RE: Huh?

[Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Kestutis Kveraga)]

--- You wrote:
Good point Cecil. There's nothing more annoying to me than people who are
shortsighted and who can't see the big picture. Every game is not do or die.
Even the Lakers, Spurs, and Kings have bad games. Dallas too, even moreso now
that Antoine is there.

The big picture is good for this team. This team is not about wins and losses
right now. If it was, then Antoine would still be here. Remember Danny saying
he'd sacrifice some games this year at the expense of developing for the
future? Last night was one of those games. Games like last night are why they
will be title contenders in a few years.
--- end of quote ---

Well, it was still really annoying. I was not a happy camper last night. I
missed all but the last 14 minutes of action (had to tape it and didn't realize
they black out NBATV, not FSNE). At that point they were still ahead, but there
were all kinds of bad omens (the 8-straight-wins business, Obie yanking his
most offensively fluent lineup in favor of his veteran-defender lineup for the
stretch run, the Pierce show). When they scored the 86th point, I said to
myself, these are the last points the Celtics score tonight, because you could
just feel the offensive constipation that rivaled anything we saw last year
with the Walker-and-Pierce show. But now it was just the Pierce show at the end
of the game.  

It's not that I mind his taking the big shots at the end of the game - it's how
they go about it. Instead of trying to free Pierce by having him run around
screens and make backdoor cuts, they first do a public broadcast of the
impending pass to Pierce, then, when/if they finally get it in to him, let him
go against double and triple teams. Obie either has no idea whatsoever how to
get people free for a shot, or can't convince Pierce to move without the ball
to get open. It's "give it to him and get out of the way", whether it be
Walker, Pierce, or Mike James. I was watching a Kings game the other night and
the thing that stands out is, Peja is always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS moving without the
ball. They constantly play these two-man games with Divac, Bibby, Christie, run
defenders through staggered screens to get him open - all he has to do,
usually, is catch and shoot. Pierce would also do well to watch some Havlicek
tapes. 

But the thing that killed them last night was defensive rebounding, or lack
thereof. If they get a couple of rebounds that went to the Knicks, they win the
game. Blount is just a poor defensive rebounder, and Battie and Baker aren't
all that good either. They are "tube" rebounders, they don't run the ball down
like, say,  Ben Wallace. Blount in general plays smaller than he is, whether
it's rebounding or scoring near the basket. That block on him at the end of the
game was typical - he crouches before attempting a lay-in, allowing even
unathletic, smaller guys like Doleac to snuff him out. He needs to work on
that. 

On the positive side, I again liked what I saw out of Jiri and Banks. Jiri is
just such a heady player on offense, and an excellent defender. He knows how to
disrupt a shot without attempting to block it. Banks did his "accelerator"
thing on several occassions. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet know how to take
full advantage of it. He "floors" and then lets up, allowing the retreating
defense to recover. Baker could score in the low post despite having a very
good defender in Kurt Thomas on him. I wasn't sure if Obie's comments about the
players' not knowing how to fully utilize Baker were a veiled criticism of the
Pierce-centric offense down the stretch, or an attempt to cover his arse. 
Kestas