From : "Wright, Cecil" < Cecil.Wright@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >
* And, as Snoop pointed out, after Sir Charles belittled the team during aYeah, I greatly enjoyed Pierce's remarks at the end -- "well, whatta got to say now, huh?" Shawn brings up a great point about the similarity between this and the Tommy Gun/Doc Rivers thing. They are very similar. A few things are important differences to me. First, Doc clearly planned it out that he was going to use Tommy's comments as motivation for his players. (In both cases, it's a little strange to have to use some tv commentator's words as motivation for professional athletes, but there you go.) In Obie & Staff's case, their halftime speech was probably short and sweet ("Play better, guys, we suck out there" or something like that) and they happened to catch Chuck's comments. Plus, where Tommy's comments were probably true (Orlando is soft, and they look better on paper, when Grant Hill's healthy, than on the court), Chuck's weren't (he's about three or four games too late with the "C's are playing poorly" line, and Larry Bird is alive). And finally, my team, the Boston Celtics, were the target of some less-than-complimentary words, and they used it, in part, to whoop a longtime conference rival.
very important holiday for the players.
Without theseYeah, it's certainly not a revelation to say that we need Piecewalker to play at high level to win. I mean, I agree that's pretty obvious :), and I don't mind how the offense goes through them, but I do think that sometimes we need to offense to go through them, and not just *at* them, if you know what I mean. Pierce is a great weapon at the end of games, but we need a little more subterfuge, because teams are going to know to zero in on him. Of course, when they do, maybe they will leave, oh, I don't know, someone like Antoine Walker, open for a three. I'm pretty sure he'll be willing to take the shot.
guys operating at this level, we don't win.
* I think we realized that shortly after the season began. But then again,
how much of the Laker offense goes through Kobe and Shaq, or Marbury and
Marion, or Payton and ....? In "Russell Rules" #6 says that every
championship team must have a go-to guy. They had Sam Jones. We have
WalkerPierce.
* It was Coleman who scored the hoop in question I think. Baker does playYes, Coleman, that's who it was, thanks for the prompt. I agree on Baker's D, it is good fundamentally, except for the calls going against him. I have noticed that he can be late in getting back from harrassing the pick and roll, but, then again, so did Battie when he was first introduced to that method. I was going to do two things when it came to Vin Baker this season: forget (as much as possible) about his salary, and keep on open mind on his progress. After all, because of that large salary, he'll be here for a while. Baker just needs to go all-out. But he may be too much of a finesse player to be that intimidator. I don't know about Vinny.
decent fundamental D. His most glaring deficiencies have been pushing off
on rebounds and not being quick enough to play the interior D like Battie.
I say, the hell with it...just go out and be aggressive and nasty if they
are gonna call such chincy fouls anyway.
I hope so. I know he's no chump, just older and less maneuverable than I wished for. He does have some good veteran smarts, from what I hear. But the key is how will Obie use him? Since he's a veteran, I'm sure Obie's inclined to play him. It's not only what kind of player a guy is, but how he will fit into a other players' talents, especially a guy joining a team mid-season.* Grant Long WILL help this team. He ain't a star but he ain't a chump either.
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin... .Oh, I was speaking about the woeful Philly fans, who got burned in the more important NFL game, and the NBA the next days, not the usual moaning on the igtc list.
None from me Birdman...maybe you will get some from the charter members of
the "trade Toine" and "Pierce sucks" clubs.