Focus still concern for rolling Celtics
For Antoine Walker, the Celtics' seven-game winning streak is not a distraction as the team prepares for the playoffs. It's anything but. Having won more games (11) in 24 days with Boston than he won all season with Atlanta (10), Walker is enjoying the roll. He likes playing for something even before the postseason starts.
Paul Pierce, however, sees it differently. He worries the team might get caught up in the winning streak and lose track of the larger task.
Told about the difference of opinion, Pierce smiled and said, "Well, opposites attract. That's why we work so well."
Then Pierce clarified his statement, saying it was the younger players he worried might focus too much on the streak and not enough on what needs to be done before the playoffs.
Walker and Pierce agree a lot more work remains before the Celtics are ready for the postseason; a significant to-do list remains. The top items are better defense and fewer mental lapses.
Coach Doc Rivers and the players know they can put up points, but keeping an opponent in check and sustaining intensity throughout a game can make all the difference.
"We get sloppy at times," said Walker. "It's all about being solid for 48 minutes. Obviously, you're not going to play perfect for 48 minutes, but we've just got to be solid. That's probably the biggest thing. As long as we stop teams from having big runs on us, I think we're going to be fine."
Considering what happens when the Celtics do focus, they would be a particularly tough opponent if they could call upon that attention to detail more often. When Boston clamped down on defense against New Orleans in the third quarter Saturday, the results were immediate and dramatic. The Hornets' shooting percentage plummeted from 52 percent to 37 percent -- and they scored just 17 points.
In the 11 games the Celtics have won since Walker returned, they have allowed opponents to shoot 43 percent from the floor (392 of 902). Rivers and the players believe they can do better.
"We have to improve our defense," said Rivers. "It's been good. I think we just have to have better focus for 48 minutes. We've been a good team in stretches. Even when we've been playing great, we still have stretches of eight minutes where we start gambling. To be a playoff team, you've got to have great focus, because every possession is important.
"I always kid the guys that we have too many `my faults,' where they know they've done wrong but they've done it because they weren't focused. We have to be ahead of that curve, where we're not saying `my fault.' "
Starting today, Boston will have the luxury of two straight days of practice to work on defense. Rivers gave the team a well-deserved day off yesterday. In addition to defense, Walker will have time to become more versed in what the coaching staff wants. While it may be hard to believe, Rivers noted Boston has a long way to go before Walker is fully familiar with the system.
"We have to integrate Antoine to a point where I feel comfortable calling any set offensively or defensively and knowing that he knows it," said Rivers. "Right now, it's probably 50 percent of the stuff that he knows." The playoffs start in a month, but that should be plenty of time for the Celtics to make the necessary improvements to their defense and mental focus. They hope the winning streak is neither a distraction nor the peak of their play, but rather, a glimpse of what they can do.
