Selfishness

[peter delevett <pdelevett@amcity.com>]

I really don't want to make too much of a two-game win streak against middling
competition, and I fear many on this list might be getting too caught up in
the joy of the moment and become terribly disappointed later on. (As Peter May
eleoquently put it, "This is like the Iowa caucuses of the NBA season.") But
as May also put it, it's awful hard not to be intrigued. And for that reason,
this line struck home: "No matter what kind of record the Celtics achieve,
they've shown this could be a fun year because they've stopped being selfish.
They're finally following Rick Pitino's philosophy of looking to pass first
instead of shoot." I know it is terribly unfair for me to keep demonizing
Mercer, who does seem like a quality person, but I can't help but notice that
his subtraction (and Griffin's addition) have, for now at least, totally
changed this aspect of the team. Many (including Sports Illustrated) had
predicted the Celts would continue to bicker this year, and the proof of the
pudding will be how much they're cheering for each other when the team hits an
inevitable 3-game skid. But for now, it looks like a classic case of addition
by subtraction -- like when the Pacers traded Detlef Schrempf's firepower for
Derrick McKey's overall hustle, defense and rebounding, and went to game 7 of
the East Conference Finals. And the nice thing is, when Danny comes back, this
good feeling should continue, because he won't be demanding the ball.

The bottom line: we've beaten two teams we should expect to beat if we want to
make the playoffs. That was the hallmark of Pitino's first year - the Celtics
rarely lost to a team they were equal to or even slightly inferior to. I don't
expect them to sweep Charlotte, Indy, Detroit and New York, but I *do* believe
they're capable of beating any one of those teams ... especially if they
continue to play with "poetry," to cop a line from "Bull Durham."