Improving

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The defense is improving, and that's all that really matters. It's still not
at last year's level, but I'm seeing signs of it getting there. They're
doing it in spurts. The final three minutes Saturday were pretty suffocating
(and further evidence that Minnesota lacks a true go-to guy at the end of
games).

The other point I want to make is on Eric Williams. I'm terribly hard on
him, and most of the time he completely deserves it. But he is playing
extremely well so far. Kudos to him.

With the exception of the ugly game against the Bulls, the Celts have done a
lot of their damage offensively during this streak by riding a really hot
hand: Pierce vs. the Knicks, Delk vs. the Lakers and Walker vs. the
T-Wolves. The most encouraging part of that is the Delk game, when they
finally seemed to be feeding someone other than Pierce or Walker. Delk can
have those kinds of games, and I hope they continue to recognize it when
he's having one of them. Too often in the past, guys have started to warm
up, but the Celts never take advantage of it because every offensive set is
designed for Pierce or Walker.

Encouraging stuff so far. Watch the defense (and rebounding). That's the key
to everything. If they play defense, they'll be OK. If they don't, they
won't.

Mark

P.S. This is never going to happen, but let me just say that the more I
watch the T-Wolves, the more convinced I am that a Garnett-for-Walker trade
would be great for both teams. Garnett would come to Boston, where he would
be the ultimate support guy and he'd have his go-to guy in Pierce. Walker
would become the crunch-time, big-shot guy the T-Wolves desperately need,
while still giving them some of the rebounding and passing that Garnett
does. I'm telling you, this would be a great move for both team. Too bad
it's just a fantasy. And please don't start the "why do you want to trade
Antoine now?" replies. Antoine is playing just fine and I don't "want" to
trade him. I'm just making an observation about a deal that would be a great
hypothetical fit for both teams.