the Philly win

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi list, as some IGTC posters already have noted, last 
night was a type of watershed in the development of 
Obie's team, in one specific sense at least. Even in the 
latter stages of last season, how many games would Boston 
have won (handily,I might add) against a .667 team, with 
Paul Pierce shooting 4-20? Probably none. I actually 
think that.

Boston came in at 6 per game in rebounding differential. 
Stand that next to Philly (an outstanding rebounding team 
this year) at a whopping +6 on the offensive boards 
ALONE. Add in the visceral revenge motivations. 

This was a good win. Philly is well-coached and has low 
turnovers (13 last night); they also average a ton of 
steals (three guys averaging over 2 per game); they 
finally have two guys at over 15 points per game to 
complement Iverson; and also two guys averaging more 
boards than Walker at last check. They might not be a 
great team, but they had been playing like one.

On top of that, since we last met in the playoffs, Larry 
Brown quietly added a power forward that has produced 20 
and 10 so far(well, 19.5 and 9.5). On paper, the Van Horn 
trade couldn't have worked out better as an upgrade over 
a retirement age, non-factor center. I'm no Van Horn fan, 
but I actually felt Philly didnt go to him enough last 
night. He's hitting low post shots I've never seen before.

One more thing. Teams would be crazy not to study Larry 
Brown's game-planning to defend Paul Pierce. When Boston 
isolated him, the Sixers had three guys facing him, with 
no obvious kickout or driving lanes in sight. I thought 
it was very effective, but hey, "scoreboard, baby!"

This was a good win. 

But the actual point I wish to make in this post is this. 

By some measures, last night was less an aberration than 
a confirmation of a trend. 

By that I mean that last night wasn't the first time this 
season that Paul or Antoine have shot us into 
probable "one of those nights" losing scenarios. 

The amazing thing is that we won not just last night, but 
several nights this month with Paul or Antoine, or both, 
struggling. 

To wit, Paul's season stats show a .389FG%. Antoine 
Walker is still at .373FG%.

Saint Paul has been dribbling into the lane this month 
like his arms are IV'd on novocaine. 

And despite two straight "good" shooting games, Antoine's 
probably two .500 shooting games in a row away from 
getting up to the "Mendoza Line" FG% of .400. He's way 
down there.