last night's game

["Jeremy Warren" <jeremy.warren@alphatech.com>]

                      last night's game                            1/14/98

I went to the game last night but wanted to read all of the old stuff before
sending out my thoughts.  And since I've gotten really far behind, I had to
read 5 digests to catch up.

My impressions from last night.  It was worth the price of admission.  This is
a huge improvement over the last two years.  My total cost came to $24.70. 
$20 for the ticket, $3 to ticketmaster, and $1.70 for the T.  Even though we
lost, I had a great time screaming my lungs out from section 306 row 14 (which
is one row from top of the balcony).

The play of the night was Mercer's facial in the third quarter.  If I was the
guy who got dunked on, I would have retired right there.  The Fleet Center
just erupted when it happened; you couldn't even hear the whistle.  I think it
may have been the ESPN highlight film play of the year.  Billups also had a
nifty play where he drove in, when up with his right against Robinson or
Duncan, and switched to his left in the air and hit the shot.

But the most amazing thing happened in the fourth quarter.   Andrew DeClerq
hit four free throws in a row!!!  My friends and I thought we were witnessing
a miracle.  After he hit the first one each time I said, "This one's gravy." 
Whenever Tim Duncan would complain to the refs I would yell, "Ohhh does Timmy
need a kleenex?"  Of course he couldn't hear me but it was still fun.

Our reaction to Chauncey Billups was very similar to the list's.  Whenever he
made a good play we'd say: "Chauncey's an all-star in my book" or "Chauncey's
an MVP canindate".  And when he threw the ball away: "Chauncey's a piece of
crap.  Trade the bum."

All in all.  I had a blast.  The comeback was almost unbelievable.  They were
down by 20 at one point in the first half, and it looked like a blowout.  Then
they clawed their way back to tie it late in the forth, and the whole place
went beserk.

That dunk by Mercer though.  All I can say is WOW.  Billups stole the ball
dribbled up court and passed off to Mercer.  Mercer took off, way too soon it
seemed with a guy imbetween him and the hoop, and just leaped over him and
jammed it.  One of my friends said it was the best dunk he's ever seen by a
Celtic, and I would have to agree.  Though Dee Brown had some really good ones
in his early years.

As mentioned before the big problems for the C's were terrible shooting and
tons of uncontested dunks by Duncan and Robinson.

Someone stated a few weeks ago that the noise meter is fake.  But it looked
real to me.  It went up as the crowd got louder and louder.  Then the game
started up again, the noise level went down, and it started to drop quickly so
they took it off the screen.  And early on before the game started and many
people hadn't made it yet, it only reached the third notch (out of five).  But
by the fourth quarter it reached "Garden Level".

I filled out an all-star ballot (every vote counts).  I voted for Travis
Knight and Antoine.  They were the only Celtics on the ballot.  I was
surprised because I thought all starters would be listed.  But they only give
you 20 forwards, 20 guards, and 10 centers from each conference.  Phoenix had
3 of the 20 western conference forwards: Mcdyess, Manning, and Cliff Robinson.
 They also ask you why you like McDonald's fries.  The possible answers they
give are rather stale, so I wrote in my own more colorful response.  But this
is a family oriented list, so it wouldn't be appropriate here.  I had great
difficulty finding a bin to put all-star ballot in so after wondering around
the halls of the fleetcenter for 10 minutes, I gave it to an usher.

That's all I can think of right now...oh wait my Celtic's game experience was
topped off with a can of Surge.  As I left the Fleet Center, some people were
handing them out.  It's a green colored, citrus flavored soda.  It actually
tasted pretty bad.  If you see it in the grocery store and think to yourself,
"Hey that looks new...."  I would just pass on it.

One last thing.  The official attendance of last night's game was 18,624 which
I believe is a sellout.  But the seats never looked completely full.  They
must be counting no-shows in the attendance figures.

Jeremy