Greatest Aussie B-Ball Player?: Dallas 99-Boston 93

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

[Sorry that this is so late.  My usual method of sending out reports,
when I'm out of town, failed me]

Apparently Rick Pitino though this was a big game.  Kenny Anderson
played, even though it was obvious that he wasn't really fit to
appear.  Early on, it looked as though Kenny presence, even at reduced
efficiency, might be enough to get the C's the win, but Chris Anstey
and the Mavs completely outplayed the C's in the second half.  Walter
McCarty got the start in place of Greg Minor.

	Things looked good early.  Although Kenny couldn't move well
enough to really push the tempo, as he did in his earlier games, he
was still able to improve the efficiency of the C's offense.  The
score was tied at 14-14, when the C's went on a 13-2 run to take an 11
point lead with about 2:00 to go in the period.  Tthe Mavs did score
the last 4 to cut the Celts lead to 7 (27-20).

	With Anderson out, the Celts struggled a little on offense,
and the two teams traded baskets for the first 5 minutes of the 2nd
(35-32).  With Anderson back into the game, though the Celts went on a
17-3 run to take their game high 17 point lead.  Pitino took Anderson
out (trying to rest him, as his knee got worse as the evening
progressed).  Don Nelson put in Shawn Bradley at center and moved
Anstey over to Power forward.  The combination clicked, and the Mavs
closed the half with an 11-2 run (Muuresepp had 2 3's), to cut the C's
lead to 8 (54-46) at the half.

	Things went from bad to worse, as the Mavs scored the first 13
points of the 3rd to take a 59-54 lead.  The Celts went on a little
mini-run of their own to retake the lead at 63-61, but Anstey tied the
game on a drive to the basket.  The teams traded baskets, and Eric
Strickland hit a 3, at the end of the quarter to give the Mavs a 72-69
lead.

	The Mavs added to their lead slightly at the outset of the
4th, pulling out to a 79-75 lead.  The Celts came back with a 10-2
run, to take an 86-81 lead.  Anderson really extended himself during
the run, and he was favoring his injured leg even more when it was
over.  He was pretty much spent after that.  Anstey (again) halted the
Celts momentum with 2 straight baskets.  The Celts held a 91-87 lead
with 2:30 to go, when Michael Finley, who had been held in check (at
least scoring wise) for most of the game, came alive.   The Mavs
outscored the Celts 12-2 over the last 2:30 of the game to take the
99-93 victory.

	Even with Anderson, the Celts were only able to shoot .423,
while the Mavs hit at a .486 clip.  The Celts were able to compensate
partially by getting 8 more offensive boards (16-8) and hustling for
an advantage of 9 in turnovers (21-12).  That allowed them to take 23
more shots (the Mavs took 12 more FTA).

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, DeClercq
Mavs: Reeves, Strickland, Finley, Green, Anstey

Players:
Anderson: Cousy commented several times that Kenny was literally
dragging his injured leg around behind him.  Despite that, Kenny still
had 16 points (6-15), 6 assists, 5 steals and 0 turnovers in 33
minutes.  But he just didn't have the wheels to push the tempo, that
the Celts needed to get their field goal percentage up.  A very gutsy
performance, and it certainly shows that Kenny will give his all, when
called upon.

Walker: As Kenny got less and less effective, Walkers FG% dipped lower
and lower.  I think he was 9-18 at one point, and ended the game at
10-25.   He had 23 points,  8 boards, 3 assists. 3 steals and 4
turnovers (41 minutes).  

Mercer: Played well in the first half, with 14 points, but was held to
4 in the second.  he ended the night with 18 points in 35 minutes.

McCarty: got the starting nod over Minor, I assume because Rick
thought the Celts needed more offense.  McCarty shot the ball alright,
but didn't hit much of anything at 5-15.  he did come up with 5
offensive boards, but pretty much gave that away with 4 turnovers.  He
and the Celtics did team to do a good job on Finley, through most of
the game.  Finley took advantage of the Celt's double teaming to pick
up 11 assists, though.

DeClercq: The DQ foul strike continues.  Just 1 foul in 28 minutes of
playing time.  He scored 6 and had 10 boards.  He even hit a 10 foot
jumper (does that make him an All-Star?).

Travis: played very well.  He crashed the boards and teamed up with
Anderson on several effective pick and pop plays.  He shot 6-7 (All
either offensive rebounds or nice solid jumpers form the top off the
key).  The Mav's center put up some big numbers, but Andrew and Travis
combined for 18 points (9-13) and 18 boards themselves.

Bowen: I though a relatively weak defensive effort by Bruce (at least
by his lofty standards).  The couple of times that Finley did show
something early in the game, Bruce was in the game (Once Finley
absolutely undressed him).  Of course, it might be the case that the
C's gave Bruce less help than they did to Walter.  Bowen played for 12
minutes and had 1 point and 4 fouls.

Barros: Another semi-off night for Dana.  He shot 3-8 and had 7 points
and 2 assists in 15 minutes.  It's a little bit of a mystery why
Dana's play has been off of late.  He's the one guy on the team who
can't use Anderson for an excuse.

Minor.  got just 15 minutes and went 0-3.

Edney, Jones, Tabak: DNP

Coaching: Well, I hope it was worth it.  I really don't understand the
point of playing Anderson in this game.  He obviously wasn't anywhere
near 100%.  I just can't see how the 64th game in the first year of a
rebuilding program calls for that degree of urgency.  Even if a
playoff spot was at stake (and given the result of the game, it
obviously wasn't). would it be worth it?  I assume (I Hope) that Rick
has assurances that playing Kenny won't harm him in the lang run.  But
even so, does it help Kenny's confidence (in the long run) to have to
play like that?

	I'm also not sure about the intense double teaming of Finley
on the perimeter.  Finley only shot 6-15, but he got 11 assists (on a
team that really lacks a top notch distributor) and his teammates shot
30-57).  And they couldn't contain him when it counted anyway.

Opposition Australians of Note: Anstey put on a bit of a show. He shot
11-15, scored 26 points, and had 8 boards and 2 assists.  I was
surprised to see after the game that he didn't attempts a 3 point
shot, as he must have hit 5 jumpers with his heels resting on the 3
point line.  He certainly displayed the best jump shot from along the
side line of any big man I've ever seen, and would appear to be
certain to develop the 3 point shot.  He also has the quickest feet of
any player his size, I've ever seen (he was apparently a tennis player
before he hit his growth spurt).   All that said, he seems to lack  a
low post game (even against Travis, and almost anyone can post him),
and doesn't really seem to be interested in banging down low.  Pretty
much the same player as Toni Kukoc plus foot speed and minus the
passing ability.

The Celts are now 29-36.  They play again Thursday versus the
Rockettes.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com