Re: C's go down Again

[Matt Healy <mhealy@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu>]

>Coaching: I think that Pitino's early lack of emphasis on offense is
>costing him
>dearly.  I know that defense is the heart of his system, but how do you
>press if
>you never score?  Your offense at least has to be good enough to take
>advantage of
>the turnovers you get (not that the Celts got many last night).  The
>lack of
>defense against the 3 concerns me.  I'm sure at Kentucky, or even with
>the Knicks,
>Rick was happy to get in a 3 point shooting contest.  I have a feeling
>that this
>group of Celtics won't be winning many of those.  Oh, well, things are
>scheduled
>to turn around soon.
>
>The C's record is now 1-3.  They play again this Friday.

I appreciate this nice ananlysis.  I live in Baltimore, and don't have
cable so I don't see any highlights.  I can listen to some of the games on
ESPNet, in fact, you can listen to all the NBA games.  I might recommend a
subscription to their service.  In addition to live radio broadcast of
every NBA game, you get full access to all their stories and columns.  Or,
if you just play one of their fantasy games, you get full membership
benefits for a few months.

Anyway, about the offense and the teams current "struggle".  Keep in mind
that we are not on the one year plan.  The key to Pitino's system is
defense and points off defense.  It is the most important thing to learn,
and will take some time.  I don't think they will completely be comfortable
with it after just a couple of months, but it is so important, that he has
to dedicate  most of his time to it.  Offense will come later.  And that is
OK, because we can't expect to win a lot this year, just enjoy the
excitement.  Also, recognize that we have not yet played a non-playoff
team.   We should have expected to be 0-4 after these four games, so the
win over the Bulls was a bonus.  And, I think we have had a pretty
successful beginning to a turnaround if we win 20 games this year, which
means 1 out of every 4.  So, right now we are right on pace for that, and
that is without playing a representative slice of the whole NBA, it was top
heavy to say the least.

Again, thanks to everyone who is sharing thoughts about the games they saw
or heard, because for many of us, it is our only source of this info!

Matt