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Re: As Good As A Win

ryan nelson wrote: 
Question for those who were able to watch the game.  Looks like we won
on the boards (is that a first for the season?) and shot a high
percentage from 3 (though took about half what we usually take), so how
did we lose?

To me, the two main reasons we lost were 1) McCarty got way too much time; 2) Carroll failed to put a stop to a Pistons run quickly enough.

Re: McCarty, things were going quite well for us when he came in and stayed in ...and stayed in, until the Pistons caught up with us. He played terribly, missing easy shots and making stupid mistakes. The best way I can say about him is that he made one good pass to a cutting Blount, and hit that lucky bankshot three. I don't know what Carroll was thinking - was he trying to show that he's his own man, demonstrating his loyalty for Obie so he can get an assistanship wherever Obie lands next? Then, when Mihm fouls out in the 4th, Carroll inserts McCarty again instead of Davis who'd been playing very well. And that pretty much did it.

Also, the Celtics relaxed way too much on D at the end of the first half and start of the third, and Carroll allowed it to go on for too long.
To his credit, he did get the guys back into a fighting mood, and he pulled Banks after the kid repeatedly failed to stay with Chucky Atkins. Also, there was no fronting and no blitzing in the 1st half and guys were concentrating on boxing out and rebounding more. There were a few half-hearted attempts at blitzing in the 2nd. I don't know whether it was out of habit or by design. The movement on offense was a noticeably better, though.

Another big reason for the loss was more struggles by Paul Pierce. While he did hit a some tough shots, it was more of the same dribbling around and getting stripped stuff. Also, Prince and Sura, of all people, did quite a number on him defensively. He was definitely in his abused, "underwater" mode for a lot of the game.


Also, I see hunter played 6 minutes.  Why only 6?  Was he not effective?
Was he overmatched?


As I said, it was because Carroll played McCarty way too much. Hunter did fine. He had a nice post-up move, and snatched two tough rebounds. I don't see any obvious weaknesses which should prevent him from playing at this point. He is certainly superior to Waltuh in all but the 3-point shooting. Cooz was raving about him again. Kendrick, obviously, didn't get any time at all. If Carroll keeps this up, I think it will be time to try Lester Conner, Eric Vogel, equipment manager John Connor, masseur Vlad Shulman, Ed Lacerte, or whoever. This nonsense has to stop, but I'm sure Ainge will stop it sooner than later.
Kestas