Re: The Boston Celtics Mailing List Digest V9 #271

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

FWIW of course, I think some of your posts are thoroughly
interesting, but I also feel some posts (not all) can be
unnecessarily (or deliberately?) extreme, to the point of
losing all persuasive influence. Maybe this was one
example. No big deal. >>Joe Hironika.

Hey, if they weren't extreme, who'd notice me with my Kenny Anderson jersey
on?

I'm not going to persuade anybody online with a list of stats or examples.
I'm trying to alert folks that Pierce is going in the wrong direction for the
health of the team, IMO, and that others may begin to pay attention.  The guy
scored a bunch of points in  Indiana, but the team lost, and lost even when he
was involved during the final stretches after significant rest.

Playing to Pierce as the go-to guy also takes the team away from developing
any rhythm.  Hard to quantify, but it's happened to the 2001-2 Celtics and the
FIBA team.  Do we need to see how he'll perform on the Olympic qualifying team
to add 1+1+1?  Maybe.

As to assists, I made an error in posting.  Andre had 10 turnovers, it was
Baron Davis with 18.  The ratio isn't even that important when you go across
positions  Look at the NBA.  Davis was ranked 23rd in A/T ratio with 2.84.
Paul wasn't in the top 50, in fact his A/T was 1.08. Walker was 23rd in Total
assists, leading all PFs with 407; Pierce had 261.  Walker only had 10 more
turnovers than Paul, 251 to 241.

Pierce had more assists than the starting PG because he played more minutes
and hung on the upper perimeter demanding the ball.  It rarely went back to
the PG--Paul passed or shot, using plenty of clock to ensure that his pass
would force a decision.  The "all balls go through me" strategy can be reduced
to "all balls", which seems to define our media darling.

But, hey, Joe,  you're smart.  You'll draw your own conclusions.