Re: Pierce and the other guys... :>)

["Lance Jacobson" <lancejacob@xxxxxxxxx>]

Yo, Beagle--

You're dreaming on top of the dog house again.  Must be that Seasonal Alpo
they've been serving you after the Patriots games.

    He [Pierce} played all 82 games last year.  How much more available does
he have to
    be?  Of course, if some of the other guys would run up the floor to get
the
    outlet pass instead of calmly trotting behind Pierce, it would mean less
of
    that one-on-three sort of situation.

Available and energetic are two different things.  If Paul starts a game, he's
darn well going to play his minutes or his PPG suffers.  However, "saving
himself" for those fourth quarter comebacks means no defense, no movement, no
helping out until he's ready to put on his cape.

It' crazy to say that other guys don't run the floor.  Paul's the LAST one to
run a break.  I'd love to show you the video of games I've recorded, because
you'll never see this in the stats, but he's been absent from every fast
break. .unless you consider posting at the three point line a high percentage
shot to take on a 3-on-2 break.  Are you telling me that he's the first NBA
player INSTRUCTED to stop at the arc on fast breaks?
    As far as Kedrick Brown or Tony Battie, if their shot selection was so
    fine, they would have been scoring more consistently.  Yes, some nights
    they were great.  Other nights the hoop had nothing to worry about from
them.

Wow, Snoop.  Battman shot 54% from the field, highest on the Celtics.  Even
Gorman and Heinsohn said that he should be getting the ball more.  BTW, on
some nights the hoop wasn't worried about Pierce's foul shots, either.  Put
that on the list.

    "Gone down on stupid shots" is not exactly reassuring

As to Twan's shot selection, the decrease of dumb shots IS reassuring.  I'm
looking at trends, which is why I'm so up in arms about Pierce.  Walker's
helping the team, Pierce is doing his thing for himself.   You can point to
his assists, but how often are they true assists where he makes a play for
someone on his team?  Can't recall one for the Celts, but he did show me two
this summer.  When you're holding the ball as much as PP did, any pass becomes
an assist if the ball goes in, even if you're stumbling  and bailing out of a
drive.

   He did try to find the open man last year when he was doubled (or
tripled)--but often, the
  recipient of the pass either dropped the ball, lost it to a steal, or missed
the shot.  After a few trips down the court like that, it increases the
chances that Pierce will just take it in himself.

There's no logic to this, Snoop.  If you're tripled, that leaves two open men.
He tried to dribble through more often than pass, if you recall.  And I'm
sorry to say, the reason that guys "dropped the ball" is that the pass was on
their sneakers.  The guy's an AWFUL ball handler--dribbles too high and far
from his body, doesn't respect defenders, and telegraphs his moves over time
in a game.  And, he CAN'T pass when he tries to.  Doesn't make him evil, but
I'm hoping he's working on that rather than an acceptance speech.
    It's a team sport.  I haven't heard anyone on the Celtics saying that
    Pierce never passes.

Snoopy, that's the weakest argument yet.  You haven't heard anybody complain
about anyone, and that includes Kenny, who never dissed his teammates even
though 2 of them were Parked at the Arc.  Don't expect this Celtic team to
criticize one another in public.  But ask Battie how often he's gotten a pass
from PP.  Ask him once, and you'll hear all you need to know.  Otherwise,
watch a few game tapes and count Paul's assists. . . . .if you can find them.
Oh, and don't worry about the missed shots.  Some of those guys don't see the
ball unless they inbound it.