Apology and comments

[Kim Malo]

At 11:34 PM 11/10/2007, Snoopy the Celtics Beagle wrote:
>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.

I think you're leaving off possibly the greatest factor here - KG 
himself. Doc said the same thing last year and they did have a coach 
responsible for defense then, albeit not the same one, with very 
different results.

With KG here there are big differences, both because of his 
contagious intensity (would YOU want to be the teammate he could 
accuse of slacking off? *shudder* - how DID he not murder Blount or 
at least commit GBH on him... repeatedly. No question the man's got 
discipline to go with the intensity) but also, in fairness to the 
others, because having him to cover their backs makes their job 
easier in several ways, from limiting what the opponent will even try 
to making it safer to gamble a bit on coverage.  I also think they're 
communicating a lot better, to elevate the team defense, which makes 
the man to man more effective, and I rather suspect our new leader / 
co-leader has something to do with that.

The changes should also ultimately help keep someone like Perk on the 
court, because he's no longer the only one attempting to stop someone 
driving to the hoop. But also - and I've got to assume some of this 
is KG's influence, although it could be all the new defensive coach - 
in teaching him by example when to go for the guy and when not to 
waste a foul on futile efforts (something I was surprised to see Perk 
not do once or twice last night). After all if someone as intense as 
KG can lay off futile efforts maybe it's OK for Perk to be smarter 
about that...

What's most interesting is watching the guys you tend to think of as 
strictly / almost strictly out there for offense - Ray Allen and 
Eddie House and to some degree, Pierce - actually playing respectable 
defense because they're actively working on coverage.

Oh and BTW, speaking of House, can't remember who just posted it but 
I agree about really liking his immediately looking to push the ball 
and usually with a pass vs too much fiddling and diddling.

I'm actually glad that the only thing perfect so far is their record 
and that they've had to work a bit the last couple of games before 
they were sure things. There's enough Belicick in me to appreciate 
the value in having legit things to complain about with a successful 
team to help keep them that way. It's a loooong season and this is 
merely a highly enjoyable, successful start.

Kim