Just Vin, baby!

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

C's seek alignment: Rotation up in air as preseason nears end
By Steve Bulpett
Monday, October 20, 2003

Paul Pierce thinks everything will be fine with the Celtics once coach Jim
O'Brien puts a little glue on the rotation. But the co-captain may have to
live with some disappointment a while.

     ``We've got to develop a set rotation,'' Pierce said after the Celts
improved to 2-4 on the preseason with an 84-80 win over Indiana Saturday night
in Manchester, N.H. ``Once we can do that we'll be OK. Then we can get our
defensive schemes down better. That's going to have to be our bread and
butter. Teams that are at the top of the league defensively are the teams that
are going to win. Hopefully, we can be a team that plays harder than
everybody, and I think it's going to help to get a rotation together so we
know who's going to be working with who.''

     The problem with that is O'Brien's only two certainties right now are
Pierce and Antoine Walker [news]. The rest of the starters and how the
rotation will flow are still not set.

     ``The starting lineup I think will be really contested until probably the
last preseason game, and I'm not convinced at this point in time that we will
have a set starting lineup at the beginning of the season,'' O'Brien said.
``We could have one lineup one night and another lineup another night and
another lineup the next night depending on who we're playing.

     ``For instance, (Saturday) night if (the Pacers) had their whole team I
was going to start Eric Williams because I think he matches up best with (Ron)
Artest. It's a luxury to have a set lineup, (but) you don't always have the
advantage of luxuries, so you do with what you think is going to win games and
make you a better team in the long run. If that means having a set lineup,
then we'll have a set lineup. But right now I think the landscape to me at the
1, 3 and 5 positions is murky.''

     After a day off yesterday, the Celts will work out today and host
Minnesota Wednesday and New Jersey Friday to complete their preseason
schedule. The regular season opens the following Wednesday at home against
Miami. Between now and then, O'Brien is hoping some injury issues will be
cleared enough to allow a better view of his options.

     ``I'll start pretty much Monday evaluating where we are and start
thinking about what we have to do,'' he said. ``But we also have to take into
account that Tony Delk (strained calf) and Jumaine (Jones, strained
hamstrings) have not played many minutes, and certainly I had in my mind that
they would both compete for starting jobs - and if not starting jobs then
quality minutes. So I'm going to have to take that into consideration. And I'm
going to have to take into consideration that Tony Battie is coming off knee
surgery this summer and maybe has not been out to the quickest start because
of it. So we'll look at it, but whether we have a definitive starting lineup
by the next game, I don't know yet.''

     Informed of O'Brien's outlook, Pierce deftly reversed field.

     ``It's tough, but you know that's something you might have to deal
with,'' he said. ``The good thing is that we've got more guys this year who
can step up. Kedrick Brown [news] is really playing well. I think that's a
great bonus to add to this team, and we've got other people, too.

     ``The talent is there, no matter who coach puts out on the floor.''

     Celtics notes

     In each of the past two weeks the C's have played three games in four
nights. The closest of the tilts have been in Connecticut (at Mohegan Sun) and
Manchester. The club is looking forward to the two FleetCenter dates this
week.

     ``We traveled most of the preseason, so it's good to be back in our
homecourt against two very good, quality teams - Minnesota and New Jersey,''
said Walker. ``Hopefully we can come out with the right frame of mind and just
improve on the weaknesses that we have.'' . . .

     O'Brien on Vin Baker's 11 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes against
the Pacers: ``I thought he had a nice night. He does some really good things
and I think he's going to improve on a consistent basis until he gets back to
a high level. What that level will be remains to be seen, but I'm very pleased
with his conditioning, his focus and everything that he's giving us.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx