Celts Handle Bucks: Boston 106-Milwaukee 99

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	A magnificent win for the C's.  This game featured the Celts
best offensive quarter of the season (3rd: 37 points), and a cameo
appearance by the 1989 first pick in the draft (not the oft injured
impersonator whose been in a Celtic uniform the last couple of years).
The C's played inspired defense and were able to  make big shots down
the stretch.

	The game started out with an offensive outburst by  Walter
McCarty, who scored the Celts first 8 points.  Meanwhile the Bucks
were having serious trouble holding onto the ball, turning it over 7
times in the first 6:00 of the game.  The Celts were unable to take
advantage, though, and the score was just 13-11 in favor of the C's
half way through the period.  Ron Mercer got into the game, and picked
up 2 fouls  on the same possession and sat down just as quick.  The
Bucks tightened up their ball handling and were able to take a lead at
21-15.  Dana Barros got his driving game going and was able to help
the C's cut the lead to 4 at the end of the quarter 25-21.  Just
before the end of the quarter, Michael Curry and Antoine Walker got
tangled up under the boards, Walker started jawing at Curry, and was
called for a technical for taunting.

	Walker was apparently a little mad at Curry and took the ball
to him at the start of the second.  Walker scored a couple of quick
hoops down low to help the C's narrow the lead.  Mercer got back into
the game and actually knotted the score at 31-31.    A few plays later
he committed his 3rd foul and had to leave the game again.   The Bucks
went on a 9-2 run to take a 40-33 lead.  The streak was broken by a
Walker 3 (15nth point) half way through the period.  With Ervin
Johnson on the bench and the Bucks playing a small lineup the Celts
tried to take advantage by going into the post with Walker, McCarty,
DeClerq, Knight and Ellison.  The strategy was generally unsucessful,
though, as few of those putative post players could get position, and
the C's guards couldn't enter the ball.  The Celts were trailing 49-44
in the closing moments of the quarter, when Dee stole the ball and
drove the length of the court to score as time rn out.  The score at
the half was 49-46.

	The Celts abandoned their strategy of trying to feed the low
post, and instead, determinedly drove to the basket at the start of
the 3rd.  And it worked.  The Celts scored on their first 10
possessions and 13 of their first 14.  After 6:47 was gone in the
quarter the Celts had put up 24 points and built a 6 point lead 70-64.
Chauncey Billups played especially well in this stretch, driving to
the basket when the opportunity presented itself, and dumping off to a
teammate when there was nothing there.  There was even a nice
collaboration on a pick'n roll between Chauncey and DeClercq.  Slowly,
though, the Celts began to settle for the jumper a little and lost
some of that offensive momentum.  With the score at 74-68, Pervis
fouled Robinson, who completed the 3 point play to close the margin to
3.  Pervis appeared to be shaken up on the play and was replaced by
Travis Knight.  The Celts lead 83-80 at the end of the quarter, having
put up 37 points.

	The Celts forgot how they scored all those points in the 3rd
(and the Bucks tightened up their defense), and they went back to
shooting the jumper.  The Bucks were able to tie the score at 90-90
halfway through the period.  The only thing that kept the Celts in the
game was determined defense, especially by McCarty on Robinson.  Still
the Bucks took the lead at 91-90, after DeClercq fouled Robinson.
Pitino pulled Andrew and resurrected Pervis with 5:00 to go in the
game.  Walker regained the lead with a tough turnaround over about 3
Bucks, with 4:30 to go.  With 3:15 to go, Walker missed a turnaround,
and Pervis grabbed the offensive rebound and called timeout to keep
the ball.  When play resumed, McCarty drove the lane and fed Pervis,
who went up for a strong jam (94-91).  On the next Celts possession,
Mercer drove to the basket, but missed the shot.  Walker was there for
the offensive put back to put the C's up by 5 (96-91) with 2:14 to go.
Gilliam hit 2 free throws to close the gap to 3 at 96-93 with 2:05 to
go.  On the next play Walker missed a three and Pervis retrieved the
ball (hitting the floor in the process), Billups tried a jumper and
missed, but Pervis got the ball again ( and hit the floor again),
then, finally, Mercer hit a 15 foot jumper to put the Celts up 98-93.
All in all that possession lasted for 58 seconds (1:07 left at the end
of it).  On the next play Robinson hit 2 more free throws to pull the
bucks to within 3 at 98-95.  Walker responded with a great spin move
in the lane topped of by a hook shot to  push the lead back up to 5.
It looked as though Hill had broken free for an easy jam, when Pervis
(who had been guarding Gilliam at the top of the lane) broke back and
met Gilliam at the basket for a game sealing block.  The Bucks were
forced to foul and Billups put the Celts up by 7 at 102-95 with 40
second left.  The Celts were perfect from the free throw line the rest
of the way and went on to the 106-99 win.  The Celts played wonderful
defense down the stretch, holding the Bucks without a basket for over
6 minutes (the Bucks did go to the free throw line 10 times though).

	With that strong offensive performance in the 3rd quarter the
Celts were able to shoot over 50% for one of the few times this
season.  They hit 40-79, despite going 4-17 on 3's (that's 36-62 :
.581 on 2's).  It was a good thing as the Bucks went to the free throw
line 45 times, to the Celts 26 (even including those 3 intentional
fouls late in the game).   Those 3 offensive boards by Pervis down the
stretch represented nearly half of the Celtics total, but they were
able to hold the Bucks to 10 themselves.  Surprisingly, after that
awful start, the Bucks only committed 15 turnovers, but the Celts were
even better committing only 13.

Lineups: 
Celts: Billups, Bowen, McCarty, Walker, DeClercq
Bucks: Brandon, Allen, Robinson, Hill, Johnson

Players:
Walker:Another  huge game by Toine as he scored 32, shot 15-29, had 10
boards and 5 assists (and just 2 turnovers).  He played nearly the
entire way, racking up 47 minutes.  I thought that he played a very
solid offensive game, driving the ball when Hill was guarding him, and
going into the post when Curry was on him.  The only blemish on his
game was a 1-7 on threes.

McCarty: Even though Robinson score 35, Walter did an excellent job of
keeping the ball out of his hands down the stretch.  The Bucks were
forced to go to other options at the end.  With the fast start, Walter
hit for 19 points on 8-13 shooting.  He was very effective coming off
screens to take 15 foot jump shots.  What a nightmare for opposing
coaches, a 6-10 leaper who can come off screens!

Billups I thought this was a real solid job by Chauncey.  Not a real
impressive game statistically with 13 points and 2 assists in 27
minutes, but he picked his spots well, and he gave the ball away when
he couldn't get something accomplished.  Maybe another sign of
maturing on Chauncey's part, playing within himself a little more.  As
seems to be the norm these days, Chauncey and Dana did a good job of
keeping the ball away from Brandon, who scored 17, but only had 2
assists.

Bowen: was in foul trouble all night long.  He only placed for 12
minutes and basically racked up 5 fouls.  

DeClercq: Seemed to do a good job when Ervin Johnson was in the game
but had some trouble with Gilliam.  He scored 5 and had 3 boards in 20
minutes.

Barros: played a nice game.  Put the ball on the floor and drove to
the basket, scoring 13 points in 22 minutes.  He also racked up 5
assists and should have had a couple more as some clever passes caught
some of his teammates by surprise. 

Pervis: just a mountain of strength down the stretch.  He picked up 4
boards (3 offensive), had a nice jam and a block in the space of about
3 minutes.  He absolutely swung the tide of the game in favor of the
Celts.  Had 2 points, 8 boards and 2 blocks in 18 minutes.

Mercer: Only got to play 24 minutes, due to the foul trouble in the
first half (he didn't commit any in the 2nd).  He scored 16, and shot
6-10.  Made some nice offensive contributions down the stretch.

Brown: Got to play 17 minutes with the foul trouble to Bowen and
Mercer.  Made a couple of nice plays, but is still far below his level
of early in the season.  He scored 4 points in 17 minutes.

Knight: Another player who is below his level of early in the season.
He scored a bucket and did have a nice steal in his 10 minutes.

Coaching: Obviously, another confidence building win for the C's.  One
relatively unmarked benefit of the press, is that it seems to take
opposition point guards out of the game down the stretch.  I think
that it takes so much energy to break the press all game long (and I'm
convinced that most quality NBA points deliberately husband their
energies for the 4th quarter), that when crunch time comes they have
little left in the tank.

The Celts are now 16-14.  They play next in Chicago on Tuesday night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com