Re: A Disturbing Game: Somewhere Pete Shepherd Is Laughing

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
I think I would like Vin Baker if I met him. Seems like a nice, thoughtful,
sincere guy. But I'm pretty sure-and this isn't based just on last night's
game-that he's going to drive me to drink this season. I can't stand guys
who bring it one night and don't the next. Everyone is going to have bad
games. But inconsistent effort has dogged Vin for years now, and I have no
reason to believe that's going to change now. 
--- end of quote ---

Repeat after me: it's not Vin's fault, it's not Vin's fault, it's not Vin's
fault...
Mostly, anyway. I wouldn't say he was pulling the old Battie "now you see me,
now you don't" routine. He DID try to be involved, but it's pretty difficult to
do  when you don't get to touch the ball. Whatever attempts he got were off
offensive rebounds. They weren't passing to him, weren't running any plays for
him (since, as Obie admitted, there aren't any), he was probably nervous
because of the home crowd. Granted, he could've been more active on the boards,
but he's not a Dennis Rodman or even Tony Battie in that regard. He is what he
is, which is something we don't have and, judging by Obie's lack of haste about
involving him in the offense, don't even need that much.  WayRay's usual
negativity and 'schadenfreude' aside, a question needs to be asked what Obie is
trying to do with Baker before we have a Seattle-like situation. 
Paging Michael Holley, the Oliver Stone of Boston sports scribes! 

--- You wrote:
Too bad about Kedrick, but this team has been charmed in terms of injuries.
If this is the worst that happens, they're still in great shape. Sounds like
his performance last night was a little better.
--- end of quote ---

If he can give us what he gave last night, I'd be happy. His freak athleticism
really makes the opposing players think whether they can get their shot off
*anywhere* on the court, he gets rebounds that few other humans, no matter how
tall, can get, and boy, can he really finish on the break! He's our one-man
'Air Force' (has anyone seen the old tape about the 1986 Dominique-led Hawks,
aka the 'Air Force').  It's his bum luck that just as he starts showing what he
can do, he gets injured. 

--- You wrote:
Looking at the box score, looks like Pierce, Walker, Delk and Sundov did
most of the damage. The most disturbing thing sounds like the defense, but
let's face it... the Celts can't seem to motivate themselves to play defense
against the Bulls in the regular season, why should we expect them to now?
You have to assume the defense will be OK when it matters.
--- end of quote ---

Pierce was in his unstoppable, everyone-just-shaking-their-heads mode. Hassell
was playing really good D on him, but he was making the most difficult of shots
with ease as if TH weren't even there. 
Walker shot well, made some *really* nice passes and was just solid, except for
a quick three that he launched when trying to show up Chandler (who had just
dunked after stealing the ball).  
Delk's shooting looks really good. I hope that's closer to his real ability
than what we got last season. Sundov might just be able to replace most of the
things that Rodney did. He's got skilz, youth and length and that's a good 
foundation to build on. 
As for the D, you're right, they were fully in the preseason mode. They knew
they could get up 15 points on the Bulls whenever they felt like it. That said,
the Bulls are not such a bad team, they've got some underrated players. They're
just young. 

--- You wrote:
As for Battie... if you're asking him to guard Eddy Curry, there's a
problem. Battie just isn't strong enough. But Battie was valuable last year
in the Celtics' scheme because he defended the pick-and-roll the way they
wanted. He has the lateral quickness to jump out on the dribbler and execute
an effective trap. Not many big men can do that as well as Battie. So teams
that initiated their offense with a high pick-and-roll with Battie's man as
the screener had problems. If you're looking for him to body-up to Curry or
the like, you'll be disappointed. That's what Baker is for, although it
doesn't seem he did an especially good job of it last night.
--- end of quote ---

Like I said, Battie was mainly looking to avoid injury in a meaningless game,
and definitely not trying his darndest to shut Curry down. Curry is good, but
he's not THAT good. 
I also liked what I saw from Shammond. He's  a VERY good dribbler, at least on
par with Kenny. He's also a pretty good passer. Bremer didn't embarass himself
either. It's  early, but I see where Obie might have a point about us not
having a PG problem. Our PG-by-committee won't be better than Kidd or Payton,
but they just might be an adequate replacement for Kenny. 

At this point I'm fairly confident that we've upgraded our talent level.
Whether we have enough toughness and defense remains to be seen. Next week's
mini-series with NJ will tell us more. 
Kestas