Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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

Fans can come down on either side of the coach versus 
players'league debate. What George Karl is saying in the 
papers about shot selection is right of course, but all 
he does is sound like a nag at times...it will be "in one 
ear and out the other" type of communication. He's also 
too quick to go to the papers in criticizing individual 
players. 

I can almost sympathize with what "Jesus Shuttlesworth" 
is trying to say: players KNOW when they take a bad shot, 
but that doesn't mean a coach has to carp on it until all 
sponteneity disappears. 

Truly, I don't think even Pitino was ever half as tone 
deaf and insensitive as Karl is. I can't believe the 
public bickering that's become an accepted form of 
communication on that team. If I were Larry Bird and 
Belkin, my attitude would be buyer beware.

Nothing would please me more than for Boston to open 
another can of whupass on them even without Walker, 
Battie and Delk, but Paul Pierce needs to try not to get 
too caught up in the emotion. He can play a lot better 
against them than he has this year.



Original URL: 
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/buck/jan03/112247.asp 

Allen stews on bench
Karl's floor plan vexes Bucks guard
By TOM ENLUND
tenlund@journalsentinel.com

Last Updated: Jan. 20, 2003

The way guard Ray Allen started the Milwaukee Bucks' game 
against the Boston Celtics Saturday at the Bradley 
Center, it appeared as if he would have a career scoring 
night.

But by the time the final buzzer had sounded in the 
Bucks' 97-95 loss, which snapped the team's five-game 
winning streak, Allen had scored 13 points and had not 
been a major factor in the game.

After practice Monday, Allen was critical of the way he 
was used in the game.

"That pissed me off," he said. "To me, there was no rhyme 
or reason to how I am being played. If I am going to 
play, I want to be playing basketball. I don't want to be 
on the bench collecting dust. I didn't like what happened.

"As a starter, I want to be on the floor."

Allen - who played 36 minutes in the game - made his 
first four shots, but misfired on his next 10 attempts to 
finish the game with a 4-for-14 shooting line, including 
3 for 8 from three-point range.

"Right now, I've got a lot of good players on the bench 
and getting them into the game is one of our strengths," 
Bucks coach George Karl said.

"I don't think he played shorter minutes than usual. He's 
a 35-minute guy and that's probably what he'll play the 
rest of the way unless he gets on a hot roll or 
something."

Allen got off to a torrid start Saturday, sinking his 
first three shots, all three-pointers, to get Milwaukee 
off to a 9-2 lead. But those would be the only shots he 
would get in the first quarter and he went to the bench 
with 3 minutes 24 seconds left in the period.

Allen played 8 minutes in the second quarter, scoring two 
points on 1-for-3 shooting and missing a pair of three-
point shots. Allen played the entire third quarter, 
missing all five of his shots - two from beyond the arc - 
and scoring just two points on free throws.

In the fourth quarter, Allen went scoreless, missing all 
three of his shots, including one from beyond the arc. 
Allen did not start the fourth quarter, but entered the 
game with 7:38 left after the Bucks had trimmed a 13-
point deficit to eight.

After the game, Karl said his team had a "unique blend" 
on offense and that when the Bucks passed the ball they 
played well, but added that his Bucks wanted to "play in 
a crowd," which created a sense of frustration.

Karl has also been speaking lately of a need for better 
clock management and that he was going to start yanking 
players for taking bad shots.

Allen does not like the sound of that.

"That's going to frustrate me," Allen said. "We've got to 
play. A bad shot is a bad shot. We're scorers on the 
floor. There's going to be a mesh of bad shots and good 
shots. We know when it's a bad shot, but we've got to 
score. You can't take away who I am. What I get paid to 
do is score baskets."

Karl's get-tough policy on shoddy shot selection has been 
referred to as his "prevent offense." Karl's "prevent 
offense" is apparently an attempt to keep his team from 
self-destructing by taking too many wild shots.

"The personality of your team changes," Karl said. "We 
need to be more solid and fundamental. We were getting 
too wild and goofy. We think we can win games with stops, 
fundamentals, and clock management. We can't afford a 
wild and crazy shot selection."

During last week's trip to Toronto and Philadelphia, Karl 
talked to his team about the "cancer of selfishness," but 
his words may have fallen on deaf ears.

After the game with the Raptors, Karl was critical of 
quick shots that were taken by Allen, guard Sam Cassell 
and forward Toni Kukoc. In last Friday's game in 
Philadelphia, Cassell got a quick and obvious hook in the 
third quarter after he fired up a shot that was not to 
Karl's liking. Cassell was visibly upset about being 
taken out of the game.

Reminded that Cassell wasn't pleased about being pulled 
out of the game, Karl said: "I had 15 other guys who 
weren't too happy with him. Sometimes I have to manage 
the team to protect him from getting killed by his 
teammates.

"Any time you have the lead, there's a management 
mentality," said Karl. "The quicker you play, the more 
possessions you give to the other team. You talk about 
early shots - when you pull an early shot, there is a lot 
of responsibility to make it.

"We can't play crazy."

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