Re: re:Subject: Fwd: [Celtics' Stuff -"I left guys on the court a little too long,..

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yeah, Obie's worried alright.  He's going to try to play Walker and Pierce
40 minutes to get them in shape?  That doesn't make sense.  He saw what
their 40 minutes resulted in at the end of the season when Kenny, Paul and
Twan all suffered from dead legs late in the games.  If these guys aren't in
shape after 90 NBA games, they won't get stronger by playing them more
minutes.

Let's remember that the captains were both ranked in the top five for NBA
minutes per game, and at 81 and 82 reg season games, we can say that their
cumulative minutes exceeded every other team's top two players by a wide
margin.

Obie may need their scoring or defense, but he doesn't need to condition
them and that's a crappy excuse.  Just like playing Kenny for 36mpg against
the Nets because he had no other good options, the coach wants his best guys
out there the max minutes.  Isn't this what upset us about the little PT
that Kedrick saw last year?  Obie always has an excuse not to play the
youngsters.

Nonetheless, nobody should expect our captains to perform well at 42mpg, or
82 x 40mpg, especially by April.  Hence, Obie was wise in saying he wanted
to reduce their minutes.  The loss of Kedrick, the little offense from the
rejuvenated EWill and the few points scored by Delk and Walter point to a
scoring dropoff if they don't play.  That's right now.  If the team doesn't
develop other scorers this season, they'll have the same problems in the
Spring as they did last year, and that's the coach's fault.
----- Original Message -----
From: <Tammo29@AOL.com>
To: <celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 6:15 PM
Subject: re:Subject: Fwd: [Celtics' Stuff -"I left guys on the court a
little too long,..


> "First, the quote on the 22nd is irrelevant. We all read and understood
> O'Brien's message,  that they both would play 40 minutes against
Dallas." -JB
>
>   Making the quote on the 22nd irrelevant would certainly boost your
theory,
> however I don't see how it could be irrelevant since he clearly did say
that
> he would play them 40 minutes in the final two games, not just Dallas. He
has
> been questioned more than once about players minutes and more than once he
> has said he believes he needs to play them to keep them in game shape and
> that he doesn't worry about injuries and such.  You could argue with his
> reasoning, as I have, but you can't deny that is what he has been saying
all
> preseason long.
>
>   As I said in my original response, I could be wrong, but after reading
both
> quotes again I think it would take some serious reading between the lines
to
> get anything about limiting minutes for Walker and Pierce for final
preseason
> game out of what was said.
> It could even be argued that when he was talking about leaving players in
too
> long and substituting sooner he was talking about players other than
Pierce
> and Walker since they were not singled out.  Either way, changing
> substitution patterns and lessening minutes are two separate things.
>
> This is really such a minor matter.  I probably wouldn't even have
responded
> if I hadn't been goaded into it.  The season starts tomorrow (Wednesday
for
> us) and we shall soon see whether O'Brien thinks we now have enough
weapons
> to play our stars shorter minutes.  My guess is right now he's worried.