Re: A light breaking within the clouds

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Some good points here.

I agree in general that this game was a step in the right direction offensively. Especially in the first half, they forced the ball into Baker and he was active and effective. Pierce played pretty well. He's still handling the ball too much and trying to be a creator, which he isn't. But he was pretty good. Blount had a nice game. 

The rotations were weird. Ewill didn't play much. Kedrick got more minutes. I guess Obie thought Kedrick could defend Carter better, but Welsch did a MUCH better job against Carter than Kedrick did. Another thing on Welsch... Tommy actually said something relevant last night. He said the Celtics need to let Welsch play when he's on the floor. I took that to mean that he feels they're drilling Welsch to find Pierce/Baker/Ewill, spot up for open jumpers, etc., instead of playing his game - which is attacking the basket and creating shots for himself or someone else. And I think that's a great observation. He's not a great 3-point shooter, so why spot him up out there? Of course, Obie has been doing it with Kedrick for three years, so why should we expect any kind of change. But Welsch is far better than Kedrick.

The point guards didn't do much last night. James only helps when he's knocking down threes. Banks got his own shot several times, but I didn't think he really quarterbacked the team out there.

The three-point line has never hurt a player more than it's hurting Lafrentz this season. I know he's a better three-point shooter than he has shown, but right now his consciousness of that line is really hurting his game. Two steps in, and he must be shooting 60 percent. But from three-point range, he's around 19 percent on the season. He's really effective from 20 feet and in. I don't know if we should blame him or Obie for his continued reluctance to step inside the arc. Obie has always favored the three, and that goes back to his college days assisting Pitino - Pitino hated jump shots that weren't three-pointers. I think Obie still feels that way, but the NBA is vastly different. In college, the line is so much closer. The NBA three is a long way. Michael Jordan was a great jump shooter, but he knew his range and rarely drifted out beyond the arc. This goes back to Tony Delk, through Kedrick, and now Lafrentz - some guys just don't have the range for the NBA three.

Speaking of threes... Toronto certainly had the range last night. It was a great shooting display, even though Shira must have been watching a different game than I was when she said most of the Raptor threes were challenged. I thought Toronto did a great job swinging the ball quickly (imagine that!) and most of those threes were WIDE open. And I mean WIIIIIDE. Now, that still doesn't explain 70 percent shooting, but it's not surprising that they made quite a few.

Finally... Remember the rumors of Ainge's interest in Chris Bosh? No wonder! That kid is going to be a hell of a player. And he's 19 years old. How old is Kendrick? 

Mark


--- --- ---

Jessen wrote:

I was very encouraged by this game. Apparently Ainge's coaching tips for Obie 
got through. The Cs looked for Obie and we actually looked pretty good the 
whole game. The Raptors just went off. You just throw out this game and go onto 
the next game. If the Cs had played this way throughout the season, they would 
have cut their losses in half. Here are a couple of things that would help:

Obie didn't give PP his rest break over the quarters and played him through 
until the 9 minute mark of the 4th. I prefer set rotations and minutes unless 
there is foul trouble, regardless of who you are playing. I think Obie wanted 
Kedrick in there to try to shut down Carter. But I want EWill anchoring the 
second unit. This would allow them to run the same offense as when Baker is in 
there. You go to EWill in the post like Baker and work out of it. Instead, Obie 
likes to finish with EWill and Baker together and I don't think their skills 
mesh. When Baker is in there, he is on the block and EWill is on the perimeter 
which isn't his strength. So Obie, now that you have figured out that you need 
to go through Baker in the post, you now need to go through EWill in the post 
with the second unit....

Second, PP again showed his desperation in the fourth down 10 with about 5 
minutes left and the PP show was on. You can't blame anyone because PP would get 
the rebound, bring down the ball and you know the rest. PP has to agree to go 
to Baker in the post even when you need a bucket or buckets when it is crunch 
time and not try to do it himself.....

Thirdly, James has to realize he doesn't add much other than the ability to 
pass the ball up the floor and the occasional three. However, the team does 
seem more comfortable with him rather than Banks because  Banks can look 
half-rookie, half-amazing. He needs to understand the quarterback aspect of his 
position, take the ball away from PP and direct the offense through Baker....

Again, there were a lot of nice things in this game. Banks is building a 
solid foundation and Welsch continues to look solid. If LaFrentz was hitting his 
shot, we still would have been in the game inspite on the unconscious Toronto 
shooting....