C's Eeke! Out Win: Boston 102-Portland 101

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	Sometimes you hear fans and writers talk about moral victories
(never coaches).  This game was the opposite for the Celts: a moral
loss (well, of course I'll take it).  The C's were up 85-60 with 10:00
to go in the game (Gorman and Heinsohn were joking about seeing Dante
Jones in the game soon), when the Blazers powered their way back into
the game, behind an awesome display of offensive basketball.  The
Blazers scored 41 points in the remaining 10:00 and came back to tie
the game with 10 seconds to go.  They had a very real chance to win
the game, but a last second shot by Damon Stoudamire fell short.

	Both teams started out the game shooting poorly. The Celts
were obviously much more prepared for the Blazers inside passing game
than they were in the contest in Portland.  The Blazers, however,
seemed to be well prepared for the Celts new found running game and
were able to limit the number of easy opportunities that the Celts
were able to get.  DeClercq did a nice job against Sabonis down low
early in the game, causing several turnovers, but the Blazers still
led 10-8 halfway through the quarter.   Travis Knight replaced DQ and
immediately responded with a jumper.  Knight put the C;'s ahead for
the first time, when he drove to the basket and drew a foul on Sabonis
(17-16).  At the end of quarter the game was tied at 21-21, despite a
torrid pace that saw 54 possessions in the quarter.

	The Celts, with a lineup of Barros, Bowen, Minor, DeClercq and
Knight, really turned up the press(ure) at the start of the second.
They turned over the Blazers on the first 4 possession of the quarter
on their way to an 8-0 run that they eventually extended to 15-4
(score 36-25).  Mike Dunleavy got his starters back in and they were
able to stem the tide, cutting the lead to 6 at 36-30.  The Celts were
the victims of a series of illegal defense calls, which helped to keep
Portland in the game.  With about 1:50 to go in the game the Celts
were ahead 48-40.  neither team was able to score in the remainder of
the half (so that was the score at halftime to !?!).  The Celts
continued to torture the Blazers with the high tempo, following up
with a 52 possession 2nd quarter.  They caused 19 Portland turnovers
in the 1st half (though they committed quite a few of their own,
negating part of that advantage).

	The Celts starters came out sluggish in the third quarter and
allowed the Blazers to nearly catch up.  They were outscored 16-9 as
the Blazers pulled to within a point at 57-56.  for the second time in
the game, Pitino pulled Anderson from the lineup a little sooner than
he would have liked.  With Barros in at the point, Walker and Minor
ignited the C's on a 19-2 run, that pushed the Celts out to a 76-58
lead at the end of the quarter.

	Things continued to go the Celts way early in the 4th.
Anderson, back in the game, hit a 3, 2:00 into the quarter to cap off
a 9-2 run that seemingly put the Celtics in firm control of the game
85-60.  Rider answered with a 3 of his own, and quicker than you could
blink the Blazers had run off 8 quick points and had cut the C's lead
to 17 (85-68).  Minor hit a couple of jumpers but the Blazers just
kept going and with 6:00 to go in the game, the score was 90-78 (after
the refs made a bad call on Kenny and he was called for a Technical).
The Blazers alternated between Sabonis and Rider, neither one of whom
the C's could handle, as they threw together another 7-2 run to pull
the Celts to within 7. (3:56 to go).  Finally, with 2:45 to go in the
game, the Celts stopped the Blazers from scoring  for the first time
since the 10 minute mark (Portland scored on 13 straight).  With 1:07
left in the game, Dana hit 2 free throws to give the Celts a 98-91
lead (it seemed safe).  On the next play, Stoudamire missed the 2nd of
two free throws, Grant got into the lane early, gathered the long
bound over DeClercq's head, and scored, and was fouled by Andrew.
After Grant hit the free throw, the Blazers had cut the C's lead to 3
(98-95) with .50 to go. The Blazers fouled Dana who hit 1 of 2 (99-95:
:47 to go).  Then Walker made 1 of 2 (100-95).  Rider ran down to the
other end and missed three, got his own rebound and put up another 3,
connecting this time (100-98).  After Anderson went 1-2 again,
Williams hit a 3 with 15 seconds to go, tieing the game at 101-101.
On the next play, Wallace fouled Walker 40 feet from the basket (why?)
and Walker (of course) made 1 of 2, to put the Celts up by 1,
(102-101) with 5.4 seconds to go.  On the last play of the game,
Stoudamire dribbled the length of the court and got a 12 foot runner
of with just heartbeats to go in the game.  It just clanged of the rim
and the Celts escaped 102-101.

	Looking at the box for this game, you might look at the 24
Portland turnovers and think the C's pressure was pretty effective.
It was in the first half (when the Blazers had 19), but it hurt them
in the second half (obviously Portland only had 5, probably only 1 in
the 4th quarter).  The Celts still managed to outshoot the Blazers
.481 to .447, mostly from the three point line.  The Celts held their
own on the  boards.  The place where they nearly lost the game was the
free throw line, where they shot 21-31, while the Blazers where 28-32.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, Minor, Walker, DeClercq
Blazers: Stoudamire, Augmon, Grant, Wallace, Sabonis

Players:
Walker: Toine had a bad case of his mouth writing a check his game
couldn't cash.  He was trash talking with Rider the whole game (Rider
had foul trouble in the first half and got off to a very slow start),
and then stood there, slack-jawed, while Rider went off like a roman
candle in the 4th quarter (Toine didn't score a basket and was 3-6 at
the free throw line in the 4th).  For the first 3 quarters, though
(and especially the third) Toine played quite well.  he ended up with
25 points (9-19), 11 boards, 3 assists and 4 turnovers.

Anderson: A few petals fell of the Anderson bloom tonight.  He pushed
the pace of the game, very hard early in the game, but the Blazers
(who after all, play in the same division as Phoenix and L.A.) kept
getting back and denying the easy score.  He kept forcing the outside
shot rather than trying to run a halfcourt offense (of course he
doesn't know what the C's halfcourt offense is yet: the guys who've
been there all season don't know).  He shot 5-13, had 18 points, 7
assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers.  Not a bad game at all, but not the
near perfection he has been delivering.

Minor: Supplied a lot of the missing pieces for the Celts in this
game.  He scored 14 points, had 9 boards, 2 assists and 5 steals, and
guarded much bigger forwards for the whole game.  Very strong effort.

Mercer: Disappeared in this game.  He only attempt 8 shots (connected
on 3) and had 2 boards and nd 1 assists in 27 minutes.  His worst game
since junior high school (I think).

DeClercq: Had some decent moments against Sabonis, but nearly cost the
C's the game late.  He scored 7 points and had 5 boards and 2 steals
in 25 minutes.

Bowen: he couldn't put the brakes on Rider late in the game (but who
could).  He had 3 acrobatic blocks in the game (mostly from behind)
and scored 5 points, and had 3 turnovers.

Barros: Played well again, with 14 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes.
he was on the court for all of the Celtics big runs in the game.

Knight: continues with his improved play.  Had the jumper going (5-8)
and had 5 boards and a block.  Less of a match for Sabonis than the
shorter DeClercq, though.

McCarty: Another invisible performance by Walter.  He had 2 points on
1-2 shooting, 0 boards, 0 assists and 1 steal in 16 minutes.

Pervis: only got 4 minutes?

Jones, Edney: DNP

Coaching: This kind of game must be a killer for a coach.  No matter
what Rick did he couldn't get the Celts mentally back into the game,
after they got that big lead, and thought they could coast the rest of
the way.  The Blazers played well, but no one could score 41 on the
C's, if they were bringing their "A" defense.

The Celts are now 28-30.  They play again the Wednesday against the
Jazz (8:00 on TNT).

Bill Cooper 
wfcooper@tiac.com