Da Bulls Decimate Celts: Chicago 111- Boston 106

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	David Stern, in a belated effort to prove that he does have a
sense of humor noticed that the Celts had a long lay-off between their
contest last Friday and their next regular season game against the
Cavs tomorrow evening.  So he decided to schedule a special mid-season
exhibition game between the Celts and the World Champion Chicago
Bulls, fittingly enough to be played on April Fool's night.  Both
teams.....oh wait...you mean it was a real game?  You're kidding!
Well, never mind.  Anyway they played last night like it was that last
exhibition game before the regular season starts.   Scotty Pippen
played 24 minutes and Michael Jordan put in just 27.  The Bulls jumped
out to a 33-12 lead 10 minutes into the first quarter and then we were
treated to the longest garbage time in the history of the NBA, lasting
for 38 minutes.
	M.L. Carr shook up the C's lineup, starting Marty Conlon in
place of Brent Szabo and it paid immediate dividends as Luc Longley
scored 6 of  Bulls first 13 points (and outscored the C's by himself,
6-5).  Longley combined with  Caffey to score 15 of the Bulls first 23
points (23-7) as Pippen and Jordan pretty much felt that it was
beneath them to even participate in this contest.  The first quarter
ended with the Bulls desperately holding on to a 35-15 lead.
	Phil Jackson started the 2nd quarter with an all reserve team
in the game and the Celts slowly began to cut into the lead.   Marty
Conlon back in his comfort zone in the second quarter, scored the
first 7 Celtic's points as the C's cut the Bulls lead to just 15
(37-22).   With the score at 42-28 old friend Robert Parish scored 8
straight for the Bulls on a variety of hooks and jams to push Chicago
back out to a 50-31 lead.  Just before the end of the half the C's got
off an 8-0 run and closed to within 13 at 54-41.  The Bulls finished
with a flurry, though, and led 58-43.  Neither Pippen or Jordan played
in the second quarter as the Celts outscored the Bull's bench 28-23.
	Although the Bulls starters did deign to reenter the game
(apparently only under the condition that the refs not call any fouls
on them), they really couldn't take the game seriously.  Midway
through the quarter the Celts ran of 6 unanswered points to cut the
Bull's lead to just 7 at 71-64.  With about 3:00 left in the quarter
Carr inserted Day in for Fox.  For some unknown reason, Jordan who had
been pretty much using the game as a light workout, started taking the
ball right at Day.  He made a spectacular drive past Day and most of
the rest of the Celts.  A couple of possessions later Day scored on
him (Todd's only score of the game).  On the next play, Day fouled
Jordan on a drive.  Then Jordan picked Todd's pocket and headed back
down court.  Day ran up behind Jordan and restole the ball (a great
play), but was called for a phantom foul (apparently part of the
agreement MJ made with the refs to play the second half was that no
one was allowed to steal the ball from him).   Jordan went to the line
and Todd bounced the ball high in the air in frustration and was
called for a technical.  On the next Chicago possession, the Bulls
lost control of the ball and Wesley and Pippen went up in the air for
the ball.  Pippen predictably won the ball, but the refs invoked the
No-Hard-Play-Against-The-Bulls rule and called a foul on Wesley.
Day, apparently made another sarcastic comment and was pitched from
the game.  With this help from the refs the Bulls led at the end of
the third 83-70.
	Jordan and Kukoc combined for 11 quick points at the start of
the 4th to push the game out of reach (not that there was ever the
slightest doubt about it) at 94-76.  With the Bulls starters out of
the game, Steve Kerr had to guard Wesley and David (who had been a
no-show in the first quarter), took advantage to do some major stat
sheet padding.  He scored 18 straight points for the Celts (drive, 4
point play, 4 free throws, 2 jumpers, an offensive put-back and
another jumper).  At the end of the Wesley pseudo-onslaught the Bulls
lead was down to 109-101, with about a minute to go in the game.  The
contest finally ended with the score 111-106.
	Obviously the final stats mean nothing in a game like this.
The Bulls shot .558 while the Celts missed at .573 (which translates
to .427).  The Celts pulled down 16 offensive boards (Bulls 8) and the
Bulls made 24 turnovers (nearly twice their season average) most of
them out of sheer disinterest.  This combined to get the Celts an
extra 19 shots.

Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Fox, Williams, Walker, Conlon
                 Bulls- Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Caffey, Longley

Players- Walker- The best of his outings against the Bulls.  He
finally seemed to have calmed down and started to treat it like just
another game.  He shot 10-21 and scored 27 points had 10 boards, 5
assists and 2 turnovers in 41 minutes.  He took a few ill advised
jumpers at the start of the game but after that played under control.

Wesley- Wesley scored 5 of the C's first 12 points tonight.
Unfortunately he didn't score his second basket until the 3:00 mark in
the first quarter when the Celts were already behind 28-12.  Those
were David's only points of the disastrous first half.  He ended the
game with 31 points on 12-22 shooting, 8 boards (6 offensive!), 7
assists and 3 steals (44 minutes).  Wesley never stopped hustling,
though, his antics in the fourth quarter seemed to pass the fine line
between continuing to play hard and stat sheet stuffing.  Relax, David
you've made it: you don't need to pile up meaningless points in
garbage time.

Williams- Very tough game for Williams as Caffey resolutely refused to
go for any of Eric's fakes.  No matter what Williams did Caffey just
stood there and refused to leave the floor.  Eric eventually got
frustrated and started drifting outside and practicing his jump shot.
Williams took a career high 3 three pointers (missed 'em all).
Williams scored 13 points an 5-18 shooting 3-4 from the line and 7
boards in 36 minutes.

=46ox- Played hard on defense against MJ but it was totally impossible
to tell if Ricks relative success (at least compared to Day) was due
to Rick's good work or to Jordan's indifference.  Fox scored 14 points
had 4 assists, 4 boards, 3 steals and 4 turnovers in 39 minutes..

Conlon- We saw the cause of Marty's success this year tonight.  All of
his minutes come against backups.  Conlon looked like a CBAer against
the Bulls starters tonight.  All he could do was miss easy shots, turn
the ball over and watch while offensive machine Luc Longley tried to
break MJ's building scoring record.  Marty's  stats improved markedly
in the second quarter against the Bull's backups.  He scored 14, had 4
boards and 4 assists in 35 minutes.=20

Day- At least he showed some intensity.   Played awful again though as
he shot 1-7, had 3 boards and an assist in 17 minutes.  His shot is so
far off he might never score again.

Hawkins- Scored the last basket of the game for a three.  Also had 2
boards, an assists and 3 steals in 8 minutes.

Szabo- Only played in garbage time in the 4th quarter.  Do you think
that M.L. visited the ESPN website and discovered that Brent is
actually 30 years old?=20

Hamer/Lister- Played 10 minutes.  Lister did have 2 boards.

Coaching- It seems like I've written thirty or forty time this season
that M.L. at least got the guys to come out and play hard.  I think
you have to begin to question if that's any longer the case.  For the
second game in a row the Celts were totally flat at the start of the
game.  As has been the case for quite a while the Celts essentially
refused to press when M.L. tried to put it on (and after being off
since Friday, they couldn't use fatigue as an excuse).   It will be
interesting to see how they play against Cleveland tonight (the Cav's
need this game desperately).

Opposition player of note: With Wennington out for the season and
Rodman occasionally indisposed, the Chief may play a key role in the
Bull's playoff  drive.  He certainly looked as though he'll be able to
contribute tonight as he scored 8 points had 3 boards and 3 blocks
(and also 4 turnovers) in 12 minutes.  Won't it be interesting seeing
the Parish-Antoine Carr matchup as one of the keys to the NBA finals?

The Celts record is 13-60.  They play tonight in Cleveland.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com
=09