Thoughts on the Bucks game

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

For once, Obie and I are on the same page. Defense cost the C's the game last night. The Bucks got to the basket whenever they wanted last night and created plenty of open shots. Those are losses I can handle, though, because I know they'll usually defend better than that. I get more frustrated when they lose because of their atrocious offense, because I'm never confident they're going to fix it.

General observations:

... Ricky was spectacular. Obie was really down on his defense, according to the papers this morning. I'm sure that's probably true, but that was true of everyone last night, with the possible exception of Marcus Banks. Anyway, offensively, Ricky was something to behold. When he gets it going like that, not even Pierce makes it look as easy. Obie has to give him some rope. He's too talented to bury in a weakside corner every other trip down the floor.

... Banks played one of his best games. He's still taking too many shots and had one particularly bad stretch of about two minutes (I think it was in the second quarter) where he took a couple of bad shots and made a bad pass, but other than that, he was solid. He made some good decisions and did a nice job pressuring the ball. He's not the point guard T.J. Ford is (Milwaukee's rookie), and I'm not sure he ever will be, but he's coming along.

... Walter killed the Celts last night. He wasn't hitting his shots and he compounded it with bad turnovers and no rebounding. Obie tried Jumaine Jones for a short stretch at PF, but Jumaine was just as bad. Jumaine seems to have suffered one of those mysterious, preseason "only-misses-a-couple-of-weeks-but-never-recovers" injuries that only seem to happen to the Celtics. Adrian Griffin, Kedrick Brown, now Jumaine Jones. Anyway, a Walter-Jumaine combo at PF is what happens when you count on Vin Baker.

... Because of the ineptitude of McCarty and Jones, Obie threw out a lineup with James/Banks, Pierce, Welsch and Davis, along with Blount. It's a small group, but offensively explosive. Too bad Jiri was almost as bad as Walter last night. That was the worst game I've seen Jiri play.

... Along with the scoreboard, Chris Mihm was the biggest victim of the C's poor defense. He picked up several fouls trying to rotate over to block shots off of penetration. Too bad, because I think he might have been able to do some damage if he could have stayed on the floor.

... You know how some players go their entire career, and you always wish they would have been Celtics? Well Toni Kukoc is one of those guys for me. I love the way he plays. He has to be one of the most underrated players of the last 15 years.

... Most of you probably know I'm a big Ohio State fan. I loved Michael Redd at OSU. He and Scoonie Penn took the Buckeyes to the 1999 Final Four. Redd had a great three-year career at OSU, then left early for the NBA. I never thought he was an NBA player. He was a good one-on-one guy, but a really suspect perimeter shooter. He wasn't a great athlete. But he's a great example of a player making the most out of what he has. He needed to become a better shooter, so he practiced to the point that now he's one of the league's best. He's still not a great athlete, but he has bulked up and become one of the stronger shooting guards in the league. He's turned himself from a second-round pick to an all-star candidate through hard work. And he's one of the nicer, more engaging players you'll ever meet. Just wanted to say that. With Redd, Kukoc and Ford, the Bucks have become one of my favorite teams to watch when the Celts aren't on.

... Finally, a nod to Obie. I hate Obieball and his stubborn streaks and blind loyalty to certain players, and his utter disdain for other players. Having said that, the Bucks announcers said something last night that was interesting (see Tommy, it can be done!). They relayed a comment made by Mike Gorman before the game. Apparently Mike told the Bucks announcers that Obie inspires more loyalty from his players than any coach during Mike's tenure with the Celtics. Now, the Celts haven't had a who's who of coaches over the past 20 years, but I still thought that was interesting, and something to keep in mind. They talked about how Obie will never criticize a player in the media (other than Ricky Davis and Chris Mihm, apparently - take that, Danny), but will come down hard on them in practice. 

Mark