Magic Top Celts: Orlando 90-Boston 82

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The second hapless performance by the C's in a row (the third,
if you think that Toine's 49 point game masked a bad defeat).   The
Celts were able to manage 2 short periods of respectable offense in
the game, as they scored 36 of their points over the last half of the
2nd and 4th periods respectively, just enough to make the score look
respectable at the end of each half.  Greg Minor was activated from
injured reserve, as Pervis Ellison rotated back to his true station in
NBA life.  Off his strong play in the Seattle game, Travis Knight
moved back into the starting lineup.

	The Celts got off to another of their horrendous starts, as
the Magic took leads at 12-3,  and 20-7.  Horace Grant did a very good
job of preventing the ball form being entered to Antoine Walker in the
low post.  All Walker seemed to be able to do in response was wander
out to the 3 point line and jack up bombs.  Bruce Bowen and Dana
Barros came into the game late in the quarter and gave the Celts an
infusion of offense that allowed to close with an 8-2 run, making the
score 22-15, at the end of the half.

	The score fluctuated around that 7 point margin during the
early stage of the quarter.  About 5:00 into the period, Travis Knight
got tangled up with Grant during some rebounding action, and slightly
resprained his ankle.  He had to leave the game, but was able to
return in the 2nd half.  With about 3:00 to go in he quarter (C's
trailing 41-37), Walker stole the ball from Darrell Armstrong, and
looked to be going in for an easy basket.  Armstrong recovered and
made a spectacular block to deny Toine the basket, and the Magic got
an easy basket on the other end.  The half ended with the score at
48-44  (I was thinking that with a decent 2nd half the C's had a good
chance to win this one).

	Unfortunately, the Celts didn't play a good 2nd half.  They
started the 2nd half nearly as poorly as they did the first, being
outscored 14-6 over the first 4:00, as they fell behind 62-50.  The
Magic's first unit was doing a good job of taking advantage of the
Celtic's half court traps and doing an equally strong job on the
defensive end.   The Celts got some more good play off the bench and
manages to slow the bleeding, as the quarter ended with the score at
73-60.  

	The Celts offense sent from bad (16 pts in the 3rd) to worse
(7 points over the first 7:00 of the 4th).  The Magic assumed command
of the game with an 85-67 lead.  The Celts put on a last minute rush
to make the score respectable and had pulled to within 11 points at
89-76, with about 3:00 left.  Walker stole the ball, and went down the
court and jammed over Armstrong.  A second technical foul was called,
either for taunting Armstrong or for hanging on the basket and Toine
was done for the night.  The game ended with the score at 90-82.

	Another unbelievable differential at the free throw line as
the Celts shot 7 free throws and the Magic shot 40 (that's 85-12 over
the last 2 games).  The Celts shot .379 from the field while Orlando
hit at a .468 rate.  The Magic needed those advantages as the Celts
took 33 more shots in the game and scored 7 more baskets.  The Celts
did cause 27 Orlando turnovers, but were unable to capitalize (they
had 19 of their own), and also had an advantage of the offensive
boards 21-14 (as they should have with that many more shots).  The
Celts settled for the outside shot all together too many times in this
game, going 5-23 on 3's.

Lineups:
Celts: Billups, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, Knight
Magic: Armstrong, Harper, Outlaw, Grant, Seikaly

Players:
Barros: not a bad game, as he scored 14 points (6-12) and had 4
assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes.  He drove to the
basket quite a few times (though not enough for my taste, considering
that he was being guarded my Mark Price for much of the time).  If his
good play continues, I would expect to see a change in the starting
lineup soon.

Bowen: Also had a nice game, as he scored 12, had 4 boards, 2 assists
and 4 steals.  He's fallen a little too much in love with trying to
take the charge on defense.  He keeps trying and get's himself into
foul trouble.  He's too valuable to be on the bench so much.

Walker: Was frustrated by Grant's defense.  He shot 10-28, had 21
points, 12 boards (6 offensive) and 5 assists.  Grant fronted Toine
the whole game (as far as 15 feet from the basket).  Walker wouldn't
try to drive on him, and none of the Celts could hit him with a pass
behind Grant (actually Knight did it once, but Toine blew the shot).
Walker hit 1-6 on threes.  Had 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Billups: Another brutal game.  As bad as his first 10 or so of the
year.  He shot 2-8 (that's 4-28 over the last 3), scored 5 points, had
2 assists and 4 turnovers.  He just had no clue what to do out there.

Mercer: Got some decent looks, although the Heat kept him from coming
off picks for easy shots.  But he couldn't connect as he shot 1-7.  He
did pick up 7 assists (though, to be honest they must not have been
very memorable).  Scored 4 points in 29 minutes.

McCarty: Walter battled, with 12 points, and 9 boards in 34 minutes.
But he only shot 5-16.  He did try to drive the ball, though without
too much success.

Knight: He was aggressive on offense again, but not nearly as
effective as the last game, with a 2-7.  After he came back into the
game, with his ankle taped up Seikaly took advantage of Travis's
defense.

DeClercq: Scored 4 points, and had 1 board in 16 minutes.  He's back
to committing silly fouls for some reason.

Brown: continues to improve his play, shooting 3-5 tonight, and seems
to be getting his head back into the game.

Thomas: 9 minutes, and was unable to really get anything done.

Minor: got into the game for 5 minutes. but was barely noticeable.

Coaching: There are certainly some disturbing trends in the last
couple of games.  Although the Celtics have been on the short end of
the free throw stick all year long, the disparity in the last 2 games
is glaring.  The Magic were called for 9 fouls in the games, as the
Celts took 95 shots.  Meanwhile the Celts were called for 31.  It's
certainly true that the Celts took a lot of outside shots, but they
were close enough to the basket to get 12 of their shots blocked, so
it's a little hard to understand the complete lack of foul calls.
	
	Too some extent, the Celts are the victims of their own early
success.  Clearly, clubs are scouting them, and doing a little work to
prepare for them.  Especially after Antoine's 49 points night against
Washington, he has clearly the recipient of a level of attention that
he is unaccustomed to.  And opposing coaches are finding ways to
defeat the Celtic's defense.  Orlando, didn't run the ball at all
tonight.  They just made sure that when they committed a turnover, it
didn't result in an easy Celtic basket.  As long as they were able to
do that they were quite willing to paly the game in halfcourt, and
pick the C's apart there.

The Celts are now 16-18.  They host the Spurs at the Fleet Center this
Tuesday.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com