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From: tbg@apollo.uucp (Tom Gross)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hoops
Subject: Green Smugness
Message-ID: <2c2838d8.2a75@apollo.uucp>
Date: Tue, 25-Feb-86 12:52:34 EST
Article-I.D.: apollo.2c2838d8.2a75
Posted: Tue Feb 25 12:52:34 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Mar-86 06:22:08 EST
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, Mass.
Lines: 65



> PS.  A great game at McNichols last night.  Very exciting.  Nuggets 102,
> Celtics 100.  The Celtics are undeniably a very fine team.  They were tired
> and injured and still took the Nuggets to the limit.  It was the second year
> in a row that the Nuggets have beaten an injured Celtics team here.  Larry
> Bird says he wants to try us out when they are healthy.  Well, it would
> certainly be our pleasure to have them back.  Sometime in May...
> -- 
> Charles Carrington	charlie@nbires.UUCP	(303) 444-5710
> NBI Inc,  Boulder CO


    It's refreshing to see some reportage from somebody outside
    of New England!  I was especially curious to know how a 
    Denver fan would view that game against the Celts.  I watched
    the game on TV here and throughout the game Bob Cousy kept
    commenting on what an incredibly horrible team the Nuggets
    have.  One of those games where he just couldn't understand
    how the Celtics could possibly lose.  Frankly except for
    a couple series in the 4th quarter the Nuggets looked to me
    to have one of the worst defenses I have EVER seen.  Looked
    like they were playing a zone without floor assignments:
    five guys standing around with their hands by their sides,
    watching the Celtics pass the ball around.  Cousy kept 
    wondering how the Nuggets could possibly be (as good as)
    a 2nd place team.  The Celts played without Mchale and Walton 
    (sprained ankle), featured 25 minutes from Greg Kite, and had 
    Scot Wedman just back from a trip to his chiropracter in Kansas City. 
    This was the Celtics' 4th game in 5 days and the end of a west coast 
    road trip.  What I remember most about the game was the expression of 
    JOY on the faces of the crowd at the end of the game, and 
    I wondered: what on earth are these people excited about?  

    I don't mean to sound green and smug at all.  I only WISH
    the league were more competitive.  I think what comes across
    as "green smugness" here on the net is just a reflection
    of the vacuum the Celts are playing in.  Aside from the
    Lakers and "key injuries" I don't think any Celtic fan
    really worries about anything stopping the Celtics.  
    And it's unfortunate: while it's true the Celts with 
    Bird and Walton et al are exciting, I miss the days
    of Havlicek and Silas and Cowens against Debuscherre
    and Frazier and Monroe in regular season, back-to-back
    home and away 2 game weekend series.  Not to mention
    playoffs against the Sixers in the mid-sixties, or even
    playoffs against the Sixers 4 and 5 years ago.  

    To me,  when I hear people say "DON'T FORGET THE SIXERS!"
    or "DON'T FORGET THE BUCKS!"  they might as well be saying
    "DON'T FORGET THE PACERS! THEY BEAT THE CELTICS EARLIER
    IN THE YEAR AND NOW THEY HAVE CLARK KELLOGG BACK!", or
    some such nonsense.  In my opinion, nobody aside from the 
    Lakers today matches up against the Celts as well as Buffalo 
    did in the early '70's.  And how many people remember Garfield
    Heard?

    If only the Bucks could merge with the Knicks!  Or the
    Rockets with the Nuggets!  Then maybe we Celts fans
    wouldn't feel so green and SMUG!


    Tom Gross
    Apollo Computer, INC.
    Chelmsford, MA.