What Are Coaches Good For?: Boston 78-Cleveland 71

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	We got a partial answer to that query, as Rick Pitino missed
the game with  a virus, and Mike Fratello, who was also ill, sat on
the Cav's bench for most of the game and let his Assistant, Ron
Rothstein run the team.  Jim O'Brien coached the C's and while both
assistants made proper moves as far a substitutions and tactics went,
the absence (physical or mental) of the head coaches was very apparent
in the game.  Especially in the 4th quarter where the 2 clubs
combined(!) to scored a scintillating 23 points, the lack of intensity
was very much in evidence.

	The Celts got off to a quick start, jumping out to a 7-0 lead
in the first 2:00 of the game.  The Cavs came back with a an 8-0 run
off their own.  The Celts got back on top, and stayed there until a
Brevin Knight J tied the game at 16-16.  The Cavs took a short lived
20-16 lead, with Greg Minor erased on the last 2 Celtics's possessions
of the first, scoring 5 points to put the C's up 21-20.

	Minor and Travis Knight combined to start the Celts of with a
6- run in the second (27-20).  Potapenko, was doing some real damage
inside for the Cavs, but the Celts still led by 6 (42-36) with 3:00 to
go in the half.  In an interesting move, Jim O'Brien pulled all of his
centers out of the game (technically McCarty was the center) for the
last 6:00 of the half.  The Cavs went inside to Ilgauskas, who powered
the Cavs on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 42-42.  The Celts did manage
to lead at the half 46-44.  Greg Minor scored 15 in the first half.

	The Celts cemented their control of the contest with a fast
start in the 3rd.  They opened with a 12-4 run to take a 58-48 lead.
The Celts were still getting hurt by the Cavs big guys, so O'Brien
(contradicting himself a little), went to a 2 center lineup (Drew and
Travis to start).  That move silenced the Cavs (they only scored 15
points over the last 16 minutes of the game) but it also hobbled the
Celt's offense.  Both team kinda crawled to the end of the quarter
with the Celts leading 66-60.

	The Celts jumped on the Cavs again at the start of the 4th.
They outscored Cleveland 6-0 to take a 72-60 lead (as it turned out,
that  was all the points they would need to win the game.    After
that point, the 2 clubs played at a intensity level that resembled a
pre-season game for the rest of the way.  Over the last ten minutes of
the quarter the 2 clubs combined for 4 baskets and a total of 17
points, as the startes from both clubs treated it like a leisurely
practice.  The Celts won the spiritless affair by a score of 78-71.

	The 2 clubs combined to shoot just under 40% for the game (C's
.403-Cavs .394).  The Celts won the game by taking a few more shots
than the Cavs (77-71) and by hitting 4-12 on threes, while the Cavs
were 0-9.  The offensive boards were even and the Cavs committed 16
turnovers to the Celt's 12.  Interestingly enough, the Celts outscored
the Cavs at the start of each quarter (7-0, 6-0,12-4, and 6-0: total
31-4).  Does O'Brien have a trick for getting teams out of the gate
early?

Lineups:
Celts: Barros, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, Tabak
Cavs: Knight, Person, Henderson, Kemp, Ilgauskus

Players:
Walker I thought that Toine had a tough night with Kemp, on both ends
of the floor, as he was clearly uncomfortable, taking the ball into
Kemp in the post, and didn't have his outside shot in top form.  He
did drive on Kemp a couple of times with success.  Meanwhile, although
Kemp didn't do anything special when Walker was guarding him, you had
the feeling that he could have, but the Celts doubled him so
aggressively that it was much easier to pass to his center and get a
lay-up.  Walker scored 17,and had 9 boards, 8 assists (season high I
think) and 2 steals in 41 minutes.

Mercer: Another in a line of poor shooting night for Ron, who seems to
be ending his campaign in a bit of a slump.  He shot 6-19, and once
again, didn't seem to get the open looks that he needs.  he scored 12
points in 40 minutes.

Barros: a quietly, ineffective game for Dana.  He scored 7, had 2
assists and shot 3-10. he also had 3 assists and 3 turnovers.  He did
keep Brevin Knight, more or less, under control.

Minor: Had one of the best halves of his career in the first with 15
points on 7-10 shooting.  He hit his midrange jumper, finished well on
the break, drove and hit a long jumper.  Naturally he didn't touch the
ball in the second half (I'm not sure the cause was the Cav's
defense).

McCarty:Had 9 points and 11 boards tonight (a career high?).  He was
especially aggressive on the offensive board with 5.

Knight: Played aggressively again and had 10 points and 3 boards in 21
minutes

DeClercq: In the second half he got to play Kemp (when the C's went
with 2 centers.  Drew fronted him, and did a good job.  he also had a
great block, defending the break against Anderson.  He scored 2 points
and had 4 boards in 16 minutes.  Heinsohn, commented that his back was
really bothering him, and you could see that he had nowhere near the
quickness that he displayed earlier in the season.

Edney: He's like a kid with a new toy.  He hit a couple more jumpers
tonight, and seems to have virtually forgotten that he's supposed to
be distributing the ball out there.  He scored 6 and had 1 assist in
14 minutes.

Tabak: Another disappearing act.  he had 0 points and 1 board in 9
minutes.

Coaching: I thought that O'Brien showed some willingness to depart
from the normal Pitino patterns in the game.  Unfortunately he seems
to lack Ricks ability to keep the team playing with intensity (of
course this game might have been a challenge for Pitino also).

The Celts are now 36 and 47.  Their final game of the season will be
Saturday against the Wiz.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com