Game 1

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

A few thoughts... 


1.	The tone after the game seems pretty positive. The team played well.
They had 25 assists, which is an unreal (and key) number for the Celts.
There were a lot of positives... Pierce handled Jersey's defense much better
than last year's playoffs, and did a nice job of finding the open man when
trapped... McCarty and Williams were efficient and effective... Kidd didn't
dominate the game... However, having said that...

2.	I'm not optimistic. I think that was the Celts' best game. Granted,
Walker didn't play well (understatement), but they got a monster game from
Pierce and big games from Williams and McCarty as well. They're not going to
do much better than that. They can't move the ball any better. They kept
Kidd from going crazy. They got Martin in early foul trouble. And they still
lost. I thought they played pretty good defense and didn't get burned too
badly by transition, but still gave up 97 points. I'm just not sure the
Celts can play much better than that, and I don't think Jersey played
anywhere near its best game. And you know that game got the Nets' attention.
Plus, you just kind of feel like Byron Scott is holding his "Pierce-stopper
Plan" back for when he really needs it in the fourth quarter. 

3.	Antoine was a disaster. He let himself get frustrated when he
continued to miss shots and it carried over to other parts of his game.
Kenyon Martin owns him right now, and it looks like Antoine knows it.

4.	You hate to say it, but Game 2 looks like a must-win. I just don't
see the Celts winning 4-of-5 from this team. In fact, if they go home 2-0,
it wouldn't shock me to see them get swept. The Celts are good
front-runners, but they have some guys who tend to come a little unglued
when things aren't going well. They start taking some wild shots, worrying
too much about the officiating, and before you know it, things go from bad
to worse.

5.	In the credit where it's due department... The team is playing its
best basketball of the season right now, which is a tribute to Obie. I
thought Indiana made them look good with Isiah's idiocy, and I still believe
that, but they also played as well as they can play last night. I'm
beginning to think Obie is a playoff coach. He certainly isn't a
regular-season coach (didn't want anyone to think I was getting too
positive... sorry, couldn't resist). 

6.	Please, please, please don't complain about the officiating after
that game. Pierce was on pace for 30 free throw attempts before the Nets
went to that zone defense in the fourth quarter. McCarty, Delk and Bremer
never cross the 3-point line. Battie never touches the ball. Antoine didn't
need the officials... he took himself out of the game. There were reasons
the team lost, but none of them included the officiating.

7.	This team still desperately needs a point guard. Yes, they need big
guys, but I'm convinced an honest-to-goodness impact point guard would work
wonders.

Other NBA playoff thoughts... 

1.	Whenever I feel like torturing myself, I watch the Spurs, home of
"The Ones Who Got Away." I like to imagine Duncan and Tony Parker with the
Celts, and wonder how many consecutive NBA Finals we would have seen by now.
Speaking of the Spurs, they're a good example of a team that has done things
well. They won their title in 1999 with Duncan and Robinson as the
centerpieces. They also had Avery Johnson, Mario Elie and Sean Elliott.
Since then, Robinson has aged in dog years, Johnson, Elie and Elliott are
gone and the Spurs haven't missed a beat. They're always drafting late,
never have any cap room and still have added Parker, Ginobli, Stephen
Jackson and Malik Rose to the mix. And this offseason, when Robinson comes
off the books, they have huge cap room and will add an impact free agent.
Compare that to the job Wallace has done in trying to build around Pierce
and Walker.

2.	I still think the Lakers win that series. The Spurs just have too
much trouble scoring. Everything is a struggle for them. The Lakers get a
lot of easy points from Shaq and Kobe. I just don't see the Spurs scoring
enough against that L.A. defense. Having said that, the Lakers have lost
just enough that I think they'll lose to the Kings in the Western Conference
Finals.

3.	Does anyone else get uncomfortable whenever Kenny Smith tries to
discuss a foreign player? Forget respect, he has an outright disdain for
them. He basically spit Ginobli's name out during halftime of the
Lakers-Spurs game last night. During and after the last draft, he was open
in the fact that he considered the foreign players a fad and nothing more.
He took on a very "us-against-them" kind of attitude. It just seemed ugly,
and it hasn't stopped. I like Kenny Smith and TNT's studio show, but he
makes me squirm a little when he shows that bias. It's not a healthy "Hey,
the American players need to improve... " kind of thing. It's ugly.

	That's it. Two entertaining games last night. I'm looking forward to
tomorrow.

	Mark