Apology and comments

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle]

First, I must apologize as I only this evening discovered I'd 
forgotten to add the NBA tv broadcasts to the Celtics schedule on the 
CBW.  That's been corrected.  Sorry, I made a bad turnover.  No cookie for me.

Now, the Good Guys are 5-0.

As Marv Albert (and am I the only one outside of L.A who thinks he's 
infinitely more annoying to listen to than Tommy Heinsohn on his 
worst day?) reported, it's been a long time since they did that--1987 
to be exact.

My first reaction after five games?

WAHOO!!  The Celtics are 5-0!!  Last season Boston only had one 
stretch of five wins in a row, from December 9-16.

They are playing team offense.  They obviously have a long way to go, 
as some wayward passes proved, but Pierce is finally learning he can 
trust these guys to catch his passes and make the shots.  Garnett is 
learning that some of his new teammates have a ways to go before 
catching some of his fancier passes.  Before he was concussed, Scal 
showed he'd learned to crop a few feet inside the three to make a 
midrange jump shot.  Ray Allen just loves snookering the defense by 
occasionally faking the three and driving in to the hoop.

They play defense.  That this happens at all is a tribute to the new 
assistant coach, and Doc publicly saying the team needs to play 
better defense.  And yes, they DO need to play better 
defense.  There's still too many times that Garnett is the only guy 
on the defensive boards.

Sing it with me....R-E-S-P-E-C-T!  After years of listening to the 
Neolithic ninnies at ESPN make verbal drive by passes at the Celtics, 
they now are stuck having to say nice things about the team.  Marvy 
still harped on last year's win/loss record, conveniently forgetting 
to mention  that A) it was caused by catastrophic injuries to key 
players; and B) most of those guys now play in Minnesota.  Granted, a 
lot of the newfound network chumminess has to do with Kevin Garnett's 
arrival.  But as the Celtics used to prove against Michael Jordan, 
you can score 63 points and your team will still lose a playoff game 
if the other four guys suck.

I agree that the bench is thin.  But for once, Trader Dan is in the 
driver's seat.  He can wait until the deadline looms and pick and 
choose among free agents available to come off the bench.

I'm aware, when I deliberate, that the Celtics still need to work out 
the kinks.  But the fact is, that as far as the EC goes, they have a 
head start and are making the most of it.  They've proven one 
important improvement over last season, and that is the ability to 
hold on to a lead.  Even if the Nets gave everyone a bit of nerves, I 
had more confidence that the Good Guys would pull this out--provided 
they were not overconfident.

So the season will be long, and eventually, the C's WILL lose a game 
here and there--hopefully no more than that--and we'll have days when 
we all want to bang our heads against a tree.

But right now, to <http://celticsbeagle.net/cbwsounds.html>quote Bill 
Walton...

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website