Celtics beat Lakers 108-102

[John Lyell <Jlyell@concentric.net>]

I will try to fill Bill Cooper's shoes and give him a rest on these West 
coast games:

Great win for the Celtics on the Lakers home floor, only their 2nd home 
loss this year. The Lakers first loss when scoring over 100 points this 
year. This one was down to the wire with both teams playing excellent at 
times, sloppy at others. The Celtics led 50-44 at the half despite making 
Rick Fox looking like Jordan with 18 points mainly due to a 12-0 spurt at 
the beginning of the second Qtr.  Both teams lit it up in the third and 
ended up tied at 80.  The Lakers shot 71% led by Campbell & Van Exel , the 
Celtics 63% led by Billups with 13 in the quarter including 3 3's.  The 
Celtics jumped out in the 4th led by Walker & McCarty and the Lakers cut it 
to 104-101 and had a chance to tie but Van Exel lost his footing and lost 
the ball to Billups who hit Mercer for a breakaway dunk to put Boston up 
106-101.  The Celtics hung on for a 108-102 victory.
Good win for the Celtics



McCarty  - Typical wild , all over the court,  helter skelter game for 
Walter. Good first half leading the C's with 15 points but got scorched 
defensively by Fox who scored 18 in the first half.  Played a hustling game 
in the second half, and had a key block on the 7ft Campbell with 3 minutes 
left and the C's up by 4, and hit a key 3 pointer with 1:30 left.
Ended up with 19 pts/7 Rebounds


Walker - I have to give A.W a big two thumbs up on this one. He played up 
to his potential scoring 28 points & grabbing 13 boards, and keeping Eddie 
Jones invisible.  He had an excellent all around game. He played a great 
unselfish game, made some tough spin shots and some a couple of unselfish 
passes including a great alley-oop to Knight for a dunk.

Knight - excellent game for recently coming off the I.R. Did not look to 
rusty at all.  Had a couple of good blocks and played aggressively against 
Campbell and hit some nice jumpers. 14 points/6 rebounds

Billups  - Good game for Chauncy .  Kept the Celtics in with 13  in the 3rd 
qtr !  Hit 3 key 3's in the Qtr.  Still looks more suited for the 2 spot 
than the point. Hesitant on penetrating & missed some open lane 
opportunities. Had trouble with Van Exel, but made a great steal late in 
the 4th.  Got picked a couple of times including losing it to Eddie Jones 
for a breakaway dunk with a minute left and the Lakers closed it to 
104-101.   16 points , career high 5 steals.

Declercq - Good physical hustling game had his usual foul trouble picking 
up cheap fouls on mis-matches guarding Fox & Bryant, but played a good 
physical game.

Edney - Non existent.  Did not play much.

Minor - Saw little playing time.

Bowen - Typical Bowen good defensive game and showed some great hustle 
diving for a loose ball a la Larry Bird at one time.

Mercer - Quiet night due to early foul trouble

Barros -  Little playing time.  Ineffective at point with Billups out.

Brown - DNP ?




Fox - ended up with 26 I believe. Was unstoppable in the first half.