3/1/05
Before Antoine Walker. After Antoine Walker.
Of all the ways to break down the Celtics' recent road trip, the best would be to consider the team before the arrival of Walker in a trading-deadline deal and after the prodigal player returned. On the court and in the locker room, the changes are obvious.
The players, particularly Paul Pierce, look and sound looser. They have displayed an emotional intensity and toughness that was sorely missing. They seem truly confident that they can win against anybody, as they did Sunday night against the Suns in Phoenix.
Forget for a moment that Suns point guard Steve Nash missed the game with a strained left hamstring and Amare Stoudemire fouled out with 8 minutes 47 seconds remaining. That should take nothing away from the Celtics' 120-113 overtime win in the finale of the four-game trip. After all, the Celtics were without Tony Allen (sprained right ankle) and Gary Payton (traded to Atlanta for Walker) but became the first Eastern Conference team to win at America West Arena this season. They relied on the young talent of Delonte West and Marcus Banks at point guard, and for the second straight game, the pair did not disappoint.
While West and Banks undoubtedly will struggle at some point, does it make sense to bring Payton back? The Celtics now face that decision.
The Hawks submitted the buyout paperwork to the league yesterday, with Payton reportedly receiving all but $500,000 of the $1.7 million he was owed this season. Payton must be placed on waivers today to be playoff-eligible. After 48 hours, he should clear waivers, then he can negotiate with any team. Leading the list of suitors are Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix, Miami, and Boston.
If the Celtics and Payton strike a deal, the league will be sure to give it a careful vetting, considering how convenient it would be for Boston.
When asked if the Celtics' play in wins over Utah and Phoenix gave him pause about bringing back Payton, executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge said, "That's a legitimate question. We've played two games and we're going really well. But we've played well with Gary.
"That's something really for [coach] Doc [Rivers] to decide. He has the heartbeat [of the team]. Doc and I will sit down and discuss our options."
Rivers said he would welcome back the veteran, and the two wins have no bearing on the possible move.
But consider comments from Pierce following Sunday's win; he was downright effusive in his praise of Walker, in a way he never was of Payton. Pierce talked about Payton as the "floor general," with an emphasis, it seemed, on "general."
When he speaks of Walker, Pierce makes him seem more like an equal partner.
"We've got to be the leaders," said Pierce. "We're two All-Stars in our prime. Whenever you get two All-Stars on one team, regardless of what you have, you have something special.
"There's going to be nights when I'm going to be off and he's not going to be rolling. But we're trying to give these other guys confidence and get them to understand what it's going to take for us to win. It wasn't just us two. It was a number of guys that stepped up and helped us win [in Phoenix]."
When Payton was with the team, he made it clear that he was the teacher/mentor, and everyone else was a student. The helpful hints played well at first with the younger players, but by mid-January, it seemed that Payton had gone past constructive criticism into what sounded more like nagging. That may have worn down the Celtics mentally.
To be sure, the new and improved chemistry cannot be attributed to simply the addition of Walker and subtraction of Payton. As Rivers observed, the team spirit had been growing, and Walker may be simply an accelerant.
Walker and Pierce stepped right back into a natural rhythm, quicker than people expected. Walker calmed Pierce down when he became emotional and picked up a technical in the first quarter against Phoenix. In the second, Walker sent a no-look pass to Pierce for a layup that sustained a 16-3 run as Boston entered halftime ahead, 62-55. In overtime, they kept each other aggressive yet composed, the appropriate mix to offset a slow start.
"You know me and Toine's history," said Pierce. "Everybody knows we play well together. We feed off each other. I feed off his emotion and he feeds off mine."
Asked if he was enjoying the game more with Walker back, Pierce said, "I love it. You've got to love it, a bona fide All-Star, a guy who can take pressure off me and commands double-teams and can get the job done, a 20-point-plus scorer.
"It's a difference from having GP, because GP is more of a floor general. He's not really going to put up the points that Antoine is to the point where he's drawing a lot of double-teams. But he runs the floor and controls the game like a point guard should.
"Antoine is a threat all over the court to where you have to know where he is at all times. It's just tremendous pressure off me. You [media] don't run straight to me after the game."
Pierce laughed, and as if on cue, Walker appeared to answer his fair share of the questions.
No comments:
Post a Comment