Article in the Charlotte Observer on how Boris Diaw's passing is rubbing off on his teammates. In a “me-first” league, Diaw is a “you-first” player. He will pass up a relatively open 15-footer to find a teammate with a no-look hook pass for a layup. “We had 32 assists out of 44 baskets made,” Diaw said. “That's really good.”
Said Coach Larry Brown of Diaw: “He can play every position. He thinks pass-first. He sees things you can't teach. … He hasn't seen a pass he doesn't like. And it's gotten contagious with all those guys.”
Said Diaw: “We had a couple of plays tonight where we had four passes – just swinging the ball. It was like ‘The (defensive) help is coming, the help is coming,' but at some point it just can't come anymore. And then somebody is wide open for a 3 or a layup. That would be it for me.”
For the Boston Celtics, they know that an inability to 'pop the ball around' cost them a game at Milwaukee recently:
“I talked about that at halftime (Sunday) because it was evident just watching Milwaukee,” Ray Allen said. “They moved the ball and didn’t care who got the shot, and it forced our defense to shift a lot. When we pass the ball, we get good shots and we make the defense work. At halftime, we had more turnovers than assists, and I sat in the locker room and said, ‘Fellas, this is our negative trait when we lose games. We have more turnovers than we have assists.’ When we have 25-30 assists, that’s when we win games.
