TWolves Devour Celts: Minnesota 119-Boston 101

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	Believe it or not, this was a close game through the 8 minute
mark in the 4th period.  The Celts had a lead (90-89) with 10:15 to go
in the game, and trailed 96-94 with 8:00 left.  The TWolves big three,
Garnett, Gugliotta and Marbury (with a nice assist from Dale Garrett)
took the game over as the Twolves scored 18 unanswered points to break
the game open.
	The Twolves got off to a fast start, jumping out to an 8-4
lead.  The Celts came back with an 8-5 run, behind good offense from
Walker and Fox.  Then James Robinson got hot from 3land and pushed the
Twolves back out to a 21-17 lead.  On the next play Eric Williams
picked up his second offensive foul of the game and had to sit down.
The Celts got back on top 22-21, with Fox and Walker scoring 9 apiece.
The TWloves, exhibited some strong interior passing and got a boost
off the bench from Cherokee Parks, finishing with a 10-4 run to take a
31-26 lead into the second quarter.
	It was the Celts that got hot in the second, as Todd Day
started them off with 2 treys and the Celts took a 38-33 lead.  Tom
Gugliotta, looking to break out of a slump against the C's, warmed up
and led the Twolves on a 9-0 run to take the lead back at 42-38.  The
Celts continued to get strong outside shooting from Fox (21 in the
half) who kept them in the game.  Nonetheless the Celts trailed at the
half 57-54.  The Celts kept the game close despite a total of 2 points
form Williams and Wesley.
	The Twolves started out the third period with a 10-4 run to
build their lead to 9 at 67-58.  Wesley scored his first basket of the
game, and then followed with a three, to pull the Celts to within 4 at
69-65.  A couple of moments later Carr put the press on and the Celts
forced two consecutive turnovers, which they cashed in to take a 72-71
lead.    The Twolves responded with an 8-0 run of their own (79-71).
Carr (who was in an experimental mood this afternoon), tried Hawkins
and Wesley in the backcourt at the same time.  The Celts got back to
within 5 (88-83) at the end of the quarter.
	The Celts got a 7-2 run to open the 4th, to take a 90-89 lead.
The TWolves regained the lead, but Fox cut it back to 2 at 96-94.
The TWolves tightened up their defense and held the Celtics without a
basket for the next 5 minutes of the game.  Minnesota took advantage
of the Celtics turnovers and missed shots to do some running and
scored 18 points of their own during the Celtic drought.   With three
minutes left in the game, Williams hit Walker with a nice pass for an
easy lay-up to break the Twolf run, but with the score at 114-96, the
game was effectively over.  Both coaches cleared their benches and the
game ended with the score at 119-101.
	As usual the big news in this game was the opponents field
goal percentage as Minnesota shot at a .554 clip including 10-18 on
threes.  The Celts shot just .402, but they had an advantage on the
offensive boards 17-10, which helped them to attempt 16 more shots
than the T-Wolves.  Although the teams were roughly equal in turnovers
the Celts converted the 13 Twolf miscues into 25 points. =20

Lineups- Celts- Wesley, Fox, Williams, Walker, Szabo
               TWolves- Marbury, Robinson, Garnett, Gugliotta, Garrett

Players- Walker- Up until the last 8 minutes of the game this was
probably Walker's best performance as a pro.  He scored 29 points on
13-24 from the field, 12 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals.  He was able
to face up on Garnett or Gugs and drive to the basket and get a pretty
decent shot.  And he was able to do it with enough comfort to square
up and actually hit some of them.  He also hit a couple of solid
looking jumpers.  Heinsohn claims that he was talking to Antoine and
encouraged him to go to the offensive boards.  Whether that had any
effect or not,Walker had 4 in 40 minutes in this game.

=46ox- After scoring 21 in the first half, he only had 5 in the second.
He probably took some unwise shots in the second half, though they
were pretty much the same ones he was hitting in the first.  Scored 26
points on 9-18 shooting (6-12 on threes).  Also had 5 boards, 4
assists and 2 steals in 36 minutes.  Probably did the best job on
Gugliotta of any of the Celts.

Wesley- Very quiet first half, but did score ten in the second.  Ended
the game with 4-15 shooting, and 7 assists (no steals) in 35 minutes
(?).   After the great shooting in Dallas he's had two poor shooting
games in a row.

Williams- Just an awful game.  Only played 8 minutes in the first
half, with foul trouble.  Even in the second, when the pressure was
off, Williams could get absolutely nothing done on offense.  He ended
the game with 4 points on 1-9 shooting, and 4 boards in 21 minutes.=20
He had Gugliotta on him for nearly all of the game.  Gugs seemed to
have Eric measured very well. Hhe played off E.W. just far enough to
deter Eric from attempting the jumper, but not close enough so that
Eric could drive around him.  With Gugliotta's size advantage,
Williams seemed reluctant to go to the turnaround.

Day- Came in hot and scored 8 points in his first 3 minutes in the
game.  Scored just 5 the rest of the way as he ended the game hitting
2 of his last 10 shots.  Scored 13 points and had 7 boards in 30
minutes.

Conlon- he might have gotten hurt in the first half.  He didn't play
in the second half at all, but Tommy and Couz didn't mention an
injury.  Had just 2 points, 1 board and 2 assists in his 10 minute
first half stint.

Hawkins- Although it certainty wasn't his best game statistically,
this was probably his most impressive stint as a Celtic.  He was able
to penetrate and dish off several times.  Didn't score, but did have 3
assists in 17 minutes (and his teammates botched several plays that he
should have gotten assists on).  Still having trouble with the
turnovers, though, as he had 3.

Szabo- Had a nice stint at the start of the game, but was less
effective when he came back in.  Scored 3 points and had 3 boards and
2 blocks in 20 minutes.

Hame (or Big Urkel, as he's affectionately known)- game by game, he's
looking a little more confident on offense.  Tommy said that in
practice, he very impressive in the post.  It just goes to show that
the Celts can make anyone look good.  Had 6 points and 4 boards in 15
minutes.  On defense, though, he is weak, and very slow footed (he
appears to be very pigeon toed).

King- Scored 6 points and had 3 boards in 9 minutes.  Probably the
most impressive of the Celts three Wanna-be-Centers.  Knows how to get
position near the basket and then score if he gets the ball.

Lister- also got 7 minutes today.  The Celts 4 centers played 51
minutes and had 17 points (6-13), 12 boards, 6 fouls and 3 blocks.

Coaching- maybe this game is a new leaf in M.L.'s book.  Walker was
the only Celtic to play 40 minutes (40 exactly), and the next highest
Celtic was Fox with 36.  After two months of seeing 4 guys routinely
over the 40 mark, Carr may have realized that there was no point in
wearing his players down to the nub, especially as they're not winning
anything.

Opposition Players of Note- Dale Garrett- here's Doug Steeles list of
the Top Ten centers in the league over the last ten games (according
to his tendex formula per 48 minutes played)=20

              Player             Team Tend/48
   1) olajuwon,hakeem       Hou  36.45
  2) ewing,patrick         NYK  33.46
  3) sabonis,arvydas       Por  32.93
  4) mutombo,dikembe       Atl  30.74
  5) divac,vlade           Cha  27.01
  6) johnson,ervin         Den  26.60
  7) garrett,dean          Min  26.15  <=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
  8) longley,luc           Chi  26.10
  9) perdue,will           San  24.69
 10) muresan,gheorghe      Was  24.52
             ** Avg for Position =3D 20.07.

And he didn't hurt himself with 20 points, 10 boards and 7 blocks
today.  He does a real good job of getting open for easy shots and
Gugliotta and Marbury find him.  Garrett is a 30 year old rookie who's
been playing overseas forever. He's averaging 6 points, 8 boards and
1.2 blocks a game in 22 minutes. How did the Twolves get this guy,
when the Celts got Szabo?

The Celts record is now 12-53.  They are playing the Bucks tomorrow
evening (at home).

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com