Bulls Get Revenge: Chicago 97-Boston 87

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Bulls, apparently, did a little thinking about how to
handle the Celts after that opening game loss. And for three quarters
they seemed to have the right solutions as they built a 20 point lead,
and seemed to have the C's under control.  In the 4th quarter, though,
they tried to take the air out of the ball, and nearly let the C's
back into the game.

	Neither team could get much done at the start of the game.
Pitino got frustrated at the lack of pressure, and changed nearly the
whole lineup about 4:00 into the game.  Chauncey Billups came in and
scored a quick 5 points, helping the C's to a 15-11 lead.  The Bulls
outscored the Celts 14-3 over the remainder of the period to take a
25-18 lead at the end of the quarter.

	Early in the 2nd quarter the Bulls pushed the lead up to
31-22, but the Celts, playing against the Bulls reserves, began to
chip away at the lead.  They got to within 5 at 35-30 off some nice
defensive play by Dana Barros and Travis Knight.  Jackson got the
troops back into the game and the Bulls went on a 14-8 run to take an
11 point lead into the half.  The Bulls killed the Celts in the first
half by outletting the ball long, as they collected 13 layups.

	Bruce Bowen took McCarty's place in the starting lineup for
the second half, and the Celts were able to eat into the Bulls lead
again , climbing to within 6 at 57-51.  The Bulls really asserted
themselves at this juncture in the game and outscored the C's 15-1
over about 4 minutes, to take their biggest lead of the game at 74-54.
The quarter ended with the C's trailing 77-60.

	The Bulls started the 4th period, with Jordan, Kukoc and
Rodman all on the bench, and a group of reserves on the floor, whose
only goal seemed to be to extend the possessions for as long as
possible (regardless of whether they actually played well).  Against
very passive play the Celts cut the Bulls lead to78-69.  Jackson put
the starters in, along with Scotty Burrell who came up with a big
block on Bowen to prevent the lead from shrinking much further.  With
about 3 minutes left in the game, the Celts put together a little 7-2
run to cut the lead to 7 at 87-80.  But the Celts ran out of time
(which was the Bulls strategy, I guess) and had to resort to fouling
the Bulls,  Chicago hit their free throws and ended the game leading
97-87.

	A big field goal  percentage difference in this game as the
Bulls shot .507 while the C's were at .355.  Actually this even
understates the situation, as the Bulls were shooting at 57% before
they went into their shell in the 4th quarter (the Bulls only scored 3
baskets in the 4th).  The Celtics nearly made up for the difference by
causing a turnover differential of 7 (25-18) and gaining an advantage
on the defensive boards 21-14.

Lineups:
Celts: Edney, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, Ellison
Bulls: Harper, Jordan, Kukoc, Rodman, Longley

Players:=20
Bowen: new career high in scoring with 16, as he came of the bench and
gave the C's a big injection of energy.  He got most of the points off
of his 5 steals and 3 offensive rebounds.  I wouldn't be surprised to
see him starting soon.

Walker: Interesting game for Walker.  Shot miserably again,as he was
clearly forcing things.  Had 19 (8-24), 12 boards, 1 assist and 3
turnovers.  He did a nice job on Rodman, holding him to 2 offensive
boards, while collecting 6 himself.  Late in the game, Jordan seemed
to be playing with Walker's head a little.  The Sportschannel cameras
did a good job of capturing them going back and forth, along the free
throw lane late in the game.

Mercer: So-so evening. Scored 12 on 6-13, and avoided being
embarrassed by MJ.  The lack of good passing by the Celts, hurts Ron
quite a bit, as he doesn't create much himself.

McCarty: Gruesome 1-9 for 7 points in 26 minutes.  Also collected 6
boards and 3 assists.

Ellison: As well as Pervis has been playing, I think the jury is still
out on him under Pitino's system.  Pervis got pulled relatively early
int both halves tonight, as he doesn't have the speed to play in the
press.  He scored 2 points and collected 5 boards in 14 minutes.

Edney:  Also a little short on playing time tonight, as Pitino seemed
to have a hard time deciding which point guard he wanted out on the
floor.  Edney scored 6, had 2 assists and 3 turnovers in 19 minutes.

Billups: got into the game early, and scored 8 points in the 1st
quarter, hitting his first three shots.  That was pretty much it, as
he ended the game with 9 points on 3-8 shooting, and 3 assists in 14
minutes.

Barros: Pitino gave Barros a shot too, but Dana wan't on tonight as he
shot 3-9, but did chip in with 3 assists and 4 steals in just 16
minutes.  Very active on defense.

Knight:  Poor night shooting the ball, as the Bulls (and most of the
other teams in the league) are on to his offense and stay with him.
he shot 1-7, and scored 5 points, but did a nice job on the boards
with 9, and collected 4 steals in 26 minutes.  Travis has really
improved at getting back to the baseline, after the first line of the
press has been broken.

Dee: Fouled out of the game in just 9 minutes.  Must be some kind of
record for a guard.  Scored 3.

DeClerq/Minor: got into the game for a combined total of 12 minutes.

Coaching:  After a nice stint during their winning streak, where the
Celts seemed to be showing some real improvement on offense, they
seemed to have slipped back into their early season bad habits.  They
tried to go at the Bulls one-on-one for most of the night, and when
they did try to swing the ball around, ended up with a very late, wild
shot, or a 24 second violation more often than not.  Take away a few
easy basket the Celts got off turnovers (and their were no where near
enough, of those) and the Celts  would have shot under 30%.  Walker,
in particular, seems to have forgotten that their are other players on
his side.

The C's are now 7-10 on the season.  The Celts travel to Miami for
their next game on Friday night.  =20

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com