Re: Herald - Baker at 1 percent

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

Kestas wrote:

Seriously,  Pierce gets the royal treatment compared to Walker, who gets
nothing. I think that's partly why Toine is shooting such a low percentage
from
close in - he knows he's going to get hacked but won't get a call, so he's
adjusting for the expected hit(s) and missing easy shots. The refs won't
call
anything because they expect him to miss anyway. It's a vicious circle that
might only be broken if Toine graduates from EW's school of drawing fouls.
You
know - fake, fake, fake, until the defender gets so mixed up, he just hacks
you
so clumsily that the foul could be ignored by only the most egregiously
biased
of refs. 

--- end ---

Here's my observation on Antoine and fouls: I think it dates back to early
in his career when he was a terrible free throw shooter. Remember? He was
Shaq-like. He developed bad habits then-avoiding contact, rushing shots in
the lane, moving away from the basket. He became a weak finisher because he
tried to get his shot off without being fouled instead of looking for the
foul. He's not the first guy to do it. Vin Baker was an extreme case in
Seattle. A few years ago, he missed something like 20 straight free throws
to start the season and became a soft (or softer), shy-from-contact player
after that and ever since.

Anyway, even though Antoine has improved dramatically as a free throw
shooter (an often overlooked point), he still rushes shots in traffic and
tends to avoid contact down there. He doesn't take the ball up strong.
Drawing fouls in the paint is a skill. Antoine isn't good at it.

As for Pierce, it's hard to have any complaints about his treatment. He
ranked among the league leaders in FTs attempted last season and I'm sure
he's among the leaders again this season. He already had a game with 21
attempts. It's a physical game, and I'm glad officials don't whistle every
little bit of contact when guys attack the basket. Pierce takes some abuse,
but so do Iverson, Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, McGrady and the other players in the
league who consistently attack the basket.

Mark

P.S. Ray goes out of his way to be abrasive, but he's right that the Celts
have had an easy schedule to open the season. To their credit, they took
advantage of it (with the one exception being the opener against Chicago-but
the Minnesota win probably evens things out). But every team in the league
gets easy stretches. The good ones take advantage of them, just as the
Celtics have. I'm looking forward to this week to see just how the Celts
measure up to some stronger competition. The defense is coming
around-they're good in spurts. The offense is better than I ever would have
expected. We can talk all we want about style of play on offense (and I hate
this style), but I'm coming to the realization that it's not WHAT you do,
but HOW WELL you do whatever it is you do. The Celts do what they do very
well. The Nets do what they do very well. The styles are drastically
different, but the results are all that matters. The playoffs are a
different story, when teams can scout you completely and prepare more
thoroughly, but we have a long way to go before worrying about that.