Celts Catch Whiz: Boston 104-Washington 102

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.   The Celts
probably should have won this one going away.  Instead they had to
rely on a last second shot by Antoine Walker to win the game, which
they  managed so badly that they nearly didn't get a shot off at all.

	After a  streak in which they had played reasonably well in
the fist quarter the Celts reverted to their slow starting ways.  They
weren't helped by the Wizards who were correspondingly sharp to start
the contest, as they jumped out to a 23-11 lead (many fast breaks and
easy baskets).    The Celts got a boost from John Thomas off the
bench, who came in and scored a quick 5 points to help the Celts close
the margin slightly to 31-22 at the end of the period.

	The Celts continued their solid play at the start of the
second, and were able to cut the Wiz lead to 5 several times (the last
at 49-44).  The Celts were unable to get any closer and the Whiz
(helped by a strong first half performance by Tracy Murray, with 16
pts. off the bench) put together a 9-2 run (55-46).  The Celts were
able to close the lead to 60-53 at the half with the help of a quick 5
points from Walter McCarty.  The Whiz shot 63% in the first half.

	The Celts came out hot early in the 3rd, outscoring the Wiz
15-6 to take their first lead of the game.  Ron Mercer, after a slow
start began to take the ball to the basket to good effect.   With the
Celts up 70-68, Calbert Cheaney was called for a foul, and Bernie
Bickerstaff exploded at the refs, earning himself 2 technicals and a
short day at work.  With the aid from Bickerstaff the Celts were able
to take their largest lead of the game at 74-68.  Chris Whitney, on in
relief of Rod Strickland got hot and got the Whiz back in the game.
The score was tied at the end of the quarter 81-81.

	Neither team was able to get much going offensively at the
start of the 4th.  Walter McCarty hit an early basket to put the C's
up by 2 (83-81) and the score was stuck there for about 3:00.  finally
the two teams began to score and the Celtics slowly built a 5 point
lead (96-91) with about 4:00 to go.    The Whiz made up the margin and
pulled into a tie at 98-98 with 2:13 to go.  Ron Mercer hit a big
jumper to put the Celts back up top 100-98.  On the next play Whitney
threw up an airball, and one of the Whiz tried to save it.  Instead
the ball wound up in Antoine Walker's hands, who promptly set off
downcourt determined to win the game singlehandedly.  Instead, while
trying to dribble the ball through (nearly) all of the Whiz players he
lost control.  The only Wizard who hadn't run downcourt (Webber) was
open on the other end for an easy basket and a foul (which could have
put the Wizards ahead).  Luckily for the Celts Webber missed the shot,
and the game was tied at 100.  On the next play, Billups launched a
three with plenty of time left on the clock and missed.  On the other
end, Strickland tried to drive the ball, but was tied up by John
Thomas.  Thomas won the ensuing tap, and Mercer drove to the basket
and pulled up for a ten footer which he hit to give the Celts a
102-100 lead with 37.6 seconds to go.  On the next play Billups fouled
Cheaney (or the refs bailed Cheaney out: take your pick) and the score
was tied again (102-102: 18.5 left).  The Celtics decided to hold the
ball for the last shot. So Billups held the ball.  And held it.  And
held it.  Finally with about 4 seconds left on the clock (far to late)
Billups decided to pass the ball to Walker who was posted up about 15
feet from the basket.  Walker got the ball with about 2 seconds to go
on the clock and just had to turn around and fire.  And the ball went
in.  C's win 104-102.

	The Celts continued their offensive resurgence, by shooting a
(by their standards) lofty .449 from the field (the C's shot over .500
on 2's but were 4-18 on threes).. Of course the Whiz were still better
at .493, but that was enough to give the Celts a chance.  The C's also
took more free throws 35-32.    The Celts didn't cause the Whiz to
commit many turnovers (13) but had fewer themselves (10), so the C's
had a slight edge in shots taken 78-75.  Just enough to squeeze out a
win.   Especially with the help of a 30-35 performance at the free
throw line.

Lineups:
Celts: Billups, Mercer,  McCarty, Walker, DeClercq
Wiz: Strickland, Cheaney, Howard, Webber, Wallace

Players:
Walker: Another quiet understated night for Toine.  He only attempted
13 shots (made 5), had 7 boards, 3 assists and 3 turnovers.  Nice to
see that with all the talk about Howard and Webber being mad because
he made the all-star team and neither of them did, that Walker kept
his head and just tried to play a nice solid game.   That last rush up
the court (Walker must have been trying to execute a 1-on-3) was just
a bonehead play.  Toine was lucky that he got a chance to redeem
himself at the end.

Mercer: Certainly one of Ron's best games of the year.  He scored 20
on 8-11 shooting and went to the foul line 6 times (made all 6).    He
was guarded by smaller players (Strickland and Whitney played together
for much of the 2nd half to supply some extra ball handling) for much
of the night, and responded by driving around them for some relatively
easy baskes.  So why doesn't he go around bigger slower players?

Billups: We saw the downside of Billups recent success shooting the 3
tonight, as he went 1-6 from outside, and 4-14 overall.  He saved his
night with a 5-5 from the free throw line.  C.B. did get 7 assists
(against 3 turnovers).and had a decent game from a floor leadership
point of view.  Up until the last 2 minutes of the game, when he broke
down completely.  

McCarty: Walker was 2-3 on threes, and also found some room for some
nice 12-15 foot jumpers (as Tommy H. points out, this is the shot that
Walter should be looking for().  He was caught unawares by sharp
passes form both Walker and Billups.

Barros: another sparkling contribution as Dana scored 10 and had 6
assists in 15 minutes.  He did a really fine job of moving the defense
and distributing the ball.

Thomas: has 12 points on 5-7 shooting (all the points came in the
first half).  Thomas initially came into the game as a backup for
Walker at the power forward position, and might not have played center
at all, except that Knight was so miserable.  Of course Washington
plays a forward (Webber) at center much of the time anyway, so it was
a perfect spot to use Thomas anyway.  As always John is very
comfortable down low, both on offense and defense.  He came up with 7
boards in his 23 minutes to go with the 12 points.

DeClercq: managed to stretch his 5 fouls out over 22 minutes tonight.
Didn't get an awful lot done though, with just 4 points and 5 boards.

Bowen: Bruce's best offensive night in a long time with 6 points on
3-7 shooting.  Still can't hit an outside shot, but he found some
opportunities around the basket.  Also kicked in with 4 boards in his
28 minutes.

Dee: got some substantial minutes, especially in the first half, but
couldn't get the jumper going (though Dana favored him with some nice
passes).  Scored 5 points and had 2 assists in 14 minutes.

Minor: Got 9 minutes (I think all in the first half), but didn't play
well.  He shot 0-3, and missed a couple of shots I would have said
were automatic in past years.  I wonder if Pitino's tendency to
encourage all of his players (it seems) to take the three doesn't have
a negative effect on guys like Minor and Bowen.  Both of them seem to
have lost their medium range stroke, almost completely since the start
of the season.

Knight: Travis was just awful tonight.  He only got 8 minutes, went
0-2 from the field, got 1 board and committed 2 turnovers.  Anyone
could see that he wasn't in the game at all.

Edney: DNP 

Coaching: I really thought that the Celts got some breaks tonight,
which they needed to win the game.  The Whiz were careful with the
ball, and, especially in the second half, played their tempo.  If not
for Chris Webber pressing desperately (Howard played a fine game, by
the way) I doubt that the Celts would have won the game.  Although,
the Wiz really only used 6 players in the game, they didn't appear
tired (and they played the night before to boot) as the Celts just
couldn't push the tempo high enough to bring the long bench into the
game.  I think you also have to credit	Bickerstaff and the Washington
staff with a smart move, in playing Chris Whitney so much with
Strickland.  It took the Celts press out of the game.  There are
certainly times, when I wish the Boston coaching staff would be a
little less rigid in their lineup choices themselves.

The Celts are now 20-23.  They host the Hornets on Friday.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com