Mavs Edge Celts: Dallas 109-Boston 107

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	This was a brutal game.  1) the Celts, who seemed to have
control of the game with a 7 point lead with 4:00 left in the game,
were able to score only 4 more points as the Mavs hauled them down,
from behind for the win.  2) This was one of the most physical NBA
games I've ever seen.  Refs in a typical professional wrestling match
have more control  than the NBA zebras did over this one.
	The Mavs started the game going to the Shawn Bradley/Brent
Szabo matchup,and it paid off  early as Dallas took an early 12-6
lead.  Khalid Reeves was injured and had to leave the game for the
duration.  He was replaced by veteran Derrick Harper, who was
originally listed as questionable for the game himself.   As usual
Eric Williams carried the load for the Celts  in the first quarter, as
the Celts caught up to the Mavs  at 14-14.  The first quarter ended
with the score at 30-27 in favor of Dallas.
	Wesley was taking advantage of Harper early in the second
period, as David looked more energetic than he  has in a  couple of
months, in this game.  The Mavs still led through most of the period,
and had stretched their lead to 6 with 1:50 let in the half.   The
Celtics scored the last 7 points of the period (5 by Fox) to take a
54-53 lead into halftime.
	The Mavs went back to the Bradley at the start of the third
and took the lead back at 66-65.  They had a 74-72 advantage, when the
C's went on a 8-2 run (sparked by Todd Day) to take an 82-76 lead.
The quarter ended with the Celts up 86-81.  The game really began to
get nasty in the third.
	Fox opened the fourth by hitting turnarounds on the first two
Celt's possessions, which helped the C's to a 92-83 lead (largest of
the game, by either team).   With 6:30 left in the game, Wesley made a
nice drive to the basket to score his 30th point of the game and put
the Celts up 97-89.  At the  5:00 minute mark  in the quarter, Bradley
was called for a flagrant foul on Todd Day, who didn't even have the
ball, as Bradley ran down the court and stuck both  elbows into Day's
adams apple.  Day hit both free throws, but on the C's possession that
followed (since it was called flagrant), Wesley threw up a hurried
three.  A minute later (4:03 left), Bradley committed his 5th foul
against Williams, with Eric hitting both free throws to put the Celts
up by 7.  With Bradley out of the game and Samaki Walker in the Mavs
went on a 6-0 run (two baskets by Walker) to pull to within 1 point at
103-102.   Fox and Wesley played some nice two man basketball to score
two consecutive baskets and the Celts were up by 3 with 1:40 left
(107-104).  These two baskets were the only hoops the C's scored over
the last 6:00 minutes of the game, and the last Celtic points of the
contest.  On the next play Bradley gave Fox a shove as the ball went
out of bounds after the shot, and Fox rushed back at him and gave
Bradley a healthy shove back.  The refs called them for a double
technical.  The Mavs tied the game with 3 free throws (31 seconds
left).  The Celts went to Williams to take the lead back, but Eric put
up a weak shot, hoping to draw a foul.  The refs weren't having any of
it (no need to start blowing the whistle this late in the game).
Antoine Walker got the offensive rebound, dribbled the ball back
towards halfcourt and started to get the team organized for the last
play of the game.  But Michael Finley ran along the sideline behind
Walker and stole the ball out of his hand.  Finley dribbled the rest
of the way to the Mavs basket and scored an easy jam with 9 seconds
left.   The C's went to Walker this time, but the Mavs knocked the
ball out of bounds, leaving the Celts with just 3 seconds to run their
final play.  Walker got the ball again and attempted a three, but it
bounced of the rim. Mavs win 109-107.=20
	The Celts let the Mavs score from the field at a .549 clip.
Bradley hit 12-18, but all of the Mavs except for Harper shot over
50%.  The Celts only shot .453, but shot much better from the free
throw line (20-25, to 16-24).  Turnovers were essentially even, but
the Celts had an advantage on the boards 44-40 and 17- 11 on the
offensive boards.  Amazingly for this physical a game, the Mavs and
Celts were called for 21 and 23 fouls respectively.
=09
Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Fox, Williams, Walker, Szabo
                 Mavs- Reeves, Strickland, Finley, Green, Bradley

Players- Wesley- Great to have the real David back.  He scored 34
points on 12-21 shooting (6-10) on threes, had 3 boards, 6 assists, 3
steals and 2 turnovers (42 minutes).  Wesley had more energy and
bounce in this game than in months.  I think that part of his success
was enabled by Harper's semi-injured status (he has a deep thigh
bruise that decreases his mobility).  Wesley looked great though.

Williams- scored 19 (11 in the first quarter) as he shot 8-16, had 5
rebounds (all 5 offensive) in 43 minutes.   After the strong first
quarter he slowed down, even though the Mavs didn't seem to put any
extra defensive pressure on them.  It was almost as though he was
expecting it, and took himself out of the offensive flow of the game.
He  took the ball in the third quarter, dribbled straight at Bradley,
pulled up a foot in front of him, and cracked Bradley across the
bridge of the nose with his elbow.  The refs called a foul on Bradley
(which may have lead to Bradley's later flagrant foul and double
technical: although Day was doing something to get under Shawn's skin
too).

Walker- Horrendous shooting night at 3-17.  But he got a new career
high of 17 rebounds (8 on the offensive boards) and had 5 steals in 42
minutes.  He was just over confident on that last play (when Finley
stole the ball).  He should have been looking for Wesley to get him
the ball, instead of sticking his hand up in the air to call a play.

=46ox- Solid effort with 8-17 shooting, 4 boards 2 assists and 2 steals
in 38 minutes.  You should have seen his face when Bradley gave him a
shove, late in the game.  If Rick can do that on cue he has a real
career ahead of him as a psycho-killer in Hollywood.

Day- didn't play much or well in the first half, as Carr jerked him
out of the game,after about 5 minutes and was intently discussing his
performance on the bench (and Day looked like he was listening).  Day
came back and score 13 of his 15 for the game in the second half.  Day
only attempted 5 shots in 28 minutes, but went to the foul line 12
times.  He also was doing something to really get underneath Bradley's
skin, as Bradley was talking to him at nearly every break in the
action.

Conlon- Nice first half for Marty as he scored 8 points, but didn't
contribute much in the second.  Ended the game with 8 points and 4
boards in 21 minutes.

Lister- the most active Alton has been all season.  Scored 2 points
and had 6 boards and 1 bigtime block in 14 minutes.  Played reasonably
well agaisnt Bradley, though he picked up 5 fouls in the 14 minutes.
Alton actually got off the floor by 18 inches or so three or 4 times.

Hawkins- M.L. tried him again for 2 minutes in the second quarter.
But decided to go without a true point in the second half when he
rested Wesley.=09
=09
Coaching- 2 points about this game.  First, the Celts looked far more
rested and lively than they have in weeks.  Particularly Wesley,
Williams and Lister looked better, but the whole team just seemed to
have their legs under them and to be active.  I wonder if M.L. has
called off practice the last couple of off-days.  What ever he's
doing, it's definitely having an effect.
	But Carr did a bad job adjusting to the refs in this game.
They weren't calling anything (basically they refereed the whole last
half the way they usually do the last 30 second of the game).  While
the Mavs got themselves open for medium range jumpers (and
occasionally making them), the Celts were trying to go hard to the
basket and get to the line.  But there were no calls made, and I think
it was apparent as early as the third quarter that the refs were
calling the game that way.  While the Celts scored 2 baskets over the
last 6:00 minutes of the game, the Mavs scored 7.

Their record is now 12-52.  The Celts play again tonight in San
Antonio.=09

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com