weekend boxscores

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

Antoine Walker played 96 minutes (48 per game average) 
this weekend. Paul Pierce logged 95 minutes. 

Obie did a nice job with the others I thought. Those who 
played a lot of minutes in the first game got noticeably 
fewer minutes in the second game, and vice-versa:

Battie-   43 & 29
Walt-     34 & 16
EWilliams-27 & 40
SWilliams-26 & 39 
Vin Baker-15 & 17

The Celtics seemed to get nearly maximum defensive 
consistency out of the seven-man rotation. 

Coming in, Atlanta had been leading the lead in blocked 
shots, but our smartening up Celts somehow out-swatted 
them in both games. 

We also dominated the offensive boards (31-21)and held 
Atlanta to .391 shooting in each game. 

Coming in, the Hawks ranked 3rd or 4th in the NBA in FG% 
(.462) despite having already completed their West Coast 
trip.

Sharif "don't like it" that the Celtics held him to 9-27 
shooting (33%) with 10 turnovers. I thought he looked 
more nondescript out there than even his weakass numbers 
indicate. 

Missing shots is one thing, but in terms of skills he 
looked like a generic 6-9 forward next to Walker. That 
used to not be the case.

Jason Terry was another forgettable guy. Apart from the 
shots he clanged (11-32), I barely noticed when he was in 
the game. 

Coming out of this weekend, Boston now ranks second in 
the NBA in steals (Philly leads by a fraction) and 9th in 
fewest TO's (Seattle is number one, thanks to Stahbucks 
coffee I guess). 

The Celtics also have climbed, faster than I thought was 
possible, to 12th in defensive FG%. Getting to number one 
in the league is the team goal. I doubt this will happen, 
but we'll see. Its laudable, Boston's defensive intensity 
at times.

The sweep gives Boston (9-4) a chance for a 10-win 
November with remaining games at home against 4-win 
Chicago and 4-win Toronto (Vince Carter's possible return 
game on Friday, if not sooner).
 
Last year, Boston had a 7-6 November but then made a 
breakthrough move before the holidays to get up to 19-11.

This year, the early December schedule has a lot of 
entertainment value. We open the month hosting a current 
10-3 team in New Orleans, then play the following night 
@7th seed Orlando (where T-Mac and Grant Hill seemingly 
have usurped any spots for our captains on the Olympic 
team), then just two nights later @ Larry Brown's 10-4 
Philly. So that's three good reasons for our captains to 
open some whupass.

But as noted in a previous post, the 16-game December 
schedule is the weakest of the season overall, on paper. 
That's when the Celtics and Patriots have to make some 
kind of move (sorry, not a big Bruins fan).

Joe H.



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