[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="392" caption="Copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)"]
[/caption]
I'm trying not to get TOO excited about Mikki Moore's double-double. I mean... it did come against the Thunder, and they're not setting any defensive records.
But considering how Mikki has been playing lately, a double-double against my rec league team is kinda big news. And Doc says part of Moore's problem, has been in his own head.
"Mikki's starting to understand that when he's open he should shoot the ball, because he can really shoot the ball," said coach Doc Rivers. "Honestly, I thought he didn't think he was worthy. When you're on the floor, it's an adjustment when you're next to Paul and Ray [Allen], Kevin [Garnett]. You're open and you think, 'There's no way I should shoot the ball.' And what we're trying to get him to do . . . that's what you do, shoot the ball."
Defensively, Mikki's starting to catch on too, now that he's breaking bad habits.
“Letting go,” Moore said. “Knowing that if I leave my man somebody will help me. That’s the biggest thing. When I got here my reaction time was slow. I was worried about leaving my man. Everybody was telling me, your man is not your man anymore.”
And let's not forget Stephon Marbury, who seems to be catching on lately too. And believe it or not, the biggest problem with Steph is that he's passing too much.
“Slowly, but it’s coming,” Rivers said. “The only thing I told Steph at halftime is I thought he had open shots and he was thinking pass. Even the one, you remember when he bobbled it out of bounds, that was a layup but you could see him. He was catching the ball to pass. He has great instincts and I thought he did that in the second half.
Finally... the quote of the night... courtesy of Doc on Big Baby's awesome night:
"Once they hit him, he was a different player. I'm going to start carrying a hammmer around"
Check out "Baby Frankenstein's" postgame interview. Pretty funny.
Herald: KG remains on sideline | Smokin' House stirs Celtics in time | Celtics bloody good win | Globe: Pierce, C's too much | Doing OK playing KG | Cuban fined for blasting refs on Twitter | Camerato: Scal pushes too hard, suffers setback | Souza: C's quiet Thunder | NewsOK: Rondo offers advice on Westbrook | Cavs win | Lakers lose