Game Ball

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dallas spot starter Adrian Griffin established the tone 
in a tight game with his seven offensive boards, mostly 
in the first half. It could have gone either way until he 
stepped up, with Battie setting a similar tone on the 
other end. Some of those offensive boards were so "Yo 
Adrian" old school it put a big smile on my face, to the 
degree that it was all about his timing and a sixth senth 
about where to be when.

Dallas makes the rain pour once momentum is in their 
favor. They will choke under intense pressure, I'm 
convinced, but Boston was unable to lay wood on them. 

Boston's unwillingness to add depth by signing at minimum 
wage a born-to-be-a-Boston-Celtic type player like Adrian 
underscores the competitive disadvantage we face against 
the Mark Cubans of the world. 

It also highlights what a this line separates success and 
fireable incompetence. Few of us would bash the overall 
Celtics 2001 draft had we not blown the 21st pick on a 
freaking third shooting guard, thus ending Griffin's 
tenure as a Celtic, among other things. Number 21 was the 
actual "sweet spot" of the draft, stacked with proven 
college prospects downgraded by the teen fetish.

That's how muddled the whole draft blame game becomes. 
Forte was Red Auerbach's pick, of course. But Wallace 
gets the blame and probably ought to accept it.

A lot of us talked up Gilbert Arenas, who BTW is putting 
up frankly unique numbers across the NBA in terms of 
rebounds+assists already. He is incredibly young for a 
second year player, and he can also score the ball. 
Others really liked Tony Parker and Jamaal Tinsley, with 
reason. I'm not convinced the latter two would have seen 
as many minutes in Obie's system (they are 10 second ball 
hogs who can't shoot to save Wyc's wife's life), but 
either could have impacted our feelings about the 
Celtics' draft.

As a matter of principal, I wanted Boston to win at least 
one quarter, and I'm glad we held Dallas to 11 points in 
the fourth quarter, in what otherwise could easily have 
been a repeat of the Sac-NJ game last night or worse. 

Perhaps coincidentally, the defensive stand began with 
Kedrick finally entering the game. I hope Obie gets the 
hint...play your best ball defenders with the captains. 
Let's try to play defense to remember for the rest of 
this Texas trip. If you have confidence in your defense, 
everything else will fall into place. 

All I ask as a fan is that no team beats the Celtics on 
hustle or focus the rest of the way, win or lose. Talent, 
whatever, but let hustle and no quit be our defining 
attribute the rest of the way..

Obie is not the greatest game coach, in terms of timing 
time outs and the impact he can coax out of the huddle. 

As for Vin Baker, I hope they have it squared away 
privately, since the DNP-CD was a nationally 
televised "dis".

Sometimes I think Obie is overdoing the blackball tactics 
on Vin just to get Chris Wall-Ass and Leo Pap-smear fired 
for reckless incompetence. If that's the case, I hope 
management gets the hint and preferably sides with Obie 
on this issue, all things considered.

Joe H.
-------------------
L'e-mail gratuit pas comme les autres.
NOMADE.FR, pourquoi chercher ailleurs ?