Pressure Makes Diamonds out of Coal

[Eric Albert]

>Kim Malo wrote:
> 
>OK, this is funny. Last night was the first game I was at this season 
>and one of the things I noticed was that the offense slowed down a 
>lot more when Delonte took on more of the ball handling because it 
>sat in his hands longer every time while he decided what to do. And 
>in fact he seemed *much* more shoot first, as in truth he should be 
>most of the time, now that his role is more as a 2 guard, than 
>Telfair. Telfair may not have been getting immediate assists, but the 
>ball started to move much more quickly into other hands when he 
>brought it down the court. Not fancy passes, just starting things 
>moving. And his defense was more mediocre than atrocious. Unlike say 
>Ricky Davis, he will at least try to fight through a pick to follow his man.

As one of the biggest Telfair bashers of the preseason, I want to
point something out: he's gotten better with every game.  That
should put some of the nay-sayers' comments in perspectives.

For example, last night was the *first* time (in the preseason) that
Telfair has advanced the ball with a pass when bringing it up.  I mean
it -- I've been watching, and it's been driving me crazy.  He didn't
do it *at all* in the previous seven games.  Last night, he did it
half a dozen times.  They weren't brilliant, down-and-out passes,
but they were perfectly reasonable tempo-basketball passes, and
they made me feel a lot better about him.

(Which leaves Tony Allen as the lone offender in this realm.  Even
Paul Pierce, when he gets a rebound, now regularly passes to the
point guard (at least he does during the preseason...), but Tony,
our worst dribbler who actually tries to dribble, never advances the
ball with a pass.  Really, what has happened to his brain?)

Telfair has also improved his defense.  In the first several games,
I didn't see him do anything.  (Warning: I'm not a great off-the-ball
viewer.)  Since then, he's obviously picked it up several notches,
getting better each game.  Another nice change.

Sebastian has also been passing sooner on the clock, and taking
fewer shots himself.  (At least, until the end of the game, when
he reverts to his high-school glory-days "time to take over and
win this sucker" approach.)

I'm much happier with Sebastian than I was six games ago.  If I
believed he could keep hitting the jump shots he's been hitting
(I don't), I'd be close to delighted.

And, overall, I feel like the Celtics are running their best offense
in a *long* time.  The ball moves *so* much more now, and the
Celtics are often taking great shots.  The scoring is spread all
over the place.  I *am* somewhat nervous about what happens
when Paul returns to the lineup.

There are still the issues of defense and rebounding, of course.

-- Eric