Re: Bulpett- Herald

["Dan Forant" <dforant1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Two points:

1st, fatigue, our dynamic duo has been doing big time minutes for most of
the season. Unlike baseball and  football, basketball's real business is
done in the last minutes of the game. Missing 17/22 shots at the close and
in OT, is it ineptness, or choking or fatigue??

2nd, the top teams feel they can beat us, even in Boston. They know our MO,
the coaching staff and style, they know our offense has to be on as an
algebraic formula to succeed. Our starters are built up of 3 players that
wouldn't make starts on many other teams. And one wouldn't even be on other
teams.

In Conclusion: It's close to miraculous we've done as well as we have and
it's really due to the blitzkrieg of 3's.

DanF

----- Original Message -----
From: <Eggcentric@AOL.com>
To: <Celtics@igtc.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 10:01 AM
Subject: Bulpett- Herald


> <  "We didn't get the opportunities that we were getting in the first
> three quarters. I guess that's life in the NBA.'' > - Obie
>
> It is more than life in the NBA, Obie;  I believe it is called
> coaching.
>
> With 7:13 to go,  we were up by 15 points.  Obiebs pre-game strategy
> was  correct.  But as soon as Houstonbs coach cleverly went into
> a zone defense with those 7:13 minutes remaining, Obie once again
> had no answer.  We missed 10 of our last 12 shots in regulation and
> 7-of-10 in the extra period. And we once again allowed Cuttino
> to look like the second-coming of Bryant or McGrady.
>
> Obie is a thoughtful advance-plan coach (albeit after consulting
> with Harter and dad-in-law Ramsey). But he continues to be a
> terrible bench coach with little flexibility or imagination.
> Obie, you are one single-minded dude.
>
> Egg
>
> -------------
> C's can't cool off Rockets
>
> by Steve Bulpett
> Tuesday, February 25, 2003
>
> The people had clearly come to see Yao Ming, but the Celtics looked
> as if they wouldn't be yielding the parquet stage to any visiting
> attractions. They had a 15-point lead on the Rockets with seven
> minutes left and appeared ready to claim victory on Asian-American
> Night at the FleetCenter.
>
> But something got lost in the translation along the way. The
> Bostonians crumbled down the stretch in a 101-95 overtime loss
> to Houston last night. The team that should have been glad to be
> home after a six-game tour of the West missed 10 of its last 12
> shots in regulation and 7-of-10 in the extra period.
>
> Yao had nine points and three rebounds in 40 minutes, but the home
> team was more of a curiosity by the end. Like, yo, Celtics, what's
> up with this?
>
> ``It hurts,'' said Paul Pierce, who had 22 points (as did Antoine
> Walker) but missed four of his last five shots. ``This is a big week
> for us. We want to come in and protect our home court and stay on
> top in the four spot (in the Eastern Conference playoff seeding)
> and we let it slip away. No way being at home we should give up
> that type of lead.''
>
> When the Rockets went to a zone defense, with the 7-foot-6 Yao
> hanging out in the middle, the Celtics abandoned an inside-out
> game that had served them well. It still didn't look like a fatal
> flaw when Pierce got inside to make it 83-68 with 7:13 to go in
> the last quarter - even with Steve Francis on his way to 33 points
> and Cuttino Mobley swimming toward 31. But then the C's started
> trying to douse the Rocket comeback with long-distance calls.
>
> C's coach Jim O'Brien spoke of how his lads had just missed some
> shots, but he admitted they were ``not great shots. I would like to
> have seen a little more penetration and then dishing instead of
> sometimes just passing it on the perimeter and keeping it out there.
> But our team knows that Ming is waiting for them at the basket. We
> didn't get the opportunities that we were getting in the first three
> quarters. I guess that's life in the NBA.''
>
> The Celtics went scoreless for 4:16 while Houston scored 11 points.
> A Pierce three-point play with 3:28 left put the lead back to seven,
> but Mobley hit a trey to complete a 9-2 run and even the game at 88
> with 1:28 to go.
>
> JR Bremer and Pierce missed on the Celtics' next possession, but
> Pierce harassed Mobley into an airball at the other end. The
> 24-second clock drained before the Rockets could make another
> attempt. The Celts then had the last shot of regulation to
> themselves, but Pierce missed a 26-footer in the last second.
>
> ``Their players stepped up and we didn't,'' Pierce said. ``You know,
> I had a shot to put the game away in regulation. I just didn't finish
> the job, so it's all on me.''
>
> Not entirely. The Celts made just 4-of-22 shots against the Rockets
> zone, with Bremer 0-for-6 (2-for-9 overall).
>
> ``It definitely slowed us down,'' Pierce said of the Houston
> resistance, which was put into play full-time with 5 minutes left.
> ``We stood around. We didn't really get enough movement. We shot
> the 3's, but the game shouldn't have even went to overtime.''
>
> Pierce opened OT with a trey from the left corner, but Francis scored
> on a fast break and Mobley hit a jumper. Walker drove by Yao to give
> the Celts their last lead of the night. Mobley then hit a 3 and Yao hit
> two free throws.
>
> The Celts simply had no more replies.
>
> ``We're disappointed,'' Walker said. ``We blew a big lead - an
> opportunity on our home floor to get a big win. It feels very
> disappointing obviously.''