Bucks Top Celts:Milwaukee 117-Boston 109

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Celts put forward a somewhat lackadaisical effort tonight,
lacking their normal defensive intensity for most of the game.  The
Bucks, who are also playing out the string, were allowed to play the
offensively oriented, up and down the court game, that they are better
suited to play than the Celts.

	Both teams, but especially the Bucks shot the ball extremely
well over the first 7:00 minutes of the game.  The Bucks scored on 12
of their first 14 possessions, on the way to building a 23-17 lead.
Just as quickly, both offenses turned cold (especially the Bucks).
The Celts cut the lead to 2 points at 26-24 at the end of the period.

	Despite some strong offensive play from Buck's rookie Jerold
Honeycutt, the Celts managed to tie the game halfway through the
second quarter at 37-37.  But a few moments later, Chris Ford put
Terrell Brandon into the game along with Elliott Perry.  That forced
Ron Mercer to defend Brandon on the perimeter.  In keeping with his
conservative nature, Mercer chose a slow death over a quick one, and
backed way off Brandon, who just shot over him. With Brandon hitting
the long jumpers, the Bucks outscored the C's 20-11 over the last half
of the second quarter to take a 57-48 lead.

	In the 3rd quarter, the 2 clubs exchanged baskets without
making much difference in the Buck's margin.  Halfway through the
quarter Ervin Johnson and Andrew DeClercq were called for a double
foul, on  some rebounding action.  A couple of plays later Johnson was
called for a flagrant foul on Ron Mercer.  Mercer made both free
throws, and then Tyus Edney (!) hit a 3 on the ensuing possession, to
cut the Bucks lead to 72-66.  By the end of the quarter, though, the
Bucks had their lead back up to 10 at 81-71.

	The Celts on several occasions in the fourth quarter were able
cut the Bucks lead to 5 or 6 points, but essentially the Bucks were in
control of the game throughout the 4th quarter.  The Celts cut the
lead to 5 at 84-79, but the Bucks responded with a 7-0 run to push the
lead back up to 97-79-.  Late in the game, the Celts resorted to the 3
point shot and got results for Dana, Minor (!) and Edney (!!) again,
and along with a jam from Tyus (!!!) cut the Bucks lead to 113-107,
with less than a minute to go.  But the Celts could never get the
series of stops they need to really get back into the game, and the
bucks won 117-109.

	The Celts results in the hustle categories were disappointing
tonight.  They caused 16 Bucks turnovers, but committed 17 of their
own.  They did manage to pull down 2 more offensive boards than the
Bucks (14-12: of course they did miss 12 more shots).  The Celts shot
a not too bad .461, but they allowed the Bucks to shoot .520, and sent
the Bucks to the line 47 times.

Lineups: 
Celts: Barros, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, Tabak
Bucks: Brandon, Allen, Curry, Gilliam, Johnson

Players:
Edney: This must have been one the best games of Edney career.  He
played for 20 minutes, and scored 17 points, off 2-3 shooting on
threes (I'd never even seen him try one till the game against the
Cavs) and the jam I mentioned (pretty plain by the standards of most
guys in the league, but pretty good for 5'10").   He was also one of
the few Celts, to really play with some defensive intensity.  In
addition to the scored he had 6 assists and 2 steals.

Walker: Had another pretty decent game, for a guy who didn't seem to
be into it.  He fouled out of the game in the last minute, but before
that scored 24 points and had 8 boards.

Mercer: a rare off game for Ron.  Fox had chosen him and Allen as the
"matchup of the night" and neither played especially well (though Ray
played better).  Mercer scored 11 points on 5-15 shooting, and had 3
steals in 29 minutes.  Even the good looks at the basket, didn't
result in baskets.

Barros: shot the ball poorly, but managed to pick up 9 assists against
2 turnovers.  He shot 4-15, and 2-6 on threes.  Again got some good
looks but couldn't get them to fall.

McCarty: got off to a very fast start, scoring the first 7 Celtic's
points of the game.  Naturally that was pretty much it, as he ended
the game with 14 points on 5-13 shooting.  His one early three, did
convince him that he had range, and resulted in a 1-4 night from
beyond the arc.  He got 42 minutes, as Pitino kept him in, hoping that
mcCarty's defensive intently would be contagious.

Minor: had his best offensive game of the season.  he scored 16 points
on 6-7 shooting, but had 3 assists.  He hit a 3, and hit a couple of
mid-range jump shots.  He also tried driving strong to the basket a
couple of times (unusual for him) with mixed results.

Tabak: The experiment with Tabak starting, doesn't seem to be going to
well.  Maybe he's just better off the bench.  He shot 0-4 and had 1
point and 3 boards in ten minutes.

Knight: Travis had a very active game, with 8 points (4-7) and 5
boards in 22 minutes.  He ran the floor well, and added some energy.

DeClercq: Drew actually had 4 points and 7 boards in 16 minutes.  He
didn't seem able to contribute the normal effort on defense thought,
maybe because the press wasn't on much.

Jones: Actually played (!), and he didn't even shoot the ball (!!).
Of course, he played less than a minute.

Coaching: a problem that has bedeviled Pitino all year long.  Any game
where the Celt's don't press (even if they have a good reason for
doing so), seems to result in a decrease in defensive intensity.  The
Bucks have a number of good ball handlers,a nd probably would have
made short work of the Celtic's press.  But without it, the C's seemed
more lethargic on their halfcourt defense as well.  So they ended up
with the bad results of their style of play (high opposition FG% and
many fouls) without the good part (turnovers and offensive boards and
fast break points).

The Celts are now 35-45.  They host the Cavs on Friday.

Bill Cooper