Unfortunate ending to a great year

[Rich Davies <rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Seriously, who of us thought we'd be playing for the Conference Finals
(besides Snoopy :-)? I'm sorry to see it go down like this--it was very
close to being 3-2 in favor of Boston coming into tonight's game--but the
season was still much more than I hoped at its beginning.

A good thing about what's happened is that it is teaching something to
Walker and Pierce. Being so close to what you so desperately want, and being
denied, fans the drive, desire and commitment for future attempts. I am
confident that our two stars will come back next year with more
determination and hunger to progress farther than they did this year--and
there's no team in the East that can seriously stand in their way, I
believe, even though NJ got the better of them this time around.

Rogers, Strick, Kenny and Williams all played with serious heart tonight,
but the inability of anyone not named Paul or Antoine to hit shots in the
second half just killed us. Not that Paul (14pts?) or Antoine (16pts) *did*
hit their shots, but the doubles really affected them, especially Pierce.
Not to mention that zone defense really befuddled them. It sucks because
you'd think they'd seen enough zone throughout the season to be able to deal
with it, but, oh well.

Finally, I really do think we missed Vitaly in this series. We definitely
needed another big body, especially one that can shove people around, and
who isn't only 6'7" (Rodney).

I can hardly wait for November.

Rich D.

P.S. Kings in 4