AIIEEEE!! Vancouver 102 - Boston 92

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

     Maybe you understand it, I don't have a clue.  For the second
time in two weeks the Celts lost at home to one of the few teams in
the league that are arguably as bad as they are (Philly a week and a
half ago).  Meanwhile they stretch all the other teams they play (even
ones with far better records) to the max (and in the case of Portland,
actually win).  Maybe some folks enjoy this, it's pure agony for me.
     For about a minute and thirty seconds it appeared that this game
might go according to the script I envisioned last November, when I
circled this date on the calendar and said to myself, "At least
they'll win one!'.  The Celts scored the first two baskets of the game
and seemed well on their way to scoring another when Greg Anthony
blocked a David Wesley shot.  The ball went back the other way for an
Anthony Peeler J.  It was all downhill from then on.  The Griz went on
a 9-2 run keyed by rookie Abdur Abdur-Rahim to take a 9-6 lead.  In
short order they built that lead up to 5 at 15-10.  With the Celts
playing passive defense and unable to connect on their half court
offense the Grizzlies held a 27-23 lead at the end of the first.
     The Celts got to within 3 early in the second period, after a
Rick Fox trey (33-30), but Vancouver came back with 9 straight, to
take their largest lead of the game (til that point), 42-30.  Just
before the end of the half, the Grizzlies had assumed a 16 point lead
(52-36) when Wesley was fouled, hit one of two free throws, then
rebounded his own missed free throw and hit a three.  Which brought
the score to 52-40 at the end of the half.  (I thought, remembering
the Portland game: Now we've got'em where we want'em).
     NOT.  the Celts did get a little closer at the outset of the
third quarter getting to within 11 a couple of times, but Vancouver
handled the press fairly well, and Bryant Reeves began to get hot (he
would have a new career high).  With 7:00 to go in the quarter the
Celts had fallen behind by 15 (66-51).  M.L. called a timeout and
explained to his charges that there was no league rule that actually
required Lez Grizz to let them win and if they wanted the game they'd
better get to it.  For a few moments it looked as though this line of
reasoning  might work as they went on a 9-2 run to pull within 8
(68-60).  But Vancouver went on a 12-6 run of their own and the
Celtics actually lost ground in the third period, 80-66.
     The Celts (especially Rick Fox on defense) tried to get the blood
flowing through their veins and the C's slowly chipped away at the
Grizzly lead throughout the period.  Finally, with 2:45 to go, Eric
Williams hit a nice looking turn around and the Celts had the lead
down to 6 (93-87).  After Todd Day missed a medium range jumper
though, the Celts sent the Grizzlies on the ceremonial Parade to the
=46ree Throw Line, and the Grizzlies cashed in on 9 out of ten.
Meanwhile the Celtics were unable to convert on offense.  After Wesley
threw the ball away on a desperation drive, M.L. took him out of the
game, and spread the floor and let Walker go iso.  Walker scored on
two straight possessions and went to the free throw line on the third,
but it was too little too late as the Celts went down 102-92.
     The Celts just sucked shooting from the field tonight.  Eric
Williams shot .444 and that led the team.  Overall they shot .333,
while Vancouver shot .488.  In fact the Celts made 35 baskets for the
game, just 8 more than Abdur-Rahim and Reeves combined.  Of course the
Celts had an advantage in turnovers (20-15) and a huge advantage in
offensive rebounds (27-12), which allowed them to take 21 more shots
than the Grizzlies, but it wasn't enough to overcome the difference in
field goal percentage (is this getting old, anyone?). =20
 =20
Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Day, Fox, Walker, Williams
         Grizzlies- Anthony, Peeler, Abdur-Rahim, Rodgers, Reeves

Players- Wesley- Another rotten night.  14 points, 5-13 shooting, 6
boards, 7 assists, 2 steals and 5 turnovers (43 minutes tonight).  The
thing that bathers me about Wesley, is that I think that he is an
ambitious player, and that if he continues to be put in a position
that results in the quality of his game deteriorating, he might
consider going elsewhere at the end of the season.  Which  would
negate one of M.L.'s major achievements as GM.

Walker- One of those nights that only Antoine can produce.  19 points
on 8-21 shooting, 16 rebounds (ten of them offensive), 4 assists, 2
steals and 3 turnovers in 42 minutes.  I thought that in the
comparision to Abdur-Rahim,  Shareef appears to be the more polished
player (his shots go in a lot more often for example, and he looks
like he know what he's doing at the free throw line).  But Antoine has
a more wide ranging game and plays with a lot more energy.

Williams- Led the team in scoring with 22, had 5 boards and 3 assists,
But he couldn't do anything with Big Country, and M.L. eventually had
to go to Lister and Conlon to try and get some low post defense.

=46ox- coming off the big game Friday, he had a poor shooting night
(6-17) for 16 points.  Also had 5 boards, 1 assist and for the second
game in a row 6 steals (which moves him into third in the league: If
he can get 6 two more games in a row, he stands a fair chance of
moving into first :-).

Day- 7-24 from the filed (Yikes!).  Chipped in with 6 boards (4
offensive) in 39 minutes.  0 steals, and I personally would say that
he didn't have the usual Todd Day manic energy level.

Conlon- Came back tonight, and looked to be moving as well as ever
:-).  Topped Day as the leading disaster from the field as he shot
1-9.  He played hard and did manage 7 boards in 23 minutes.

Lister- M.L. put him in the game to try and slow Reeves down, but
Alton really didn't have much effect.  4 rebounds in 13 minutes.

Coaching- I guess M.L. can get the team up for the impossible games
against the iron of the league, but he seems to have a little trouble
motivating them for games like this (or maybe it's part of the Plan).
One of the big problems for the starting five that M.L. is forced to
use is that they don't have any speed between full throttle ahead and
full retreat.  And there just aren't enough of them to play full sped
ahead for that much of the game.  When they weren't pressing tonight,
the defense was just horrible.  And running off of missed baskets has
just gone by the boards completely (I chalk that up to Wesley's
fatigue).

Opposition Players of Note- The Three R's- (Abdur)-Rahim, Reeves and
Rogers. Abdur-Rahim looked like an offensive machine tonight.  He has
a bunch of different shots and pretty good range.  The guy in the
league now, I would compare him too is Glenn Robinson (without the
three point range yet, but that's only a matter of time).  Abdur-Rahim
will make his mark in the league as a scorer.
     Rogers (for a late first rounder) was pretty impressive too.  He
only scored 3 points, but had 11 boards and 4 blocks in 26 minutes
(and I gather that these numbers are not unusual).  He looks to be
more than a little foul prone.  Probably can have a solid career as a
backup center/power forward.
    Reeves- It's tough to tell how much he's come along.  Clearly he's
very comfortable playing against smaller, quicker players (I'm sure
the norm for almost all of his career) and it sure showed tonight with
33 points and 18 boards.  But he is looking much more aggressive and
he seems to be in a little better shape, though still no where near
what he needs to do to be a force (and I think getting a real point
guard (Anthony) back with the team has helped a lot).  Vancouver may
have most of a pretty decent front line in place.

This game makes the Celts record 10-33 (yes, I screwed up last time).
The Celts play again tomorrow evening in Toronto.  I guess we'll see
then if the Raptors are enough of a challenge to get the Celts
competitive juices running.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com

       =20