Re: You're all wrong.....

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

The outside shooting is so horrid as a whole in the league, it's been
ingrained in every players head to lay off the shooter if he's standing more
than 20 feet from the hoop.  Also since there are fewer kickouts to the
shooters, there's no need to stay out there on defense.  Just slack off the
shooter and collapse on the penetrator.>>Ryan Lee

Nice to see a different name up here, Ryan, and since I'm referenced in your
post, I'll have to respond, much to the chagrin of Cecil, bird, and Hill.

Simply, the entire offense of the Celtics is geared to create the open 3pt
shot.  It's public information.  Obie's been quoted.  EWill hasn't been
allowed inside the arc since 1998.

Anybody covering the Celts knows Twan's not driving to the hoop, EWill goes
past his man once twice a season to celebrate the new moon, and Battie hasn't
touched a ball in two years, unless Kenny caught him stepping in on a drive.

The way to play the Celtics is to defend the perimeter shooters.  Other teams
score plenty of threes on the collapsing defense pulling guys inside, so it's
folly to say that perimeter defense isn't needed any longer.

My question is:  Exactly who is Pierce guarding?  He sags enough, and picks a
ball or two off of a sloppy pass, but he ends up in no man's land all the
time.  He's usually assigned a poor shooter because the Celts want to save his
old, tired legs for 43 min per game, but his guy still scores.  Plenty.