As they stand now - wobbly as the aftershocks of Saturday’s loss to the New Jersey ne’er-do-wells still reverberate - the Celtics [team stats] are masters of their own fate. Or demise.
Ray Allen noted that no cavalry is coming over the hill to the rescue. About the only substantive change the club could make now would be, in anticipation of greater doom, to fire team physician Brian McKeon and replace him with Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
But Rasheed Wallace thinks such talk is unwarranted. He still believes the Celts will engage their parachute, break their fall and regain their place in the championship discussion. He is sure of this, citing the Celtics’ experience and heart.
As a guy much wiser than the apparent crazy man arguing with referees, however, Wallace understands that all these points must be corroborated by actions.
“We’re a great team on paper if you look (and) see what we have,” he said. “But we have to go out there and prove it. We have to go out there and put fear in our opponent’s heart.”
And if the Celtics don’t, if they continue to come up small as the tests become even larger, Sheed knows the No. 30 on his chest and back will take on the appearance of a target.
“Aw, that ain’t nothing new,” said Wallace. “(Expletive), I’ve been facing it since Day 1 when I came into the NBA. People get upset with me because I speak my mind. I don’t hold my tongue. I don’t care who it is or who it’s about. In this league and this game and this business, they don’t like that. They want you to kiss (butt). I ain’t no kiss-(butt) dude.”
His game is alternately endearing and infuriating to fans. His makes beget some of the Garden’s loudest cheers; his clanged treys set of a chorus of groans. That Wallace is bold and unapologetic simply highlights the latter.
“Like my mom said, 50 percent of the people are going to love you and 50 percent are going to hate you,” he said. “You can’t please everybody. That’s pretty much how I play. I don’t sit out there and worry about what the next person is thinking at all. ‘Oh, he’s got too many techs (technical fouls) and he shoots too many 3’s.’ I don’t worry about that.”
Just as opponents don’t worry much when Wallace work’s outside the arc. Prior to a recent game, an assistant coach from another club saw him practice his 3-pointers and said, “Every guy in the league loves to watch that. They love him shooting 3’s.”
When it was mentioned that Wallace’s inside game is better than expected, the assistant said, “Unstoppable. Unstoppable. He’s got so many moves down on the low block that you can’t stop him. That’s why we love to see him outside.”
Wallace came to the Celts with a .471 career field goal percentage, with a .342 mark on treys. This year he’s .404 from the floor and .283 from long range. Hidden therein is the fact he is shooting .518 on 2-pointers.
Asked about getting inside more, Wallace said, “That’s where I was born at. That’s my bread and butter. That’s what I want. That’s what I want. But if that play design is for that 3, then that’s what I have to do.”
He has made good on his vow to do more in the paint after the All-Star break. Prior to that point, 216 of his 431 attempts (50.1 percent) were treys. Since then, 24 of his 64 shots (37.5 percent) have been from the distance.
Wallace spoke of a certain unnamed opponent/friend.
“He was telling me, ‘Oh, I can guard you. All you’re going to do is go to the turnaround,’ ” Sheed recalled. “I said, ‘Dude, I taught you half of your (expletive). The teacher doesn’t show the student all his moves.’
“You know, I don’t show my whole package during the beginning of the season. If you do, then that’s what’s going to be in the scouting report on me. So now, come money time, it’ll say that I’m going to go to the turnaround. Yeah, I’m going to turn around, but I’m going to go by you left, by you right, come with the jump hook. I told my buddy to look at it like a kung fu teacher. I might teach you the lotus and I might teach you the tiger, but I’m not going to teach you the crane, because the crane can beat both of them.”
But Wallace knows, too, that if he and his mates don’t get it going, the crane they see after the season could have a wrecking ball attached to it.
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