yeah! great win...

[Ellie Cutler <ellie@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was expecting them to get trounced by Dallas, leaving Pierce 
demoralized.  How did they pull this off with Nowitzki and Fortson 
scoring and rebounding at will?  Two words: Evil Toine.

Interesting that he sat much of the 4th qtr. That's one of the 
differences with Walker at Dallas - Don Nelson can afford to sit him 
down in the 4th instead of letting him lose the game for them.  Lucky 
for us,  Toine came back for the final 2 or so minutes and did his 
thing. I read a Mavs game recap recently (forget against who) where 
Antoine had these fab numbers going, then ended up getting stuffed for 
the final shot and losing the game.  *That's* why we traded him.   
Nowitzki belongs taking the final shot, not Antoine.

Anyhow, things I loved about this game:

 - Jiri Welsch. Just keeps getting better.
 - Ricky Davis. Diving after loose balls and cheerly wildly on the 
bench. No sign of a malcontent here. He'll settle down on the court, 
and bring some of Walker's spunk (not punk).
 - Chris Mihm. Danny said he was the best rebounder on our team and Mihm 
proved him right by hauling down everything in sight the few minutes he 
was in there. More, more!
 - Walter at the 5.  Actually worked out OK. He's amazing when he has 
the 3 falling (wish it was more often).

And from the other side of the coin:

 - McCarty/Baker a terrible rebounding combo.
 - Where was Kendrick?  Our big guys were in foul trouble  and getting 
knocked around by Danny Fortson (nice hair!). Would it have hurt to put 
Perkins in for a spell?

I love what Danny has done.  We got two good-to-excellent 24 yr old 
players for Battie, Ewill and Kedrick.  I think it was one of those 
trades that was good for both teams.  Kedrick got 11 points last night! 
Good for him.  He wasn't doing that here.  Like Antoine suddenly 
finding his rebounding mojo and having a banner year. He wasn't doing 
that here.

Only suggestion I have for Danny - keep your mouth shut talking about 
players, unless it's positive.  Although I enjoy your candidness, I 
think it's unprofessional in your position and will only give you a bad 
rep.

What's up with the print media and ESPN tv guys? They are so clueless! 
They think Danny has screwed up the team?  They look at what Toine is 
doing w/the Mavs and think we blew it?  I don't get it.  Do we really 
know that much more about the Cs than they do?   These trades have been 
terrific!  If we had kept the same team, we'd be wasting the prime of 
Paul Pierce, anchoring him to Antoine and doomed to no further than the 
EC finals, if that.  Now we have a future! And it's not years away like 
some are saying.  I'd say in the next two years, when Perkins and Mihm 
are in the rotation, Davis has matured, Jiri is that much better.  
Welsch played the point a lot last night.  That buys us some time with 
Marcus.  

Perkins is key. We can't keep fielding lightweight centers with Baker at 
the 4 - we get clobbered on the boards. With Perkins, we can play Baker 
and  LaFrentz and be OK.   I like that Jumaine Jones and Davis can 
board.  Why can't we get Hunter off the IL? He could play 4 with Mihm 
or Baker at center.   

Damn Walter. He should either play like this consistently or get himself 
on the IL. His inconsistency puts a monkey wrench into the development 
of Hunter and Perkins.

Great win, guys!

 --Ellie