He's plenty observant

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

He's plenty observant


By Jackie MacMullan, Globe Columnist, 5/11/2003

hen the television cameras of his former network, TNT, panned to newly named
Celtics executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge sitting
courtside at the FleetCenter Friday night, he had the presence of mind to
smile and wave.



The new Celtics boss, sharing a row with Governor Mitt Romney and Patriots
owner Bob Kraft, had a close-up view of the Game 3 debacle, and you had to
wonder what was going through his mind as his new team crumbled under the
weight of a New Jersey squad that proved vastly superior in almost every
category (except free throw shooting). Had Ainge still been working for TNT,
we would know what he thought. In that capacity, Ainge was candid about the
shortcomings of every team, including the Celtics.

It's always dangerous to be a broadcaster when you have front office
aspirations. Your words are public record and could come back to haunt you.
Just ask former Denver executive Dan Issel, who was analyzing Nuggets games
and calling former No. 5 pick Tony Battie ''el busto'' one night, then
stepping in and serving as Battie's general manager the next. (And you wonder
why Battie was traded.)

Ainge has made his share of observations about the Celtics along the way,
including an April 10 TNT broadcast when Boston lost, 99-78, to the Sixers.
The Celtics were experiencing one of their 3-point droughts (7 of 25 for the
game) when Ainge's partner, John Thompson, commented after an easy Philly
basket: ''This is what happens when you shoot those threes. You give up easy
offensive rebounds and a lot of times don't even try for them.''

Ainge (as Boston misfired on another trey) added: ''Not one cut, not one
screen. Nothing.''

Ainge again, as another three went awry: ''I'm sorry, this is really
frustrating to watch, watching the Celtics play offense.''

It couldn't have been any easier Friday night, with the Nets suffocating Paul
Pierce, the only Boston player who has hurt them with any regularity. The
Celtics didn't swing the ball, as they did so successfully against Indiana.
They relied too heavily on Pierce (again), and the lack of ball movement was
glaring. Consider the assist totals: 25 for New Jersey, 14 for Boston. New
Jersey's defense was indeed stifling, but was it expecting too much for the
Celtics to shoot better than 34.6 percent from the floor?

Of course, when a team doesn't generate any easy baskets, its numbers will
drop. Boston showed no evidence of a transition game Friday night. The Nets
look to run the break on every miss, partly because they have rebounders at
almost every position, including point guard Jason Kidd (nine rebounds Friday
night), who will kill you in the open floor with an alley-oop lob, a no-look
bounce pass, a coast-to-coast drive, or a pullup transition three for himself
or a teammate.

Ainge, who used to coach Kidd, loves that kind of style, and believes it's
possible for Boston. Consider these observations from that April 10 telecast.

Ainge: ''Red Auerbach has just got to be dying watching this game. The Celtics
have zero fast-break points through the first three quarters of this game. Why
play if you can't get any fast-break points? How can the fans get excited when
you don't have any fast-break points? I mean, what can they get excited about
when they just walk the ball up the floor? Hey, if we could fast break with
Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, and Dennis Johnson, anyone can fast break.''

The final tally Friday night was 13 transition points for the Nets (I could
have sworn it was more), and two transition baskets for Boston.

As Antoine Walker's personal nightmare continues in this series, the question
again has been raised as to whether coach Jim O'Brien should rein in his
All-Star forward a little more. Ainge asked a similar question during the
April 10 game, telling viewers, ''Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce should be
kissing [O'Brien] every day, with the freedom he gives them on offense.''

The new boss will learn soon enough that O'Brien's choices became limited once
third option Kenny Anderson was shipped to Seattle, and Rodney Rogers, the
perimeter threat designed to bust double teams on Pierce and Walker, was not
re-signed. Boston lives and dies with the hope that two of three out of Tony
Delk, Eric Williams, and Walter McCarty will shoulder some of the scoring
load. On Friday night, only Delk (16 points) filled the bill. McCarty (6
points) has been ineffective as a scorer in the New Jersey series (although
you gotta love a guy who dives twice into the stands after loose balls), and
Williams was 0 for 5 from the floor in Game 3.

New Jersey's bench outscored Boston's, 26-12, but even those numbers were
deceiving, because many of the Celtics' bench points came in garbage time. The
bench disparity was 16-2 in favor of the Nets when the game was still on the
line.

With the Celtics on their last legs, who knows what route Ainge will take to
reinvent this team. He might opt to be patient and draft players who can help
down the road. Or he might consider a blockbuster shake-up. Face it. If you
are Antoine Walker this morning, aren't you worried this new guy might
determine that you are expendable? Ainge, of course, has said no such thing.
But we do know one player he considers a keeper from his comments made in Game
2 of the Boston-New Jersey series.

Ainge: ''This guy [Pierce] is legit. He is the total focus of the New Jersey
defense, and he is still getting it done. This kid can play. Great basketball
player. He can play a complementary role or a star role.''

Pierce is a keeper. Nothing else is certain. But then, in light of what's
happened this past week, you knew that anyway.


Jackie MacMullan's e-mail address

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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