Heat Beat C's: Miami 102- Boston 94

     Heading in to the 4th quarter, it looked as though the Heat had
this one in the bag, as they led 77-63.  But the Celtics, behind an 18
point 4th quarter from David Wesley were able to mount a comeback and
got to within 4 (90-86) with 4:10 left in ther game.  But the Heat
were able to stand the Celts off for 4 crucial possessions, and got
the lead back up to 8 points.  From there they were able to run the
game out.  The Celts got Alton Lister (limited) and Dee Brown back for
tonight's game (M.L. played 10 guys in the first three quarters
tonight!).
     The Celts got off to a good start this evening and took a 12-9
lead (two jumpers by Eric Williams).  But the Heat came back with a
7-0 run to take a 16-12 lead.  After trading baskets for a couple of
minutes the Heat scored on 6 straight possessions while holding the
Celtics scoreless.  The Heat were running off of Celtics misses and
turnovers and evading the generally tight Boston halfcourt defense.
The Heat led at the end of the period 32-16.
     The Celts got back up off the canvas at the start of the second
and outscored the Heat 18-5 over the first half of the period to pull
with 3 at 37-34.  The Celts hit another coldspell at the end of the
2nd quarter as the Heat built their lead back up to 8 at 48-40.  Just
before the end of the half Alonzo Mourning was called for his third
foul of the game in rebounding action on Eric Williams. =20
     On the second Celtic's possession of the third period, Eric
Williams (who by hitting those jumpers early in the game had forced
Alonzo Mourning to play up on him) drew Zo's 4th foul on a nice up
fake.  Riley dutifully put Zo on the bench and M.L. called for a
pressing, trapping defense, sensing a change in momentum.  But the
move backfired an Tim Hardaway was able to break the  trap and hit a
couple of three's and passed to teammates for a number of easy
baskets.  With Mourning on the bench almost the entire quarter the
Heat were able to build their lead to 18 at 70-52 (that's a 21-8 run
without Mourning).  The Celts were able to pull within 14 by the end
of the quarter 77-63.
     David Wesley, who had a very quiet game up until this point, got
hot at the start of the 4th.  Wes scored 10 points over the first 6
minutes of the quarter and the Celts cut the Heat lead to 5 at 86-81.
The Heat got the lead back up to 9 (90-81), but the Celts scored 5 in
a row to pull to within 4, at 90-86.  Miami responded by holding the
C's scoreless over the next 4 possessions (including 3 Celtic
turnovers).   Mourning, who sat on the bench for most of the third and
4th quarters came back into the game, but missed 3 out of 4 free
throws to help keep the Celts in the game.  Finally after the second
of the 3 Celtic turnovers, Mourning hit 2 free throw to give the Heat
a 7 point lead.  Wesley finally got things under control and scored 4
straight to get the Celts back to within 4 at 94-90 (2:10 left).  But
on the next play, after Mourning was turned away from the basket, P.J.
Brown beat a couple of Celtics to the rebound and got the ball to
Hardaway (Lenard?) in the corner for a three to give the Heat a 7
point lead.  The Celts had to start fouling and the Heat ran the table
from the free throw line to escape with the victory 102-94.
     The Celts got creamed on field goal percentage as they shot .380
(their worst showing in quite a while), while the Heat shot .475.  The
Celts stayed in the game because they got to the foul line 40 times
(and hit 32 of them).  The Celts got clobbered on the boards 48-36
(7-11 offensive) But made up for it by getting 20 turnovers from the
Heat (15 for Boston). =20

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

Players- Wesley- Funny thing is that up until the 4th quarter Wesley
was having his worst game of the year.  After the 18 point explosion,
he ended the game with 21 points, 3 assists and 3 turnovers.  An awful
game by Wesley's standards.  He did a very nice job on Hardaway for
most of the game, keeping Hardaway away from the ball and forcing
other Miami players to handle it (Brown and Lenard combined for 10
turnovers).  With Dee and Dana both healthy he played "only" 37
minutes.

Williams- Scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting, 4 boards and 2 steals.
Hit three jumpers early and Mourning and the Heat over reacted (I
think) and played him much tighter the rest of the game.  The result
was that Williams got to the line 9 times.  If I were coaching against
the Celts, E.W. would have to hit ten in a row before I'd guard him on
the outside.

Walker- 16 points, 6 boards in 38 minutes.  Brown guarded him but M.L.
didn't try to isolate Antoine.  He was kept off the offensive boards,
which is where he's been doing his damage recently.

=46ox- After a string of pretty good games, Fox stunk up the Fleet
Center tonight.  5 points on 0-8 shooting, 6 boards, 5 assists and 2
turnovers in 30 minutes (0-3 from behing the 3 point line).  He
couldn't get a good shot inside the arc all night long.  A big part of
the Celtics offensive cold spell down the stretch was that=20
Wesley tried to go to Fox, but the Heat were all over it.

Day- Only a little better than Fox.  Scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting,
4 boards and 5 turnovers in 22 minutes.  Slso, for the first time in a
while took a couple of extremely bad shots.

Brown- shot poorly from the field at 1-7.  He went hard to the basket
the first two times he touched the ball, missing the shot once and
going to the foul line the second.  I don't think he dribbled again
before shooting the rest of the night.  He played a big part in
Wesley's 4th quarter explosion as Wes wasn't tired out from playing
all of the first three, and Brown came in and played Hardaway for part
of the period which took some of the pressure off Wesley on the
defensive end.

Conlon- good offensive night as he scored 13 points (4-8 from the
field and 5-5 from the line).  Hit a couple of jumpers and then drove
past the Heat when they tried to rush him.  Even got a conventional
three point play. I guess to shoot 5-5 from the stripe you almost have
to do that.

Lister- Tried to play again, but still doesn't look ready.  He played
5 minutes in the first half (and had 4 rebounds), but didn't play in
the second half.  The Celtics were playing some good defense and
Lister ran out at John Crotty to stop him from taking a jumper.  When
Crotty pulled that ball back down and passed, Lister couldn;t come to
a stop and toppled over onto Crotty.  It looked like a redwood falling
on a bug.
   =20
Dana- far from in game form as he shot 2-7.  He played the 2 guard
most of the time, but the Heat were very aware of him and he got few
open shots.

Szabo- who is this masked man?  Scored 6 points (another nice looking
jumper), 7 boards (I'm a little sceptical about that one) a save of a
loose ball and a block (which I think the scorer missed).  In 9
minutes (all in the second half)...You could see that he has some kind
of respiratory problem as he played well in the last 6 minutes for
the third quarter, but couldn't contribute when M.L. left him in the
game to start the 4th.  After a few minutes he had to signal Carr to
be taken out of the game.

Coaching- I really think that M.L. made a mistake when he decided to
press after Zo had to leave the game in the 3rd quarter (of course I
might be telling you what a genius he is, if it had worked).  Why
would you  press because the opposition has to take their center out.
Zo doesn't ever touch the ball when the Heat are bringing it up court
(he's camped out by the basket, much like the Knicks and Ewing; what a
coincidence).  Whatever the logic of the decision it was a disaster as
the Celts got burnt for easy basket after easy basket.  And the
Celtics halfcourt defense was generally quite good tonight.  The Celts
got beaten in full court, not half court.
     But you can see how the Celts might surprise some people at the
ends of games, if they can keep this many players healthy.  Miami
tried to play the Celtics pace, and by the end of the game, the Celts
were clearly the more energetic of the two teams. The five Miami
starters played 181 minutes (and you can add at least another ten to
that if Zo doesn't get into foul trouble).  Meanwhile the Celts
starting five played 163, and that's with Dee and Dana not all the way
back (and Minor out). =20

This game makes the Celts record 9-26.  They're off until Saturday,
when they play the Wizards (nee Bullets).

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com