Re: [Celtics' Stuff ] Re: Bucks game #2

[CeltsSteve@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 11/30/03 9:15:19 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
Celtic4Hire@xxxxxxx writes:

> Steve,
> It is bush league to be critical of PP for missing the free throws that 
> would have tied the game. I don't know of any player who was 100% accurate from 
> the line. The miss can come at any time.  I remember Bird and Ainge both 
> missing 
> a critical free throw to lose a game during the playoffs. That is just the 
> way it goes. I say the same thing if it was PP or Bruno Sundog. You just don't 
> want to put yourself in a situation where you are behind and have to make 
> free throws to get back to a tie.....
> 
> DJessen33
> 
> <<Raider,
> 
> I don't think it had any effect on him whatsoever. 
> 
> He shot 4 - 7 from behind the arc  or 57% and for the entire game he shot 7 
> - 14 from the field or 50%. 
> 
> He was 3 - 8 from the FT line or 37.5% including the two decisive misses 
> with the game on the line in the waning seconds. 
> 
> How was it that his hurt hand allowed him to shoot 20 percentage points 
> better with a defender in his face from at least 23 ' 9" away than he did 
> uncontested from 15 feet away? 
> 
> It goes back to his first year under Pitino when he missed a couple of FTs 
> also with the game on the line. Yeah, he is shooting 88% for the season so far 
> when there has been little or no pressure. But in a pressure packed, game on 
> 
> the line situation, I don't have a lot of confidence in him knocking down 
> "must have" FTs.
> 
> I think you are trying to spin on Paul's behalf here, Raider.  He missed two 
> huge FTs that would have tied the game. I wish he would have said in today's 
> paper something like "Yeah, I missed those FTs.  I missed 5 FTs for the game 
> 
> and that really hurt our chances." 
> 
> But instead, what we got from him was "We needed to get stops defensively in 
> the 4th quarter."  
> 
> Well, yes, Paul that is true.  But "we" also need you as the captain and go 
> to guy in the 4th quarter to make your FTs when the game is on the line and 
> the pressure is so thick you can cut it with a knife. That's why they pay you 
> the big bucks (Oops. No pun intended)     
>    
> CeltsSteve  >>




DJ,

I can live with the two missed FTs. And just so we keep the facts straight on 
the sequence and context of my comments,  I was responding to the initial 
spin that somehow the notion that Pierce injured his hand earlier in the game 
(which) contributed to his poor 3 - 8 FT shooting. 

These are the facts:

1) He had already missed 3 previous FTs before he missed those two critical 
FTs at the end;
2) The difference in the score was three points when he stepped to the line 
in the waning seconds so had he made even a couple of those previous attempts 
he had missed when there was no pressure on him he would not have had as much 
pressure on him to make all three of the his last attempts just to tie the 
score; 
3) His "injury" did not seem to have any effect on his 3-point shooting or 
his FG % for the entire game as he shot much higher percentages from both and 
while being contested then he did while shooting uncontested FT's; 
4) The injury to his hand was actually on his left hand, wasn't it? So the 
whole injury spin is a moot point to begin with, wouldn't you say?

As I said, I could live with the missed FT's because as you correctly noted 
Bird and other great players have missed FTs when the game was on the line. But 
what disappointed me was not hearing him take ownership this morning about 
his poor FT shooting in general for the entire game and not just on the final 
misses. 

Instead we read his inane comment about  "We need to make stops in the 4th 
quarter."  Yeah, so? What else is new? Tell us something we don't know, Paul. 

Sorry if you think it is "bush league" to dare bring up the fact that he 
missed the FT's. The fact about him missing those FTs is what it is: fact. I 
simply wanted to dismiss the notion of him semingly injuring his (non-shooting) 
hand earlier in the game as having an effect on why he missed them when he shot a 
tremendous percentage otherwise.                
    
CeltsSteve