Celtics Beat Seattle

[D Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

Hokay, maybe this Anderson guy won't be so hard to root for after all.

You could really see a difference when he was on the floor.  I was
surprised he was playing at all since I read somewhere he wasn't expected
to play Friday or Sunday.  I'm glad he was there, since he displayed some
skills the Celtics have been sorely lacking.

It's clear Anderson can create his own shot.  There was one particular
sequence when no play was developing, so he did a little shake and bake
and got himself wide open for a 15-foot jumper, which he hit.  He also was
very aggressive at driving to the basket - in fact, the very first play of
the game he swooped in for a layup, which unfortunately was blocked.  But
it was a hint of things to come, as Anderson drove to the basket
aggressively throughout the game.

He pushed the ball up the floor very well, and he always looks confident
with his dribble.  He made a fantastic pass to a cutting Bruce Bowen at
the end of the game that led to a dunk and helped keep the game out of
Seattle's reach.  In fact, one of the most impressive things about last
night's win was how rock-solid the Celtics were down the stretch - they
made play after play, apparently oblivious of the pressure of beating
Seattle in its own building.  Cousy and Heinson were just going *nuts* at
the end.

Bowen did some great work on Payton, drawing two charges from him.  I was
impressed by the refs - given Payton's star power and Bowen's obscurity, I
would have thought the calls would have gone the other way (although the
replay did show they were correct calls).  Mercer was knocking down
jumpers like layups.  Barros was fantastic - he was knocking down the
outside shot regularly, and mixing it up with some drives to the hoop.


Can't wait for Sunday to see if they can keep it going.

Dan