Enemy Lines

an opposing team's scout sizes up the Celtics

"They're still going to have problems inside. To me their best center is Vitaly Potapenko, who would be a backup for a lot of teams. Tony Battle is a decent weakside shot blocker, but he's not good guarding his own guy....

I suppose they're going to go to the full-court or half-court trap more to get the ball out of the opposing point guard's hands. They don't want teams running plays and executing in the post, where they're vulnerable....

When the Celtics post up, they do it quickly with Antoine Walker slicing to the basket. He doesn't like to settle in the low box because he's not explosive going through people....

Paul Pierce can shoot the three and he can drive to the basket, but what sets him apart is his in-between game—he can pull up for that medium-range shot or draw the defenders and pass. He plays with his head up....

I'm not a big Kenny Anderson guy, but it doesn't help him that the ball is in Antoine's hands so much. Kenny's at his best when he's driving and dishing off to a teammate. When Antoine's running the play, Kenny becomes a perimeter shooter, and he isn't good at it....

It was harder to prepare for them under Rick Pitino because he was so anal with his continuity plays; he wanted the ball to go through three players before they took a shot. It was like he'd call those things to show other coaches that he could execute such a complicated play. In the meantime Walker would be standing there with an open shot thinking, Are we running this play to give you some kind of high, or do you want me to get us a bucket?"