Cavs Mesmerize Celtics: Cleveland 99- Boston 81

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Celts put forth a pretty good effort for the first half of
this contest, but the effects of playing for the second night in a
row, and the confusing vagaries of the Cav's defense combined to cause
a disastrous second half.  The score is, in fact, a little misleading,
as the Celts were headed all game for a score around 70 points, but
Mike Fratello's subs apparently aren't as well schooled in the slo-mo
game as his starters and allowed the Celts to score 15 points in the
last 2:00 minutes of the game.  The Celts were thoroughly beaten
despite Mark West being unavailable for the game and Tyrone Hill
playing shortened minutes due to a sprained ankle.
	The first quarter went entirely the Cav's way, as they quickly
shut down the Celtics inside game.  They jumped out to a 13-6 lead
midway through the quarter.  Eric Williams and David Wesley were both
held scoreless in the period, and the Celtics were able to score only
14 points.  Williams also had a lot of trouble guarding Danny Ferry
,who was very hot early in the game. The teams managed only 42
possessions in the period, and the score was 22-14, at the end of the
period.
	Things got worse at the start of the second as the Cavs scored
the first 6 points to take a 28-14 lead.   With some good play from
Conlon and Walker the Celts stabilized the situation, but were still
trailing by 16 at 42-26, with 4 minutes to go in the half.  The Celts
had some modest success with their trap, and Todd Day got hot.  Day
scored 11 points over the last 4 minutes to fuel a 13-2 run and get
the C's back into the game (if you take out this run, and the last
2:30 of the game, the Cav's outscored the C's 90-53).  The half ended
with the Celts very much in the game at 44-39.
	Despite the momentum they had gained at the end of the first
half, the Celts came out very flat at the start of the second.    In
particular, Tyrell Brandon, who had been very quiet in the first half,
began to apply himself.  The Cavs started out with a 13-3 run (57-42),
and followed that with another 6-2 run, to make the score 64-44.  This
wasn't a quick, overwhelming run (naturally), but took place over the
first 7:00 minutes of the period.  Basically they held the C's to just
5 points.  The pressure began to decrease a little, and the Celts
managed to put up 13 points over the last 5:00 minutes of the quarter
to pull to within 14, at 72-58.
	The Cavs came out with increased intensity and totally
dominated the first 9 minutes of the final quarter.  They outscored
the Celts 20-8, and totally smothered the C's offense (almost all of
the points the Celts scored were accidental in nature).  With 2:30
left in the game, Fratello inserted the far end of his bench, and the
Celts were able to score 15 points in the last 2:30 to make the score
a little more respectable at 99-81.  The last minutes were interesting
though, as Antoine Walker scored 8 of his points and Eric Williams
scored all 4 of his points.
	The Celts were just flat as a pancake in this game.  Not only
were they outshot form the field (what else is new), but they barely
edged the Cavs in offensive rebounds (13-11) and had one more turnover
(18-17).  The Celts can hardly hope to compete in a game where they
have the same number of offensive opportunities as their opponents and
this game was no exception as the C's shot a lamentable .347 from the
field, while the Cavs shot .532.  Each team shot 5-16 from 3land, so
the Cavs were 37-63, from inside the arc (just .587).   The Celts did
do a nice job from the free throw line, getting there 15 more times
than the Cavs and shooting 24 out of 30.  An interesting side note
about the Cavs: they seem to have a tendency to lose intensity during
the end of quarters (at least in this game).   The Celtics outscored
the Cavs 24-9 over the last 2:00 each(roughly ) of the first three
quarters (as noted above they also outscored them 15-7 at the end of
the fourth, but that's a different matter).  Over the first ten
minutes of the four periods, the Cavs outscored the Celts 83-42!  =20

Lineups- Celts-Wesley, Fox, Williams, Walker, Szabo
                 Cavs- Brandon, Phils, Mills, Ferry, Potapenko

Players- Eric Williams- an unmitigated disaster.  probably Eric's
worst game as a Celtic, including the ones that he didn't play in.
He scored 4 points (as noted above: all in garbage time at the end of
the game).  Eric shot 2-11, didn't go to the free throw line once, and
had 5 boards and 3 assists (42 minutes).  The Cav's collapsing defense
totally frustrated Williams and, in the first half particularly he
couldn't keep track of Danny Ferry on the perimeter, continually
leaving him open for easy (for Ferry) shots.

Walker- also a weak game, for much the same reasons as Williams.
Scored 21 (8 in garbage time) on 7-19 shooting, 6 boards, 2 assists
and 3 steals in 42 minutes.   Shot 2-5 in threes in this game, as he
just gave in to the Cavs defense and settled for the outside shot.
The young guys were totally non-plussed by the Cavs defense.

Wesley- do you think he was effected by playing 52 minutes on Friday
night?  David had 6 points, on 2-12 shooting, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 1
steal and 1 foul.   Drove to the basket twice all night long.
Brandon, who had just 2 points in the first half, rang David up for 17
in the second.  Wes played 41 tonight, in a game the Celtics were out
of after the middle of the third quarter.

=46ox- along with Day the only Celtics to play with any intensity.
Unfortunately Fox didn't play well as he had 7 turnovers (once he had
the middle on the break and his feet just slipped out from underneath
him).  Fox did have 16 points (6-14), 8 boards, and 3 assists in 38
minutes.

Day- About as well as you could expect Day to play in a slow down
game.  Scored 18 points (6-14), 9 boards, 2 steals, 0 assists, 4
turnovers and 3 blocks.  Todd was the only Celtic who was clearly
playing with a full tank, but you can see that the Cav's slow down
tactics frustrated him also.

Conlon- Only played 19 minutes, as M.L. judged that Marty's fabulous
speed would be wasted in a game like this.  10 points (2-3), 2 boards
and 2 assists.  Hit his first 3 in a long time in the 3rd quarter
(Marty had to alter his shot a lot to make a three).

Szabo- Playing against fellow rookie, Potapenko, he seemed energized
and more confident.  Scored 6 points and had 5 boards in 15 minutes.
Unfortunately for him, the Ukraine Train, was far more effective with
15 points in 21 minutes.

Lister/Hamer- 12 minutes, 2 boards, 0 points.  Hamer took one of the
weakest, most woeful turnarounds I've ever seen in the third period.
He's got a long way to go.

Coaching- This game reveals, what I still think is M.L.s biggest
weakness as a coach.  he's all motivation and no technique.  If you
thinkabout it, the Cav's are the mirror image of the Celts: Fratello
is trying to play an eccentiric style to mask the defficiencies of his
tam, in much the same way that the Celts try to uptempo. You would
think that a coach who's trying to instill an uptempo style, would lie
awake a night, trying to figure out how he's going to beat the Cav's
(after all, if you can't beat the Cav's with an uptempo team, what's
the point of trying to be one).  You can see from this game, that M.L.
couldn't care less.  He put his team out on the court with no game
plan, and no clue.  You can't blame the players for  being
discouraged, after a game in which their coach doesn't give them a
chance to win.  ';m sure after the game, M.L. blamed the defeat on a
lack of intensity and effort, too.

The C's are now 11-46.  They tied a team mark for the longest losing
streak with 13.  They play next in Toronto, on Monday afternoon
(4:00).

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com
  =20