Re: reflections

[Kestas <kkv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Douglas342@xxxxxxx wrote:
>    I didn't see most of this one, just the last 8 minutes, so there may be 
> stories I don't know, but:
>    Kedrick, your flame is flickering; 9 minutes?  And you started about 10 
> games?  C'mon, kid, you're just barely hanging on.
>    How come James played the endgame?  Can anyone figure out which PG plays 
> when?

Yeah, Obie lately seems to be going with whoever is playing best at PG
(what a novel concept!) at the end of games. Not that Banks was playing
poorly, but, after a very good stretch, he committed a few costly
turnovers and took a couple of ill-advised threes. So Obie yanked him.
He said as much in the papers.

The thing that stood out for me in this game was the way Obie used
Pierce - moving without the ball and coming off multiple screens to
catch and shoot. It was in that stetch that he couldn't miss and scored
11 straight. Not having to fight double- and triple- teams can have that
sort of effect. Hopefully, a light went on in both Obie's and Pierce's
head that he needs to be freed up from his ill-fitting "creator" role. I
wrote a couple of weeks ago that Pierce should be studying Havlicek
tapes and I heard Tommy say the same thing in the second half. Such a
copycat  :))

Of course, eventually Davis figured out that the Magic needed to zone
up, or Pierce was going to destroy them single-handedly. Then the C's
started  struggling somewhat, but by that time Pierce was loose and
confident and the damage had been done. Still, the end of the game was a
little too close for my liking, and if the Magic weren't such a soft
team, and if their coach had gotten a clue a little earlier, who knows?
The C's still need to figure out how beat the zone consistently, given
their lack of long-distance shooters.