Re: Game 1

[lamphier@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Marc Lamphier)]

The Celts opening game was shown live here in Japan at 10am. Fantastic
effort by the Celts, I was expecting a dismal game after the first quarter,
and the comeback from 20 pts down made the win doubly sweet. 

What really stood out in my mind were:

(1) height. One reason that MJ was having trouble getting his shots off is
that the Celts ran 2 - 3 guys at him and they were often all taller than
him and could jump. We kept picking off rebounds for the same reason. The
Celts this year are tall and lanky. This is a big change from last year

(2) energy. They simply wore the Bulls down. Obvious question is how long
will the Celts be able to keep it up?

(3) Walker. Now I see what everyone is so excited about. He was on top of
everything, grabbing rebounds, putting up his own misses, stripping the
ball... His weaknesses, esp. turnovers on the dribble, will improve with
experience. And the smooth outside shot was something I hadn't expected. 

(4) McCarty. Did I spell his name right? Where was this guy last year? Very
exciting player, and clearly he and Walker feed off of one another. A
little too energetic at the start, and maybe should try to rein in his
tendancy to launch the outside shot. But his moves around the basket on
offense, his solid defensive play and his out-and-out hustle really made a
difference.