C's End the Streak: Boston 94-New York 85

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	This was just a rock solid win for the Celts.  They took the
lead for the final time, midway through the second quarter, and
steadily increased it throughout the remainder of the game.  Except
for the boards they outplayed the Knicks in every aspect of the game.

	The Celts got off to a fast start, once again thanks to the
outside shooting of Billups, who hit three treys in the quarter.  The
Celts were holding a 23-21 lead, when Chauncey picked up his 2nd foul
and was replaced by Dana Barros (3:34 to go in the quarter).  With
Billups out the Celts were only able to score 2 more points in the
period, and the Knicks took the lead 27-25.  There was a brief Tyus
Edney spotting at the end of the quarter (he promptly turned the ball
over).

	The Celts regained their equilibrium at the start of the
second, and began to work their way back into the game with increased
defensive pressure.  They took the lead back at 34-33, and got it as
high as 5 at 40-35.  The pace of the game was frenetic, though neither
team was able to generate any offense,  each club just scoring one
basket over the last 3:30 of the half.  The Celts lead 44-39 at the
end of the half.

	The Celts came out fast at the start of the 3rd and pushed the
lead up to 7 at 48-41.  The Knicks came back and cut the lead to just
1, as the Celts were having a very hard time controlling their
defensive boards.  The Celts ended the quarter with a 15-7 run to take
a 70-61 lead at the end of the quarter.

	The Celts played well in the 4th quarter, doing a much better
job on the boards.  They got the lead up to 12 at 84-72 and then
86-74.  With just 3:00 to go in the game, the Knicks stepped up the
defensive pressure, and Billups had some trouble handling it.  The
Knicks cut the lead down to 7 at 84-77.  The Celts switched the ball
handling responsible to Walker, who responded with a 3 to put the
Celts up 87-77.  After Starks put the Knicks with 7 again with his own
three pointer, Billups tool the ball from Walker, drove to the basket
and drew a foul from Starks as well as scoring the basket, putting the
Celts up 90-80 with 1:16 to go.  The Knicks resorted to the
international foul, and the Celts hit their free throws well enough to
win out the game 94-85.

	This game was a complete reversal from the normal pattern of
Celtic wins.  They took fewer shots than the Knicks (79-65) but went
to the free throw line more often (30-18).  Each club had the same
number of turnovers ((22) and the Knicks had a sizeable edge in
offensive rebounds (15-8).  The Celts won because they shot better
from the floor (.477 to .405) and from three point range (.389 to
.238).  

Lineups
Celts: Billups, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, DeClercq
Knicks: Ward, Houston, Johnson, Oakley, Dudley

Players:
Billups: 25 points on 7-12 shooting, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4
turnovers.  C.B. was 4-8 on threes and also had a couple of nice
drives to the basket to go with a perfect 7-7 from the line.  I
generally haven't been one of Chauncey's boosters, and I still don't
think that he'll be a classic NBA point guard.    So what!  The
Celtics are probably going to have to settle for having a non-classic
NBA point who shoots well from 3 point range, drives to the basket and
draws fouls, hit his free throws and plays strong defense.  Their
going to have to figure out away to get some of the floor leadership,
ball handling and passing that most (but not all) NBA teams get from
their point guard from another position.  It's do-able.

Walker: And maybe Antoine Walker has part of the solution.  He scored
just 16 points on 6-12 shooting, had 7 boards, 6 assists and 6
turnovers (ouch) in 40 minutes.  When he felt that he had a weak
matchup he went to the basket, other than that he was very restrained.
He helped out with the ball handling chores at the end and made a
difference that way.  Early in the game he tried some outside shots
against Oakley (who refused to play Antoine tight), but couldn't
connect consistently.  Threw a number of fine passes, a few of which
caught his teammates by surprise.  In the closing moments of the game,
Walker held the ball, so that the Knicks would foul him, and then
walked up to the foul line, and missed both throws.

Mercer: didn't have the shot going a 100%, but he compensated by
getting to the line and shooting 8-8.  He shot 4-11, had 16 points, 4
boards, 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 turnovers in 33 minutes.  To be
honest, though, in the late minutes of the game, when Billups was
under intense pressure handling the ball, Ron did not step up.

McCarty: A pretty decent game for McCarty, except for an 0-4 on threes
(several of which were taken as the shot clock wound down).  He scored
10 (5-12), had 5 boards, 5 assists and 3 turnovers.  Hit a long 2
early, and then on the next play, when the Knicks rushed him, upfaked,
easily drove past his man and moved in for a 15 footer.  Maybe the
smartest offensive play he's made all season long.

DeClercq:  Stayed out of foul trouble and got to play for 33 minutes.
He scored 9 points (4-4) and had 6 boards and 2 blocks.  DeClercq has
good hands and jumps well, so you'd think he would be a good
rebounder.  He relies too much on his jumping ability, and doesn't pay
much attention to positioning, or anticipating where the ball is going
to go.

Barros: Started of the game with a turnover, and never quite seemed
able to recover.  He did score 10 (3-5) and had 2 assists, but
probably had the weakest game in quite a while.  He just couldn't turn
the corner on the Knick point guards, which has been a big part of his
game over the last 4 weeks.

Dee:   a quiet 10 minutes, as he scored 1  point.  He did make a nice
drive to the basket at one point and was rewarded with a trip to the
free throw line, but that was about it.

Knight: 2 points, 2 boards and 2 blocks in 14 minutes.  Travis did not
commit a foul in the game, so the distribution of minutes between him
and DQ represents Pitino's preference, unfettered by foul trouble.

Thomas: got 8 minutes tonight, much of it at the power forward
postilion (in relief of Walker).  He made some nice moves around the
basket and his teammates definitely look for opportunities to get him
the ball down low.  He scored 2 points.

Edney: 1 minutes played.  0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Bowen: 14 minutes, typical Bowen.  I think he's going to have to
improve his jumper to stay in the league.

Minor: DNP

Coaching: An interesting game, as the Celts won in very non-Pitino
fashion.  I think that we're beginning to see a period in which Rick
will pay more attention to the offense, as the defense is pretty much
in place.  The Celtics have been running their offense more
effectively over the last week, even though they have been playing
sound defensive clubs.

The C's are now 19-23.  The C's host the Wizards on Wednesday.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com