[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Majordomo results and other thoughts

Well I wasn't quoting from a newspaper. I was quoting from Pauls interview on TV after the game. Not sure if you saw the interview or not. My guess is either Paul or Antoine heard the other one say it first and then just repeated it, hence you get both guys saying the same thing.

I agree with you that you should not go into a game feeling beat already. But you should not go in feeling as though you have won already either. Because then you get the kind of games we have gotten recently. Teams play better when they feel they have something to prove. It's like that in every aspect of life I suppose where you try harder if you are trying to prove a point.






From: Tammo29@AOL.com
To: celtics@igtc.com
Subject: Re: Majordomo results and other thoughts
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 15:07:20 EST

>One more point. The Nets still have a chip on their shoulder. They still
feel as >though the Celtics think they are a better teams and that the recent
beatings are a >fluke. You could tell that from Martin's comments after the
game as well as other >comments the Nets have made. The thing is, they are
right. The Celts DO think >they are a much better team. They DO think these
recent wins are flukey. You >could tell that in Pierces comments after the
game ("guys over there are just >playing over their heads"). - Shawn Niles



First of all, wrong guy.
Here are the quotes from Pierce and Walker after the game:

****Pierce/Herald
``We're playing into their hands,'' Pierce said. ``We're not executing
our game plan. For some reason they have our number. We turn the ball
over when we play them an extreme number of times. They run the fast
break; we don't get back for some reason. We know the things that hurt
us against them and we continue to let them do it.''

``We're not forcing things on defense like we did a year ago,'' Pierce
said. ``They're just attacking, attacking us and they're not afraid to
take the ball to the hoop. A year ago teams were afraid to take
the ball to the hoop, now they feel like they can take it any time they
want.

``Somewhere between now and when the playoffs start, it can't be that
way. We're going to have to get it together.''


****Walker/ Herald:
``For some apparent reason, when we play this team we turn the
basketball over. We do things that are uncharacteristic of ourself. We
beat them 3-1 last year in the season, and it didn't mean anything.
They went to the Finals (beating the Celts in six in the Eastern
Conference finale). So we've just got to carry that mentality if we
meet them in the playoffs. They dominated us this season through the
regular season. Give them a lot of credit. They played well. I think a
couple of their guys played over their heads when they played against
us, making shots.''



Secondly, I have to disagree with the notion that the Celtics think they are
the better team. They probably felt that way going into last years playoffs.
They may even have felt that way to start this season. But I don't think
they still feel that way as a team.
At the same time, every team has to go into games thinking they CAN win no
matter who they are going up against, how many times they've been beaten, or
by how much. Some of that may come out sounding like over confidence or
arrogance.
I would be angry if my team went in thinking they were beaten before the
game even started.


Game thoughts..........

* I don't think it should be glanced over that we were 1 of 21 between Delk,
Bremer, Williams and McCarty. You aren't going to be in many games with
numbers like that.

** Paul is correct about our defense not be aggressive enough against the
Nets.
We had three steals, two by Pierce and one by Delk, and one blocked shot,
Pierce. The Nets had 11 steals and 5 blocks spread out amongst 8 different
players.
If other players on the court aren't going to score, we at least need them to
play ferocious defense and hustle their butts off.
I didn't see that from anyone other than Battie and that wasn't until the
game was pretty much decided.

*** Scott tried early to play Pierce more straight up, only throwing doubles
at him if he started to drive. It didn't work. He then went back to throwing
two and three defenders at him before he could even catch the ball.
O'Brien has still not figured out a way to deal with this and more and more
coaches have decided it's the best way to beat this team. It's especially
effective when the rest of the team is shooting 31%.

****I'm really not sure what O'Brien was thinking defensively. Long, Battie
and Walter taking turns on Jefferson? Antoine guarding Aaron Williams?
Battie on Martin at times?
He must not have the same high regard for Kedrick's defense as most Celtics
fans do, since you would think Brown on Jefferson would have been an ideal
matchup.

***** I know Tommy was screaming for Pierce to get down the court and post up
before the defense could be set. The funny thing was when Tommy was doing all
the screaming Paul was doing this consistently and not getting the ball. One
time early in the game Pierce was down there with Jefferson on his back and
no one else within a mile. Bremer was bringing the ball up on the same side
of the court, got within about 12 feet, looked right at him and then for some
unknown reason pulled the ball out and went to Antoine who was coming up on
the other side of the court, only for Antoine to pull up and miss a three
pointer.
Very disturbing since at the time Paul was having his way with the Nets
defense.

TAM

_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail