All-Star screwup or; Thanks for Nothing, Isiah

[snoopy1@xxxxxxx]

Isiah Thomas is living in a dream world, where he thinks he can take the 
Western Conference giants without outside shooting and fresh legs.  He sits 
Pierce and Walker so far at the end of the bench they were probably charged 
admission to the game, then blithely lets Jermaine O'Neal stay on the court 
and make yet another stupid foul at the end of a close game.

Oh, then he blamed the refs for his poor coaching and Jermaine's stupid foul.

How unbalanced was the coaching of the second-rate Thomas? Let's look at 
the stats for playing time in this double overtime game.  First, the 
starters - Allen Iverson played 41 minutes.  Tracy McGrady and Michael 
Jordan both went 36.  In fact, Jordan would have played more, but declined 
to re-enter the game late in the second OT.  Jermaine of the poor defensive 
judgement went 33 minutes.  Ben Wallace, whose foot was injured during the 
game, played 24 minutes.

Now to the reserves.  Vince Carter played 25 minutes.  Brad Miller went 
17.  Jamal Mashburn went 14.  Ilgauskas, who already had a significant 
injury, played 4 minutes.

Walker played 9 minutes.  Pierce played 18 only because Isiah HAD to play 
him in the 2nd OT.

The rest of Walker and Pierce's time came in the second quarter.  Isiah was 
determined to prove he could win it without any help from the 
Celtics.  When he finally gave in and sent Pierce in, it was too late to do 
anything but have to be on the court for the loss.

He played people like they were in the playoffs, not the All-Star Game.

By contrast, every single player for the West got at least 13 minutes.

At halftime, Pierce and Walker were the 2nd and 3rd highest scorers for the 
East.  Pierce had 8 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.  Walker 
had 6 points and 1 rebound, still playing in the brace.

The Celtics will be hosting the Pacers in Boston on Feb 26.  I guarantee 
that Walker and Pierce will play more than a combined 13 points in 27 
minutes.

Isiah has long detested Boston, and repeatedly taken opportunities to stick 
his big foot in his even bigger mouth.  Now, he had a chance to stick it to 
the Good Guys once again while cozying up to Jordan and coddling Jermaine.

If there's any justice, then Indiana will take the kind of beating recently 
administered to the Seattle Supersonics by the Celtics, and Walker will 
wiggle his way down court right under Isiah's nose.  It won't be professional.

But it WILL be satisfying.

When are people going to realize that Isiah has no more business coaching 
in the NBA than Rick Pitino did?  He's repeatedly coached a talented team 
to a mediocre record, with the only saving grace at playoff time being the 
Minnesota Timberwolves.  He can still point at them while trying to 
distract everyone from how poor a coach he is.

If the East had the benefit of an honest to God professional coach, the 
East could have won this game.  Instead, it handed it over to the West, and 
gave Marv Alpo more ammo to take potshots at the Eastern Conference.

Aargh.

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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