The only way you could have villified yourself more is to:

-Write an article praising O’Bryant….or
-Write an article praising Kobe.

I’ve always maintained to the parade of people campaigning to cut or trade Scal that he’s much more valuable to us than he is to other teams. There are few players who will play any role asked of them…or not at all and not be a disruption.

Well written and a good analysis of Scal’s performance last night.

I think Scalabrine understands how to play the Posey role, unlike TA, but he just cant, he played with good effort but as you mentioned, he missed wide open 3’s which Pierce kept finding him for, and trusting him to hit, as if he thought posey was still on the team..
and thats really why he was out there, to spread the floo and knock down the open shot, otherwise why wasnt Powe, who I thought showed great effort last night out there?

Powe, Scal and Pierce were definitely the best C’s on the floor yesterday, doubt anyone will argue that. Scalabrine did what was asked of him, which most of the bench guys doesn’t.

I think it’s such a shame he’s getting treated the way he is by the home crowd. He hasn’t really been a consistant, good performer, but if he could just ‘be left alone’ when the C’s play the TD Banknorth Garden, I think he could help the bench unit alot more than Big Baby. Offensively he’s a better passer and shooter. He hasn’t got any inside game which Baby does, but he hasn’t utilized it as of late.

He is why the backup center situation is a much bigger hole to fill than that of the departed James Posey. You won’t hear that from the talking heads though.

I predicted he’d see more playing time than people were assuming during the off-season (when supposedly the only reason for him not to be cut to make room for Miles, Pruitt , POB and the rookies was his contract).

I know think Doc should give him a place in the regular rotation. It’d help Scal and help the team.

I live well away from Boston and am stuck watching the Celtics on NBA Broadband. But I’d pay extra if I could see a second unit of Scalabrine, O’Bryant, Powe, Pruitt, and Tony Allen (or House).

As a supporter of Scal last year, I hit rock bottom this pre-season when he could not throw the ball in the ocean. That wing 3 pt-er covers a lot of other shortcomings. But, his critics should be big enough to acknowledge that he has earned some burn in a 10 many rotation. He may be 10th but Tony Allen is gaining on him.
Tony Allen is a natural and athletic defender with attention deficit issues. Big Baby is athletic but still learning. I wouldn’t give up on him. He got schooled last night by Harrington for sure but he has learning capacity. Scal played inspiring defense. He is not out of shape as Scalablob writes. He couldn’t chisel that body if he was in gym 24/7. He isn’t athletic but he isn’t out of shape. And I really agree, the stupid cheering in the Garden ought to stop. It is in his head and he doesn’t deserve it.

It sums up the way I felt after the Portland game and even more so after last night. I can take losing a game occasionally, I can live with Ray not being able to hit the water if he fell out of a canoe some games, but I cannot live with Perk and Garnett concedeing dunks and layups when neither are in foul trouble or not chasing down rebounds and allowing 2nd chance baskets. Thats just a lack of effort and not what I expect from either one. One last gripe about shot selection….would we really rather have Scal, Rondo, or TA taking an 20 ft jumper than Paul taking a 5 footer in the lane? Do we have to revert to a perimeter team against a Knicks unit that averages nearly half as many blocks as Perk and Garnett by themselves. Lately we have seen an embarrasing lack of effort by all the starters not named Pierce and that falls on Doc.

we are in serious trouble when we praise scal as our no, 3 performer-ouch. i like his effort, but he is limited, tho the perfect 12th man because he always is ready and does put out.

Hey Steve.

It seems three of us mentioned Scals defense on Harrington in our recaps…surprisingly.

Globe’s Frank Dell Appa noted it is well. I guess we were all trying to find the bright spots to the game.

Scals’ two missed threes and his pass back out from underneath to Garnett for a missed jumper, after receiving a beautiful entry pass all frustrated me. Yeah, he could have gotten it blocked, but he should have gone up and tried for the foul, at least IMO.

But Scal was one of the most energetic players out there for the Cs, and that’s worth noting by itself.

I liked that PP continued to pass to Scal without hesitation. If only one other shot by Scal went in, nobody would be questioning that.

Scal has officially entered my ‘Antoine’ zone. Hate it when he messes up. Love him when he doesn’t.

One other note….Davis should have fouled Harrington hard, the very first time he took him deep underneath, in the beginning of the game. Not sure anything else would have changed, but he would have sent a better message.

best,
T

Steve, I agree with putting in some good words for Scals. I will probably get blasted, but I think Scals can give us the defense that Posey gave us, particularly in a series when he is able to study the guy he will be defending. Offensively, if he sticks to shooting open threes and making cuts to the basket he’s okay. It scares the hell out of me when he puts it on the floor. I’ve about had it with BBD and TA. So lets have Scals or Powe as the first “big” off the bench and Pruitt as pg. Put House at 2 and keep PP or RA in with 2nd unit (splitting minutes). I’m against Marbury, but maybe he can help. He’ll surely have something to prove and it could be a lead to a new contract for him next year. He would also allow PP and RA more bench time. Back to Scals—if he gets regular minutes I think he will produce more offensively. The defense will always be there. I also think PP deserves Rave Reviews for his effort to try to win the game by himself and while doing so he made some good passes to Scals for open looks. It should not have gotten to that point, but the C’s looked real tired yesterday and the Knicks probably played the best they’ve played in years.

and most everyone out there has been bashing the guy. Here’s what I know. When Scal steps out on that floor he plays fundamental D on his man and very rarely gets burned. He gives it 100% and is a very smart basketball player. He also does a good job setting picks and trying to keep the offense moving. If he had TA’s athletic ability he’d be a star. People talk about guys earning their minutes, and here is a guy who has continued to earn his. We play better almost every time he is out there. Nice piece Steve!

He is obviously limited in talent but plays with great effort…
The mere fact that we are actually talking about Scal having a good game against the Knicks is interesting. This guy is an AWEFUL player if we look at him objectively. Like TheAncientRivalry posted before, he is smart like Posey but unlike Posey he does not possess the talent, quickness, precision, or agility to actually make enough plays. So if we look at his numbers to try to understand his performance, he is incredibly unproductive. (sorry, the intangibles argument only goes so far. When your numbers are AWEFUL there simply are not enough intangibles in the world to make up for them). Last night was a “good game” for his standards and I’m happy for him. Unfortunately it was only 12 minutes and he was still overall unproductive. Sorry, but he did miss those two WIDE OPEN three pointers. He only made one out of three shots.
I think a lot of us identify with him because of the “underdog” factor and because he seems like a good person and teammate, plus he works hard and maximizes his talents. That’s really all you can ask of someone. Then you add his name, goofy look, fun sense of humor and you have the makings of a fan fave.
I can’t help but like him but at the same time I feel like whenever he’s on the floor we are wasting minutes that could go to a more deserving player depending on the match up.