RE: Marcus Banks and last-second shots

["ryan nelson" <ryanmnelson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't think banks was protecting his shooting percentage, if that were
the case, he would never shoot as he is a horrible shooter.  I was
watching and it did seem odd, only thing I can think of is that he lost
track of time.

rmn



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Berry, Mark S
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 12:38 PM
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Marcus Banks and last-second shots

I'm surprised there hasn't been any talk about the sequence at the end
of the first quarter last night. Marcus Banks had the ball around
halfcourt, unchallenged, and yet just let the time expire rather than
trying a long buzzer-beater.



Carroll and Pierce both had words for Banks as they left the court.
According to the papers this morning, Banks' response was something
along the lines of "it was out of my range."



This isn't the first time Banks has done this, just the most visible.
Any theories? Some guys are notorious for protecting their shooting
percentages by not attempting those kinds of shots. Is Banks that kind
of player? Not sure if there's another explanation. The more I see/hear
of Marcus' attitude, the more I'm convinced that he's not the answer for
this team at point guard and may be a source of problems. I can't stand
selfish players.



Other thoughts from the game:



... Pierce was terrible. Just awful. I'm so sick of "experts" saying
Pierce doesn't have any help. He's the biggest problem much of the time.



... Jiri was great. Not much more to say.



... Brandon Hunter's PT - he had trouble finishing against the big front
line of the Wolves (Kandi-Garnett), but he was rebounding well. Walter
hit a couple of threes early, which pretty much doomed Hunter for the
rest of the game. We can talk about bad matchups, but Brandon is going
to have to find a way to be effective against those types of players.
I'd argue that his effectiveness should be measured by rebounding and
defense, but if he's going to fire up seven shot sin 13 minutes, he has
to understand the consequences if he misses six of them. Geez, this was
all over the place. I don't know what my point was.





Mark