thoughts from the win

[Mark Piotrowski <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-- not that it needs repeating but Stephen A. Smith is an irritating 
idiot.  The thing is I used to like him when he'd be on ESPN like once 
a month, but somewhere along the line he started to believe the hype he 
created.  I hated that ESPN went straight to "Dream Job" after the game 
rather than back to the studio so we could see S.A.S. backtrack and 
talk about how lucky the celtics got.

-- I loved this win.  A win's a win, but that they did it with Pierce 
having an awful shooting night should pay dividends down the line -- it 
shows PP that the rest of the team can score.  Mihm was active -- 
hunteresque -- and Welsch played very well.  I thought Banks played 
well too.

-- What i DIDN'T love is that Hunter sat the entire 2nd half.  Did he 
get hurt?  Am I missing somethign?  I know McCarty was playing decent 
and Mihm was tearing it up, but Hunter still needs to get 10 mins 
somewhere in there -- sit Blount for a spell, whatever.  I kept yelling 
at the TV to put Hunter in.  I was so frustrated that it actually took 
away some of the enjoyment of watching the C's win.

-- count me as loving Ricky Davis' 360 dunk.  The game was pretty 
lethargic at that point -- after both teams scoring a combined 25 
points -- so I think he was trying to get the C's going.  I said to the 
3 neophytes watching with me, "watch this" when he stole the ball, and 
he didn't disappoint.  Yeah he could have missed it, but it was fun to 
watch.  That's Davis' game and i want him playing it.  I still think 
Davis' needs to be getting more minutes and here's hoping the next 
coach figures out how to more evenly distribute the minutes at teh 2/3 
-- i'd like to see Pierce playing 33, Davis 32, Welsch 31.  Developing 
each of them can only help in tight games like this.

-- OK this might be getting ahead of things and I'm NOT saying we will 
.... but it's not inconceivable that the C's could grab the 4th spot in 
the playoffs.  We're 6 games behind Milwaukee and 5.5 behind New 
Orleans -- both of whom are playing mediocre Bball right now.  The 
Hornets lost to the Raptors yesterday.  Let's go home court!!!

-- It's really irritating me that commentators -- not just Stephen A. 
Smith -- seem be able to just talk about how bad a job Ainge is doing.  
I watched most of the Dallas/Houston game and there was not one word 
about what a horrible deal the Walker trade was for the Mavericks.  
Some thoughts:

1.  The Mavericks had the best record in the NBA for long stretches 
last year.  This season they're 3rd in their own division.  Some of 
that would be other teams getting better and the loss of NVE, but I'd 
submit adding Walker has hurt/killed their offensive flow -- which is 
what made them such a lethal team last season.

2.  To wit:  On multiple occasions Steve Nash -- arguably the 2nd best 
PG in the NBA -- gave the ball to Walker at the top of the 3point line 
like he (Nash) was Tony Delk or JR Bremer.  If i was a Mavs fan i'd be 
sick to my stomach.  Walker was 3-7 on 3's yesterday.  He's shooting 
26.7% on 3fg this season -- and is still shooting more than 4 a game.

3.  They gave up Jiri Welsch who'd be great in the Mavs offense, 
LaFrentz, who while he has a bad contract, would provide them some post 
defense.  They're relying on a 73-year old Scott Williams for post 
defense these days.

4.  Oh yeah that "useless #1 pick" could have netted them a PF/C or 
another Josh Howard -- and its getting to be a better and better pick 
all the time.

5.  A. Jamison appears to be a much better fit for the Mavs at SF than 
Walker, but he's only playing 28 mpg.  If they'd stopped when they 
traded NVE for Jamison, they would have made their team better.  But 
Cuban couldn't stop.

So for a player they'll either (a) let walk next summer, (b) trade at 
next year's deadline (if they can find a taker) or (c) bribe Charlotte 
to take, a player who is -- whether they like it or not -- altering 
efficiency/potency of their offense , they traded away 2 players who'd 
be legit parts of their team.

This is not meant to be a Walker bash -- i was mixed on trading him, 
though think its worked out pretty well -- but meant to show that Ainge 
is getting more of bad rap for his "questionable" moves than other GMs 
(like Nelson (or Cuban or whoever's running the show in Dallas) or 
Isaiah Thomas -- who's Knicks are coming back to earth, and who I 
predict we'll finish ahead of).

(the other) mark