Re: Fatigue - Mental or Physical?

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

Egg, my fear is that the fatigue thing is becoming the excuse du jour for
the players. I am sure they are tired, but that's part of it. They played
big minutes last season. I think the danger is when the team starts to lose,
the temptation is there to not work quite as hard-why work hard if you're
going to lose anyway? The margin for error for this team-and most NBA
teams-is so small, any lull in effort is fatal. The Celtics accomplished
what they accomplished last season not because of overwhelming talent, but
because they outworked and out-toughed other teams. Now they're being
outworked and out-toughed.

Let's forget about the future for a while-we all know the Baker trade and
the other bad moves have critically harmed this team's future. But this team
still can accomplish some big things this season. They desperately need to
turn things around right now. This road trip may be coming at the perfect
time. The players can get away from home, re-establish that "us against the
world" mentality, and rise to the occasion against some good teams. They
have to recognize the challenge ahead of them over these next four games. If
they're ever going to respond, now is the time. That's my hope.

On the other hand, if they don't respond well on this trip, that's just
another sign that it's not going to happen for this season's team. I hope
that's not the case, but if we see some bad efforts on this trip, that's
going to be my impression.

Mark