Out of necessity, my recap is going to have to be short.  My broadcast was so bad that I didn’t even see half the plays in the first quarter, and the second and third were only marginally better.  The fourth was fairly clear, but I would have rather had the other three quarters.  I hope you all can fill in the gaps for me. 

Anyways, here’s what I did see:

• Paul was back, and you could tell his 5th gear wasn’t there yet.  The way he played reminded me of the end of the last season in Oklahoma City, when he was playing on a bad foot that would require surgery and a screw after the season to repair.  He is still nearly impossible to stop because of his dribbling skills, but that little explosion he has when he reaches the free throw line – the one that elevates him above shot blockers so quick they can’t contest – that wasn’t there.
• West hasn’t had a good game since he came back from his back injury.  He’ll never say it’s slowing him, but his jumpers consistently draw the front of the rim and come off hard.  The problem with that is it generates long rebounds which helps put pressure on the defense.  West is also having more trouble finishing his forays into the paint – and that had little to do with the Celtics defense tonight.  He missed a lot of shots we saw him make over and over the first half of this year.  He hurt us more than helped us tonight.
• Hilton Armstrong and Sean Marks were excellent offensively through the first half – aggressively running to the rim and trying to dunk.  The fact still remains, however, that they managed 9 rebounds between them in 46 minutes and there were plenty of missed shots to grab.  We’ve gotta have a rebounder out there.
• Our wingmen were pretty much all off.  Peja missed 5 wide open jumpers, Posey couldn’t do anything but foul people and turn the ball over and Rasual Butler was consistently run off his spot and couldn’t get his shots away.
• Devin Brown and Antonio Daniels seemed sharp in the first half, and seemed like completely different people in the second. 

I hope the All-Star break helps our guys get put back together.  Peja was nursing a bum shoulder in the fourth, and we need Tyson in the middle.