Piston beat Celts: Detroit 99- Boston 87

     The  Pistons defeated the Celtics for the third time this season,
as they employed stalwart defense and a slow tempo to derail the
Celts.  The Celtics were in the game early in the third quarter, but a
ferocious run to end the third period 20-8.  Despite having to play
without Dino Radja for the last three periods the Celts came back to
within  with just 2:25 left in the game, but the Pistons scored 7
straight points to secure the win.  Todd Day returned to the lineup
for tonights game.
     The Celtics held the lead early at 6-4, when the Pistons scored
11 straight points to take their first lead of the game at 13-6.  As
they were to do throughout the game, though, the C's responded with a
14-3 run of their own to take a 20-16 advantage.  In the midst of that
run Dino and Grant Hill banged knees going for the ball, and Dino left
the game (reportedly he has a bruised knee).  The Pistons scored 9 of
the last 11 points of the quarter to take a 25-23 lead into the
second.  David Wesley scored 12 of the Celtics 23 points in the
period.
     The Celts, getting some help off the bench from Todd Day,
regained the lead early in the second at 32-31 (their last lead of the
game).  The Pistons scored 11 points in a row (for the second time in
the game) to take their lead out to 10 points at 42-32.  The Celts
came back to end the first half with a 8-2 run, capped by a Greg Minor
buzzer beater to cut the margin to 6 at 54-48.
      The Celts started off the third the way they ended the first
half, as they had an 8-2 advantage over the first 3:35 of the quarter,
tying the game at 56 apiece.  But Doug Collins (who seems to never let
the Pistons give up more than 6 straight points without calling a
timeout) got the troops back in order and Detroit outscored the C's
20-8 over the remainder of the period to take a 76-64 advantage into
the 4th period.
     Terry Mills was hot to start the 4th as Pistons had a 11-5 run to
gain their biggest lead of the game at 87-69.  But the Celts, despite
going most of the 4th with Antoine Walker at center, came back and cut
the lead to 7 with 2:25 left in the game.  But the Pistons scored 7
straight, ignited by a Hunter 3 with the 24 second clock running out.
The game ended with the score at 99-87 Pistons.
     Both team shot exactly 36-83 from the floor tonight.  The Pistons
edge was supplied by superb three point shooting (10-19), and an edge
in getting to the free throw line (although the Pistons announcers
were constantly complaining about the lack of foul calls on the
Celtics, especially involving Saint Grant).  The Celtics had 14
turnovers in the game (not that bad), but the Pistons had a big edge,
there as they only had 8! =20
    =20
Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Minor, Fox, Williams, Lister
         Pistons- Hunter, Dumars, Hill, Thorpe, Mahorn

Players- Wesley- another fine night, as Wes scored 22 (7-14), had 4
boards, 9 assists, 2 steals and a very moderate 2 turnovers in 44
minutes.  He kept the dangerous Lindsay Hunter pretty much in check.

=46ox- got the full brunt of the Grant Hill assignment tonight.  While
Hill clearly won the matchup, Fox played him tough.  Hill got a
technical in the 4th period (and nearly threw the ball at the ref), as
he thought he was being handled too roughly.  Fox had 10 points, 5
boards and 3 assists in 39 minutes.  Although Hill got his usual near
triple double, he shot 6-17 and got 8 of his 20 points courtesy of the
refs.

Lister- Gave it his maximum as he hung in there for 21 minutes.  He
got 7 boards and 2 points, but naturally wasn't around at the end of
the game.

Minor- Had 10 points and 4 boards in 26 minutes.  He apparently made a
defensive mistake early in the game on Dumars and Carr yanked him in
favor of Day.  But he and Day held Dumars (who has been going badly
recently) to 5-16 shooting.

Dino- Only played 7 before he got hurt.  No word on his availability.

Day- Another in his lengthening streak of pretty decent games, as he
had 17 points (7-15), 5 boards and 3 assists in 29 minutes.  Really if
you think about it the Celtics 2 guards have been pretty effective
recently. Tonight they combined for 27 points (in slightly over 48
minutes) on 12-24 shooting.

Walker- had another great game on the offensive boards and stunk up
the place otherwise.  Had 10 rebounds (5 of them offensive) in just 28
minutes.  Other than the offensive rebounds and a couple of jams on
the break he was hopeless, as he ended up shooting 5-17, with 0
assists and 2 turnovers.  I don't think he hit a shot from further
away than 3 feet all night long.

Eric Williams- Didn't get into the game until well into the second
period, but with the injury to Dino he was in pretty much the rest of
the way.  He had 12 points on 4-7 shooting and 4 boards in 30 minutes.

Conlon- gave it the good, but overmatched effort for 15 minutes.
Scored 2 points and had 3 rebounds.
=20
Coaching- This marked the end of the road trip, and if you overlook
the horrible performance in Sacremento, it turned out about as well as
you could reasonably expect.  They won the  game in Denver and they
played hard and effectively against the Lakers and the Pistons.  On
the other hand I think you have to be concerned (I am) about the
progress of the Celtic's rising young stars, Walker and Williams.
While Walker is playing hard and enthusiastically, it's hard to see
where this style of play is going to lead.  I certainly can't think of
a superstar in the history of the league with the mix of abilities
that Walker's displayed so far (Of course the guy's only 20, for
heavens sake).  As for Williams, it seems to me the real question is
who is more important to the long run future of the team, Fox or
Williams (let me make it clear that I like Fox).  But I assume the
Celts know what they have in Fox, while they really need to find out
about Williams.  If Eric Williams is going to be a small forward they
ought to start playing him there.

This game makes the Celtics record 6-22.  They play the TWolves at
home tomorrow night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com=20