of late. Enjoy,
> Greg
>
> Thursday, May 23
> Updated: May 23, 1:23 PM ET
>
> Cousy admires the way Kidd runs the Nets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> ----
> By Adrian Wojnarowski
> Special to ESPN.com
>
> EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The Boston Celtics clutch Bob Cousy's heart and
> history, the franchise's rise out of the rubble restoring rightful order
to
> his Memorial Day Weekend. From his Worcester, Mass., home, he's making the
> short drive down the Mass Turnpike bound for the gymnasium with 16
> championship banners, with Red and Russell sitting within the screaming
> sellout.
>
> Bob Cousy was blessed with great peripheral vision, just like a certain
Nets
> point guard.
> These are old times for the Cooz, bringing him back 50 years to when the
> game's greatest dynasty was born with him bringing the ball down the
court.
> Between his legs and around his back, Cousy passed to Havlicek and Bird,
to
> Pierce and Walker, to Games 3 and 4 of these Eastern Conference finals at
> the Fleet Center.
>
> "As a 73-year-old, it isn't easy to get animated anymore, but this team
has
> got my attention," Cousy said the other day. "This Celtics team has got my
> blood flowing."
>
> As hard as Cousy roots for them, as badly as he wishes for that
> Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals, the means to Boston's ends leave him a little
> torn, a little longing for the old days. The Celtics are working
> relentlessly to strip the beauty out of this basketball, slow these games
to
> an unwatchable grind and make the Game 2 thud, thud, thud of 117 missed
> shots the soundtrack of this series.
>
> If the Celtics must make everything so murky for victory, so be it. But
why
> does everyone play this way now? Cousy doesn't love his basketball down
and
> dirty, but fast and furious. There was a time Cousy never could've
imagined
> thinking this way, but it's true and he believes it and so: Why can't a
> little of the ne'er-do-well New Jersey Nets rub off on the rest of
> basketball -- even the Celtics?
>
> "When we were winning our championships, we had six plays with two options
> on each one," Cousy said. "Red loved it if I never called a set play the
> whole 48 minutes because that meant we blew someone's doors off in the
> transition game. With the sustained intensity of the defense in the
> playoffs, you can stop any half-court offense with fairly even matched
> teams. But it doesn't matter if the Celtics spend three weeks working on
> stopping the Nets, if you've got Jason Kidd running, you're never going to
> stop them. Never.
>
> "I'm not talking the kind of running in the school yard and All-Star
Games.
> I'm talking about a controlled running -- what just four or five teams out
> of everyone in the league do."
>
> He sighs over the telephone, wishing this wasn't the case. The Celtics are
> clearly his heritage, but Kidd and these Nets, they're the living,
breathing
> legacy of the way those old Celtics played the game. From fast breaks and
> scoring balance, to the backdoor layups out of that Princeton passing
> offense Pete Carril borrowed liberally from Auerbach, to the planet's best
> point guard playing the position like Cousy invented it, these Nets are a
> throwback.
>
> When they're crisp, they're a clinic. When Kidd has the Nets running, they
> play a brand of basketball determined to bring a tear to a great old point
> guard's eye.
>
>  " It's complete crap that you can't run in the playoffs. You can develop
> that style. The Nets have done it. "
>   - Bob Cousy
>
> "It's complete crap that you can't run in the playoffs," Cousy said. "You
> can develop that style. The Nets have done it. Everyone else will walk
that
> sucker up the floor. If we all agree the players just don't pass that well
> today, then what's to say if they're going to pass the ball five or six
> times to get a shot that they're not going to screw things up even more?"
>
> "I'll go to my grave not understanding why basketball has come to this.
Has
> the game passed me by that much? Has it? Well, I don't believe it has."
>
> Kidd is responsible for turning the biggest joke in basketball into
> something scintillating. And when he speaks of his influences, always two
> names tumble out of him: Magic Johnson and Cousy. They played that right
> way, Kidd believes. They played for everyone else. They played for
winning's
> sake.
>
> Cousy doesn't watch much regular-season basketball these days -- "Guys
mail
> it in too often," he says -- but he watches Kidd when he gets the chance.
He
> never takes his eyes off him. Sometimes, he hopes the young players are
> watching him, too, understanding a point guard can completely control the
> game even when shooting is the last thing on his mind. This was true a
half
> century ago and it's true today.
>
> "He's a throwback," Cousy said of Kidd. "He's out there creating and
> developing for other people. He makes everyone else around him better and
> there's no highest compliment to what we're all about. Not too many
function
> anymore as such. I was blessed with peripheral vision, just like Jason and
> Magic, and that's a tremendous advantage."
>
> There goes the Cooz, using "We" when he speaks of the New Jersey Nets
before
> making his way to the FleetCenter this weekend. Yes, Cousy always had that
> great vision on the floor and he's never lost it. He's always going to go
> with his love, his history, and cheer that team of his that's made his
> Memorial Day weekend matter again. Yet, Bob Cousy longs for something
beyond
> the glory of the Celtics -- the glory of the game -- and so it truly won't
> be old times in Boston until Jason Kidd brings his team to town, until
> they're running right out of those 1950s and 60s, and right into the heart
> of an old point guard.
>
> Adrian Wojnarowski, a sports columnist for The Record (northern N.J.), is
a
> regular contributor to ESPN.com.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>
> To: <birdwl@earthlink.net>; <Celtics@igtc.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 5:34 PM
> Subject: Re: What's up Doc Stern ?
>
>
> > Let me add another ex-celtic to the list of ex-celtics who do not seem
to
> be
> > doing their part during these playoffs... Mr. Cousy. He has been nothing
> but
> > negative towards the C's. And has gone out of his way to praise the
Nets.
> I
> > have only two words for messr's Bird and Cousy....   Screw em!
> >
> >
> > >From: bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>
> > >To: Celtics@igtc.com
> > >Subject: Re: What's up Doc Stern ?
> > >Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 14:04:13 -0700
> > >
> > >>From: "Dan Forant" <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
> > >>
> > >>Hey, I'm with you, they don't come any more loyal than Tommy H. He has
> > >>given
> > >>his quart of blood for the Celtic organization. Can't say that of
> certain
> > >>other Celtic retirees.
> > >
> > >Yet another reference to "Larry Bird's not at the Fleet and it's so
> > >terrible!"?  When are we going to see the end of the beating to this
dead
> > >horse?
> > >
> > >The keys to Boston''s win this afternoon are going to be playing good
> > >defense, making good passes for easy scores, and the home crowd.  *Not*
> > >whether or not Larry Joe Bird or Satch Sanders or Hank Finkel show up
at
> > >the Fleet.  It's about what happens on the court by the guys who are in
> > >Celtic uniforms *now*, not twenty years ago.  See, that was then, this
is
> > >now.
> > >
> > >Bird
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
> > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Shawn Niles" <shizzjr@hotmail.com>
> To: <birdwl@earthlink.net>; <Celtics@igtc.com>
> Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2002 5:34 PM
> Subject: Re: What's up Doc Stern ?
>
>
> > Let me add another ex-celtic to the list of ex-celtics who do not seem
to
> be
> > doing their part during these playoffs... Mr. Cousy. He has been nothing
> but
> > negative towards the C's. And has gone out of his way to praise the
Nets.
> I
> > have only two words for messr's Bird and Cousy....   Screw em!
> >
> >
> > >From: bird <birdwl@earthlink.net>
> > >To: Celtics@igtc.com
> > >Subject: Re: What's up Doc Stern ?
> > >Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 14:04:13 -0700
> > >
> > >>From: "Dan Forant" <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>
> > >>
> > >>Hey, I'm with you, they don't come any more loyal than Tommy H. He has
> > >>given
> > >>his quart of blood for the Celtic organization. Can't say that of
> certain
> > >>other Celtic retirees.
> > >
> > >Yet another reference to "Larry Bird's not at the Fleet and it's so
> > >terrible!"?  When are we going to see the end of the beating to this
dead
> > >horse?
> > >
> > >The keys to Boston''s win this afternoon are going to be playing good
> > >defense, making good passes for easy scores, and the home crowd.  *Not*
> > >whether or not Larry Joe Bird or Satch Sanders or Hank Finkel show up
at
> > >the Fleet.  It's about what happens on the court by the guys who are in
> > >Celtic uniforms *now*, not twenty years ago.  See, that was then, this
is
> > >now.
> > >
> > >Bird
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
> > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx