From: Snoopy the Celtics Beagle <snoopy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Peter May on Paul Pierce
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 12:40:50 -0500
This is why.
When people ask me why I think we should have kept Walker, I think, "this
is why". I freely acknowledge Antoine's problems--he's grown to love the
three, he makes himself far too easy a target for the refs, and he
sometimes opens mouth without inserting brain.
But his one overwhelming advantage was his fire. That same brashness
that
gave us the "Walker Wiggle", also gave the C's a profanity laced tirade
during a crucial timeout when he pointed to Pierce and declared, "They're
laughing at us." He got on his teammates, and when needed, lit a bonfire
under his co-captain's bottom. When Pierce was at his most devastating,
a
close look often found Walker whispering (and sometimes yelling)in his
ear. In some ways, Walker coached Pierce better than anyone else ever
has.
They were--and I hope still are--close friends.
Pierce once admitted that early in his career, when Magic Johnson was
teaching him a few things, that Magic insulted him to get him to play
harder and smarter--and that it worked. This is not the first time in
his
Celtics career that Pierce has been faced with 12 guys playing in 12
different directions. Back then, he and Walker stood back to back and
took
on the entire NBA.
But Walker is gone now, and Pierce has to reach back and draw from that
fire that his friend tried so hard to stoke. He has the potential. He's
been around long enough to know how. But he can't rely on assistance
from
his teammates until he shows them the way, until his fire burns bright
enough to light their way.
And this is why.
At 11:09 AM 2/25/2004, Kim wrote:
>Not being sarcastic, but honestly - what unfair jab? Particularly at
Mihm,
>who only gets mentioned in an asterisk identifying that the Dec stats
are
>after the deal (which in the context of the article has more to do with
>the loss of Williams' leadership than Mihm or Davis being acquired -
May
>specifically states as much). And there really isn't anything unfair in
>what he says of Ricky. He WAS known as a primarily offensive player
(still
>is) and there are plenty of reports about how badly he and Silas got
along.
>
>Anyway, back to that stat table, what might be more relevant to the
point
>he's making is to offer pre-deal stats to compare, rather than just say
>the stats went down precipitously after the deal. Especially since the
>impression I had is that Pierce wasn't exactly having a stellar season
>from the start. So, ignoring the 12/15 game, as May himself did,
>cumulative prior to the deal Pierce was
>
>MPG FG% 3p% Reb. Ast. PPG
>38 42.7% 34% 7.5 5.5 24
>
>Which isn't exactly the drop off May implies, at least not at first. In
>fact some of his stats went up after the deal in Dec. More recent stats
>back his point, of course. And yes, I agree with you that the article
is
>pretty much dead on in describing Pierce, except I think he's asking of
>Pierce what he can't give. As I've said from the beginning of the year,
>long before it became such as issue, he's just not a leader.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: "Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Feb 25, 2004 8:39 AM
>To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
>Subject: Peter May on Paul Pierce
>
>I think May is spot-on with this, other than the unfair jab at Ricky
>Davis and Chris Mihm. I think you could make a pretty strong case that
>those two guys have played harder than any other Celtic since the
trade.
>- Mark
>
>
>
>http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2004/02/25/time
>_for_this_captain_to_earn_his_stripes/
>
>
>
>"Paul Pierce is the face of the Boston Celtics. You see this team as a
>team dominated by Paul Pierce."-- Chucky Atkins
>
>There's only one captain. It's time Paul Pierce started playing like
one
>and acting like one if the Celtics are to have any chance of making the
>playoffs. It may be too late. It may be asking too much. It may even
run
>counter to Danny Ainge's Nixonian secret "plan," which, right now, is
>working so well that the Celtics would be in line for the sixth pick in
>the draft if the season ended yesterday.
>
>Those of us who have watched the Celtics in the last month -- and the
>numbers have to be getting smaller by the game -- have seen an
>unmistakable drop in Pierce's game and in his presence. If he wasn't
>taking six shots against the Bulls, he was heaving over-the-shoulder
>shots from halfcourt with the mascot of the Cleveland Cavaliers during
a
>timeout.
>
>When Ainge pulled the trigger on the Ricky Davis deal in December, the
>coaches and players were upset not so much for what was coming --
>although that hasn't been too hot -- but for what was leaving. We all
>wrote at the time that Eric Williams's importance in the locker room
was
>critical to keep Pierce -- and the Celtics -- in line. We wrote that
>Pierce answering only to Pierce was a potential problem.
>
>Now look what's happened. The Cavs had six wins when the trade went
down
>-- half as many as Boston -- and they've moved ahead of the Celtics in
>the standings. Sure, Williams is only a part of that resurgence; Carlos
>Boozer is playing like an All-Star, and Jeff McInnis has been a major
>plus at point guard. But just ask Cavs coach Paul Silas what it means
to
>have Williams around the locker room for the rest of his young team.
>
>And, by contrast, look what has happened to the Celtics. Six weeks
after
>the deal, exasperated by what he had, Jim O'Brien resigned. The Celtics
>no longer were his kind of team. The team was at .500 when the deal
with
>Cleveland was made. It's now 12 games under .500, in fifth place in the
>Atlantic Division, and trails Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Miami in the
>race for No. 8.
>
>But the deal has also been brutal for Pierce. Again, it was no trade
>secret that the flamboyant Davis might not be the best mix for Pierce
>and the Celtics. He was an offensive-minded player coming to (at the
>time, anyway) a defensive-minded team. He had the reputation of being a
>selfish player. Silas couldn't stand him.
>
>Simply, Pierce's game has dropped in virtually every statistical
>category since the deal, and whatever leadership the team hoped to get
>from him has not surfaced.
>
>Let's look at Pierce's numbers since The Day The Music Died, Dec. 15.
>We'll leave out the game that night against Minnesota because none of
>the newcomers participated. But, since then, the Pierce numbers look
>like those of Enron without the shady bookkeeping. FG% 3p% Reb. Ast.
PPG
>Dec.* 38.2 34.9 6.3 6.9 22.0
>Jan. 37.6 31.9 6.0 4.4 21.7
>Feb. 39.5 23.9 4.4 3.2 23.4
>* includes games with Davis and Chris MihmBut the numbers tell only
some
>of the story. Shortly before making his latest deal, Ainge said, "My
>biggest concern is Paul Pierce." We all thought he was talking about
the
>losing taking its toll on the team's best player.
>
>Sure, the losing hurts. But what was that "Brother From Another Planet"
>fiasco in Chicago all about? Six shots in 32 minutes? And that game was
>immediately after Pierce's Cirque du Soleil job in Cleveland, which,
>needless to say, did not go over well with his teammates.
>
>After Saturday's humiliating loss in Portland, Pierce described the
>Celtics as 12 guys going in 12 different directions. As the captain and
>de facto leader, isn't there some degree of responsibility on his end?
>He speaks after every game. He seems to be saying the right things
>publicly.
>
>Ainge said chemistry was overrated when he made the Davis deal. Maybe
>he's right. In this instance, however, it's hard to miss the fact that
>the Celtics are an internal mess and an external disaster.
>
>The positive side to this -- yes, there is one -- is that the Celtics
>are still in the Atlantic Division and they're only two games out of
the
>eighth playoff spot with 24 games to play. But none of that will mean a
>thing if things don't change. And the agent for change has to be No. 34
>playing and acting like a captain.
>
>He's the only captain. He has produced in the past. It might be too
late
>to pick this team up and will it to the postseason. But it's not too
>late for Pierce to do everything in his power, on and off the court, to
>try to make it happen.
Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
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