Sonics Edge Celts: Seattle 113-Boston 108

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Celts put up one of their best offensive performances of
the season, taking into account the quality of their opposition (tho
I'm sure that George Karl would deny that this was the same defense
that got the Sonics to the finals last year).  In the end, the Celts
didn't have any answers on defense to Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton.
M.L. Carr shook up the lineup a bit tonight, moving Brent Szabo into
the starting lineup (in the ceremonial Steve Kuberski role) in place
of Todd Day.
        	Both teams got off to relatively slow starts and at
the 7:50 mark the score was knotted at 9 apiece (two of the Seattle
baskets came courtesy of Brent Szabo goaltends).  At the 4:00 minute
mark in the quarter Antoine Walker drew  the 2nd foul of the game on
Kemp, who was forced to the bench.  Later in the quarter Seattle had
grabbed at 22-19 lead, when the Celts got a 10-2 run going, and took a
29-24 lead.   The score at the end of the quarter was 29-27.  On the
last play of the period Wesley picked up his 2nd foul of the game.
     	The Celts opened the second period with Michael Hawkins in the
lineup.  The Sonics went right after this matchup, and Hawkins fouled
Payton twice on the first possession.   M.L. took Hawkins out, leaving
=46ox in to guard Payton.  Gary scored to tie the game.  But after Kemp
pickep up his 3rd foul of  the game (after the 10:30 mark), Karl took
Payton and Kemp out of  the game.  With Fox and Day in the backcourt
the Celts actually did fairly well (admittedly against a motley
collection of Sonics as well).   The group actually built a 43-35
lead, but Karl called a timeout and reminded his guys who they were
playing.  The Sonics came back with a 6-0 run to make the score 43-41
before M.L. put Wesley back into the game.   The Sonics had taken the
lead 55-54, with about 1:00 left in the half, when David Wesley stole
the ball, and then committed an offensive foul for his 3rd of the
game.  The half ended with the score at 55-54.  Rick Fox scored 16
points in the first half on 7-7 shooting, as the Celts shot 56%.
     	The two teams opened the second half trading baskets, and
after the first 3:00 minutes the score stook at 67-64.  The Celts got
consecutive treys from Wesley and Day to fuel an 8-0 run (72-67).  The
Sonics came back with a 10-4 run of their own (77-76: Fox finally
missed his first shot of the game after hitting 9 in a row).   The
Celts were leading at 80-79, when Sam Perkins hit three to give the
Sonics an 82-80 lead heading into the 4th quarter.
     	The Celts took a short lived lead at the outset of the 4th
85-84.  On the  third play of the quarter Kemp picked up his 5th foul
and had to leave the game once again.    Even without Kemp the Sonics
went on an 8-0 run (92-85).  Once again the Celtics were playing from
behind in the 4th quarter.   The score was 96-90, when Todd Day hit 2
free throws to pull the Celts to within 4 (96-92).   Both teams
offenses ground to a halt and Day was the only Celtic to score over
the next 4:00 minutes of the game.  Luckily Day added 8 more points to
those free throws and when the rest of the Celtics decided to play
again (a Walker offensive rebound) the score stood at 106-102 (Sonics)
with 2:40 left.   The Celts played pretty good defense down the
stretch and got to within 2 points at 110-108 after Walker hit two
free throws (35 second left).  The Celts played solid defense on the
next possession, but Hawkins threw a perfect high lob to Shawn Kemp
(Fox anticipated the pass perfectly, but it was about 2 inches over
his leap: 112-108, 19.3 left).   On the next play, the Celts executed
a really sharp play, which resulted in Walker hitting Day, open under
the basket.  Day tried to score without coming back down with the
ball, but it rolled around the hoop and then off.  Walker fouled Kemp
intentionally, who hit one free throw to make the score 113-108.
     As I said on top, one of the finest offensive performances by the
C's this year, as they shot .506 (.870 from the line and .476 from the
arc).  As usual though, the Sonics did even better, shooting the ball
at a .560 clip.   The Celts and the Sonics had the same number of
turnovers at 19 and the C's hauled down 2 more offensive rebounds.
The C's got assists on 27 out of 39 baskets, just an indication of how
well their passing game was operating .


Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Fox, Williams, Walker, Szabo
                 Sonics- Payton, Hawkins, Schrempf, Kemp, McIlvaine

Players- another solid game by Walker, who  is having a very
successful trip.  Scored 27 points (11-17), grabbed 12 boards (5
offensive), 6 assists and 2 steals.  He also had 6 turnovers, but
let's face it: causing turnovers in the post is what Seattle does.
Antoine was 2-3 on treys as he continues to gather confidence in his
outside shot.  He fouled out on the next to the last play of the game
(the intentional foul of Kemp).

=46ox- seemed to be back on an even keel this evening.  After he hit his
first 9, he went on to miss his last 6.  So he scored 21 points, had 4
boards, 7 assists and 2 steals.

Wesley- I thought that Payton gave Wesley a pretty miserable time.  he
got David into foul trouble in the first half, and in the second a
chastened Wesley played very soft against Payton.   On offense Wesley
shot 5-15, had 4 boards, 8 assists and 4 steals. =20

Williams- A quiet game, as the Sonics pretty effectively cut off any
inside game.  E.W. scored 16 (6-15), and had 4 boards and 3 assists in
46 minutes.  Like Walker he was vulnerable to Seattle's harassing
defense and turned the ball over 5 times.

Day- Certainly didn't seem to be bothered by the demotion.  Scored 18
points on 6-10 shooting in 30 minutes.  Was very effective down the
stretch.  I couldn't see much difference in his defensive play (it was
supposedly the big night by Rider that got him sat down).

Conlon- played pretty well, though you can't see it from the stats.
Scored 6 points and had 3 boards in 22 minutes. =20

Szabo- got a total of 13 minutes,  seemed a little overexcited  in the
first half.  Settled down and played reasonably well in the second.
Scored 3 points and had 4 boards.

Hawkins- the Celts resigned him to his second 10 day contract,
yesterday.   They then proceeded to play him 1 minute.  The main
reason was that M.L. thought that Payton (who played 44 minutes) would
immediately take advantage of Hawk.   =20

Coaching- another good effort by the Celts.  If they can play this way
on Wednesday, they should be able to beat Golden State by 20. =20
     As far a sitting down Day goes, my guess is that M.L. had let him
get too comfortable in the starting lineup about 2 weeks ago.  Todd is
one of these players you have to keep uncomfortable.

The Celts play Wednesday night at Golden State.  Their record is now
11-40!

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com


     =20
    =20