the last two games

["Jeremy S. Warren" <jwarren@eecs.tufts.edu>]

I'll be surprised if Mercer can play any games this week.  His head hit
the floor really hard in the Toronto game.  When I first saw it (live and
at full speed) I jumped off my couch and yelled out of fear for Mercer.
He drove in hard and he was knocked down at the hips by Popeye Jones so
that his head rotated about with an incredible amount of angular momentum
before smacking against the floor.  I just hope that he doesn't suffer any
long lasting effects.  It will take a lot of courage for him to come back
and continue to drive aggressively to the hoop.

The win against Philly was very impressive, coming on the road with 2
players out.  Two plays that really caught my attention that haven't been
mentioned:

At some point in the second half one of the three tiny guards put up a
mid-range, baseline jumper that was blocked.  The shot came down about
halfway to the basket where Chauncey leaped and pulled it down.  He then
drove to the basket (and was about a foot in front of it with three guys
on him) and dished to Antoine who sank a short jumper.  This play
demonstrated some of Chauncey's strengths.  The reason he came down with
the loose air ball wasn't because of great leaping ability but because of
the fact that he has great size and strength for a point guard.  Most PGs
would have been easily boxed out by the other team's big people.

The other play came with about one minute left and the C's up by 4.
Stackhouse was driving hard to the basket, but Edney managed to get in his
way.  Stackhouse lowered his shoulder into Edney's chest, sent him flying,
and was (correctly) called for a charge.  It was a classic
take-one-for-the-team play by Edney.  Right after that Chauncey drove the
length of the court and collided with Stackhouse while going to the hoop.
This one could have gone either way, but fortunately Stackhouse was called
for blocking (and he was irate!).

It's nice to have a three game winning streak going, although the first
two were the types of games that the C's really should be expected to win.
They were playing at home against two of the worst teams in the league
(Denver and Toronto).

Just for the record I don't recall anything about this alleged Scottie
Pippen incident.

A friend of mine (who is a Laker fan) brought up an interesting point last
week.  He said that while the Celtics have one of the quicker starting
front courts in the league (Knight, Walker, McCarty) they also have the
physically weakest starting front court in the league.  I've been giving
this some thought and have only come up with one that is weaker: Phoenix
with Chapman, McDyess, and Cliff Robinson.  If this is not addressed, I
think it will be a major problem long term that will prevent us from EVER 
reaching the second round of the playoffs.  We will eventually need
either a big 4 or 5 (or both).  Ideally we will at some point trade for,
draft, or sign a strong center.  Then we could move Antoine to the 3 and
Knight to the 4 (with some backup center duty).

If we could trade some of our dead wood players for Elden Campbell, I
would do it.  Even though he has a big long term contract, I would still
be in favor of it.  He would give us that strong inside presence we
desperately need.  And he and Knight played well together when Shaq went
down last year.  Plus he isn't even starting anymore for the Lakers.
Would the Lakers take Dee or Dana (no one will take both),Minor, and
DeClerq or Ellison for him?  It would give them the same type of problem
we have, too many guards: Van Exel, Fisher, Dee/Dana, Jones, Bryant, and
Minor.  But cap wise, it is a good deal for them since Campbell has 6
years left.  And it would help us alleviate our guard/roster jam.  Of
course with Mercer and Bowen out, Minor is our only big 2 right now.

Jeremy