Badgers are really goundhogs, you know.

[JB <jimmetz@xxxxxxx>]

	Toad would have loved that place, really, all the noise and bright 
lights and even the two hookers who were escorted down to the VIP 
section, with about 5 minutes remaining in the game; but for an old 
badger like me, it was just too much glitz, too much excitement, that 
had nothing to do with the game. With all of the competitions, the "T" 
shirt gun, the huge scoreboard, and the artificial  roars of the 
fans(?), I might have preferred to watch  the game from my warm and 
cozy burrow.
	I really do dislike the constant promotion and attempt to fill the 
place with so much artificial, non-game stimulus, that my most common 
remark to my scintillating companion, the "Divine Ms. M." was: "What? 
What did you say?" It's especially annoying during timeouts, the noise 
level doesn't recede, it increases, so the idea of discussing the play, 
or sharing a tale or two, with the patrons in the next seats, or the 
ones behind, always part of the charm of going  to the game, was not a 
possibility.
	I'm not sure if this experience will precede a long and cold winter, 
but it will be a long day in May (I hope), before I want to go back to 
that house of frenzy.
	The game, oh yes, the game. It started pretty well, especially 
Antoine, who played the first half like a hall of famer.  His game was 
right out of the textbook. Most of his 18 points, in that half, were 
from down low, while the recipient of clever passes.  It looked like we 
could score from the paint at will, but for some strange reason, we 
just stopped trying. Was it Shawn Bradley, making adjustments (he did 
start-did his attitude or zone responsibility change in the second half 
?), or just lack of will, I don't know. By the second half, we had gone 
back  to hoisting from the arc, which is just playing into Dallas' 
hands. They shoot better, partly because they have a great point guard, 
who gets them open looks.
	We got close late in the fourth quarter, when the only real defensive 
intensity of the game erupted. Walker, McCarty, Baker, Delk and S. 
Williams  got it to six,  but for some inexplicable reason, O'Brien 
subbed Pierce and Battie, for Vin and Walter and the pressure 
dissolved, as did our chances of winning. With Walker and Pierce 
scoring exactly 8 points between them for the second half, we won't win 
many, but unless we defend with more intensity, consistently, against 
these better teams, we are just another also ran, no matter who is 
shooting well.
	Kim and I agreed that while Delk and S. Williams are both nice 
players, for the team to really compete, with the top teams in the 
East, one of them will have to go. A true point guard has to be brought 
in. If Vin Baker's contributions don't expand, his huge contract over 
the next five years might make the rest of the roster choices, slim as 
they will be, irrelevant. He made a few blocks and some rebounds, but 
for 15 million, it's just not cutting it.
	Walker can't be the point distributor, scorer and rebounder, it just 
won't work. As it's been said  before "you can't be in two places at 
the same time." The offense needs to be balanced with more the cuts and 
interior passing, to allow the outside shooting to open up, just like 
in football, where  a even great passer, needs  a running game, to keep 
the defense honest. It's also been said before, that to develop a post 
game (and that was O'Brien's stated intention, by bringing in 
Gallagher, wasn't it?) you need a point guard to set it up. No matter 
how many points Delk and S. Williams score this can't be overlooked. 
Having said that, both Delk (7)and Williams (6), had pretty good 
nights, passing the ball and were both looking for Walker down low in 
the first half. In 50 minutes combined, the two erstwhile point guards, 
had 38 points and 13 assists. Not a bad night's work, even if they 
can't satisfy a point guard purist like me.
	Speaking of pure point guards; I did get a chance to chat with Ernie 
DiGregorio, one of the best to ever lace them up. His exploits with 
Providence College, are legend and only an ankle injury to Marvin 
Barnes, kept his Friars from toppling the Bill Walton/John Wooden/ UCLA 
machine, in the NCAA's.
	After making rookie of the year with Buffalo, Digregorio busted his  
knee and never became the star that his talents warranted, but he did 
contribute to one of my favorite Celtic moments. As a bench warmer for 
the C's, in the mid seventies, he rarely got off the bench, but during 
John Havlicek's last game, against Philadelphia, which we were losing 
by 17 at the half, with "Hondo" scoring about 8, Ernie was summoned to 
start the second half and get the ball to Havlicek. Get him the ball he 
did. not only did we win the game by about 25, "Jarrin John," finished 
with 44 points and "Ernie D"racked up with 17 assists. In one half.
	I always figured that it was "Red" who had kept Ernie on the bench 
during his short Celtics stint, but he told me last night, after 
reminiscing about that game, which I scored while listening at home on 
a radio, that: "It was "Satch," It was "Satch" that wouldn't play me, 
Red left everything to Sanders."
		JB

	Unchain My Heart !