Heat Edge Celts: Miami 118- Boston 117

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

     The Celts played with a tremendous burst of energy and verve this
evening, but in the end the superior half court skills of the Heat
wore them down.  Boston had the lead at 107-104, but the Heat scored
on 7 straight possessions to take a 116-109 lead (2:00 left).  The
Celts turned up the pressure to the max and got a 5-0 run to get
within two, but the Heat got a clutch 12 foot jumper from Alonzo
Mourning to put the game out of reach when the Celts chose not to
foul.  I thought that this may have been the most interesting,
entertaining game that the Celts played this season.
     The Celts started out the game going to the Eric Williams/
Mourning matchup, presumably trying to get Zo in some foul trouble.
Instead they got points as Williams scored the first 6 of the game,
including a hook and a turnaround right over\through Alonzo.  Despite
the Williams outburst the Heat broke on top 14-9 with some hot
shooting from Tim Hardaway.  The Heat built the lead up to 27-18, when
Riley tried to rest Hardaway.  The Celts put the press on and got a
quick 8-0 run to pull to within a point at the end of the 1st quarter
(27-26).
     Hardaway stayed on the bench for the first 4 minutes of the
second, but it had little effect on the game as the Heat held onto
their one point lead (36-35).  When Riley did finally reinsert
Hardaway the Heat went on a quick 9-0 run to take a 10 point lead
(45-35).  With about 5 minutes left in the quarter Marty Conlon and
Miami mobile mountain Issac Austin violently collided going for a
loose ball and inexplicably Austin was hurt and had to leave the game
(Marty kept playing).  The Celts were still down 8 with about 2
minutes left, but got a little run going (7-4) to pull to within 3
(59-56).  It looked as though the Celts might go into halftime
trailing by just 1, after Wesley stole a pass intended for Hardaway
and dribbled the length of the court for a lay-up, with just 2 seconds
left.  But Hardaway received the inbounds pass, eluded the Celtics
defenders and got of an off balance, one handed three with the buzzer
sounding while the ball was in the air, to give the Heat a 62-58
halftime lead.
     The Celts came out with real intensity, and went on a 9-5 run to
tie the game at 67 each, 2:00 into the third quarter.  The Heat
immediately came back with a run of their own to take a 5 point lead
(76-71).  Halfway through the period, Eric Williams drew the 4th foul
of the game on Alonzo Mourning, and Zo went to the bench (83-81).  It
failed to pay any immediate benefits for the C's as the Heat actually
increased their lead to 7 at 90-83.  The Celts managed to make a
little of that back, and the Heat led 95-91 going into the final
period.
     A couple of minutes into the 4th quarter Riley took Hardaway out,
and M.L. responded by resting Wesley (Day was already on the bench).
With Fox and Walker playing two man basketball (with Conlon in the
high post as an outlet) the Celts actually were fairly effective (the
Miami guards, Crotty and Lenard were too slow to put much pressure on
them).  On a Marty Conlon jumper with 7:14 left the Celts took a three
point lead at 101-98.  Riley got Hardaway and Mourning back into the
game and the Heat tied the game at 101.  The Celts still lead at
105-102 with 5:34 left in the game.  But Hardaway and Lenard really
played effectively on the offensive end as the Heat scored on 7
straight possessions and outscored the Celtics 14-4 to take a 7 point
lead at 116-109.  Maybe as importantly, when M.L. reassembled the
starting 5 for the final push (he put Walker in for Conlon with 4:29
left) Riley inserted John Crotty into the backcourt in addition to
Hardaway.  The Celts (who had a hard time scoring in this period, so
it was hard to put the press on anyway) didn't get the usual
turnovers.  With the score at 116-109, Lenard fouled Fox going to the
basket (Rick hit both throws: 116-111).  On the next play Day stole
the ball and got fouled going in for the layup (2 more free throws:
116-113).  Under pressure the Heat threw the ball away again and
Lenard fouled Fox again.  After Fox made the first of the free throws,
Riley called a timeout (partially to get Fox off the line).  Rick
missed the second free throw and the Celts were down by 2 (116-114:
1:07 left).  Hardaway and Wesley traded futile threes, and with just
28 seconds left in the game M.L. decided not to foul.  Instead the
Celtics played good solid D, but Hardaway found Zo for a 12 footer
along the baseline, it went in and the Heat had a 4 point lead with
5.9 seconds left.  Day tried a three under heavy pressure and missed,
but Wesley retrieved the ball and scurried out to the arc, turned and
hit the three at the buzzer (toolittletoolate).  Heat win, 118-117.
     The Heat shot .583 and .458 from 3 land (24 attempts).  The Celts
shot.477 and .368 on threes.  As usual the Celts made up the
difference (almost-sigh) by taking 14 more fga's and 5 more fta's,
because they got 7 more offensive boards than the Heat and had 8 fewer
turnovers.  The Celts were very effective converting the Heat
turnovers into points with 34.

Lineups- Celts - Wesley, Day, Fox, Williams, Walker
         Heat- Hardaway, Lenard, Askins, Brown, Mourning

Players- Fox- The notorious NBA journeyman was held to 33 points
(9-18), 6 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals in 41 minutes (think what the
Heat could have done if they bothered to guard him).  Fox was 5-10 on
threes tonight (exactly matched by T. Hardaway).  If Rick had hit that
last free throw with 1:07 left he would have set a new career high in
points with 34 (instead he scored 33 for the third time in his career
and the second time in a week). =20

Wesley- 18 points (8-13), 5 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals in 43
minutes.  Hardaway dominated Wesley in the first half, but down the
stretch, when it counted Wes played Hardaway tough.  David did launch
a quick three with 30 seconds left and the C's down by two that I bet
he wishes he had back.

Williams- he was an absolute monster in this game through the first 3
quarters, but slowed down in the 4th (you would too if you had to
carry the load on offense and try to handle Zo on defense).  27 points
on 9-18 shooting and 4 boards, 2 assist and 2 steals in 43 minutes.
His outside shot was very good tonight, and his inside game was very
tough also.

Walker- 17 points, 14 boards (9 offensive!!), 6 assists (several with
Wes on the bench).  Did have 3 turnovers.  Austin started the third
period and I thought that M.L. missed the opportunity to send Walker
after him (though Williams got the 4th foul on Mourning).

Day- scored 18 (5-11, 8-8 from the line), 3 assists and 2 steals.  The
only one of the Celts starters not to play 40 minutes (34) and I
suspect that M.L. was not entirely happy with his D on Vashon Lenard.
Day made a great play in the first half when he got the ball on the
break, twisted his body around so that his back was facing the
midcourt line, took a hit from a Heat defender, and calmly sunk the
shot for a three point play.

Conlon- 4 points and 6 boards in 21 minutes.  Getting away from his
low post shtick (which is good).  He played a few minutes as a classic
high post center (a la Pete Carill) and looked pretty good at it. Hhe
did hurt the team with 3 turnovers.

Lister - Played for 13 minutes and did have an impressive block, but
Zo took advantage of his slowness a couple of times.

Coaching- a really interesting game as M.L. had several very unusual
lineups.  In the first quarter M.L. had pretty good success with Wes,
and Williams at the guards and Walker, Conlon and Lister in the front
line.  Riley tried to use Danilovic off the dribble against Williams
but it wasn't at all effective (it would have worked better if Sasha
had played off the ball using picks and screens).  And in the second
half, he used Fox and Walker at the guards, with Conlon, Williams and
Lister on the frontline.  This group was very solid on offense as
Conlon played the high post and Walker and Fox took turns trying to
post the smaller Miami guards. A lot of people have observed that with
all of the small players (who are also good passers) that the Celts do
well with a high post.  Of course Zo was out of the game at the time
which did make it a "little" easier (still if I were M.L. I would hold
on to this one).
     Also in the "M.L.is smarter than me" column, the Celts ran a lot
of isolations tonight where they brought the players who were being
guarded by Zo and Brown above the arc and tried to run isolations or
get the illegal defense call (I've criticized M.L. several time for
not doing this).  Having seen it I'm not so sure it's a good idea.
=46irst of all the refs aren't going to call more than a couple illegal
defenses in a game no matter how many times you break the rules.  so
the Heat cheated dozens of times and I think the Celts got one free
throw out of it.  Second, it really slows down the pace of the game
(much to the Celtics disadvantage).  Third, it makes it easier for the
opposition to keep your best offensive rebounders out of the game
(since they have to be above the arc for this to work).  In other
words I think I'll keep my mouth shut on this one from now on.  At
best it's a trade off (I suspect this tactic is also a reason that E.W
wasn't as effective in the 4th quarter as he was in the first three).
     On the decision not to foul, with 29 seconds left and the Heat up
by two.  I thought this was a pretty good call.  The Heat were careful
to keep the ball in the hands of Hardaway and Lenard so the Celts
would have to foul a good free throw shooter.  When Hardaway finally
did get the ball to Mourning, the Celts didn't have a chance to foul
Zo.  I would rather see Zo try a 12 footer than see Hardaway at the
line.

Opposition Players of Note- Vashon Lenard- Really showed me something
tonight.  28 points, 5-7 from three point range, but also did some
nice work around the basket when the Heat really needed it late in the
game.  Has a chance to become a Glenn Rice style all around offensive
player, not just a three point shooter.  Another great find for Riley
(to go with Austin).

This loss makes the Celtic's record 11-34.  They play again tomorrow
in Orlando.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com   =20
    =20