Bulls Toy With Celts: Chicago 111-Boston 88

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Bulls handled the Celts with ease last night.  The Celts
were still in contact with 10:00 to go in the 4th quarter, trailing
83-76.  Da Bulls stepped on the accelerator, and pulled away with a
17-4 run to close at the game.  Even at that point, you had the
feeling that the Bulls were not giving it their full effort.  Dana
Barros started the game for the C's (I didn't hear if Kenny actually
went on the IR?), and Luc Longley missed the game for the Bulls (he is
on the IR).

	The Celts got off to a fast start based on some hot 3 point
shooting (9-0).  Behind Scotty Pippen and Dennis Rodman, though the
Bulls quickly pulled the Celts in.  Outscoring them 24-11 on the way
to a 24-11 lead with 2:00 to go.  The Celts trailed at the end of the
1st 30-24.  

	The Bulls made their first bid to break the game open with an
80 run.  Pitino put Walker in to guard Pippen in this stretch, and
Scotty responded by scoring 3 quick baskets.   The Celts (and Toine)
fought back, and cut the lead to 5 at 40-35.  By the end of the half,
though, the Bulls had stretched the lead out to 11 at 56-45.

	The Bulls extended their lead to 16 at 66-50 as Jordan, who
had been rather quiet in the first half, began to get involved.   With
4 minutes to go in the quarter, the Celts were trailing 72-54.  The
Celts, with hot shooting from Walter McCarty, went on a 12-4 run to
cut the lead to 10 at 66-76.  The score was 80-68 heading into the
4th.

	The Celts made their last bid to get into the game with a 8-3
run to start the 4th, cutting the lead to 83-76.   The Bulls just
moved it into 3rd gear or so, for about 5 minutes, and put the Celts
out of it with a 17-2 run.  The remainder of the game was garbage
time, and the final was 111-85.

	A very disappointing game in the effort column for the Celts.
Pippen and Harper combined for more offensive boards than the entire
Celtics team (7-6).  And Rodman had 9.  Overall the Bulls overmatched
the Celts in offensive boards 19-6, rebounds 46-27 and turnovers
caused 22-17.  As a result, the Bulls took 9 more shots and attempted
14 more free throws.  The only good point was that the Celts shot .493
from the field, still less than the Bulls (.538), but more than you
would expect.  I tend to think that this was an indication of a lack
of defensive intensity on the part of the Bulls.

Lineups:
Celts: Barros, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, DeClercq
Bulls: Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Rodman

Players:
Walker: Toine got off to a really fast start (I thought he was 6-7
shooting from the field at one point), but fell off as the game went
on.  Still he shot 10-29 for the game, scored 26 points, and had 7
boards.  

McCarty: shot the ball very well.  He was 9-15, mostly on mid-range
jump shots.  Nice high energy game for Walter, as he scored 19, had 4
boards, 4 assists and 3 steals in 32 minutes.

Mercer: His worse game shooting in quite a while.  He shot 3-12, and
had a hard time finding good shots (most of his scores were on
drives).  He did have 5 boards and 6 assists in 34 minutes.  I'm sure
guarding His Airness took a lot away from Ron's game.

Barros: Dana had a very efficient game with 14 points on 5-8 shooting,
7 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.  He shot 4-5 on threes.  The
Bulls played around with posting him in the 3rd quarter, but since
this was just an exhibition (from their point of view) they didn't
really pursue it.

DeClercq: You have to say that Andrew did not have a very effective
game.  Especially in the early going, Rodman gave him a lot of
trouble.  DeClercq continued to run around and switch onto other
players, even though he was guarding Rodman, which resulted in Dennis
picking up 9 offensive rebounds and 12 points (I'm not saying this was
Andrew's fault, but you can't switch off Rodman).  Andrew had 4
points, 2 boards and 4 turnovers in 27 minutes.

Bowen: Tried his hand guarding Jordan.  To be honest he didn't seem
especially effective (any more than anyone else would be).  He scored
5 points in 22 minutes.

Knight: Another weak effort by a center.  Travis was held scoreless
(held is too strong a word, he only attempted 1 shot).  He had 2
boards and 6 fouls in 18 minutes.

Edney: That's one way to get minutes.  Dana took a whack in the nose,
and had to leave the court for a few minutes, so Edney was the only
point guard left (Tyus would have played anyway).  Tyus had 6 points,
2 assists and 2 steals in 15 minutes.

Minor: 6 points, on 3-4 shooting in 12 minutes.

Tabak: 0 points and 0 boards in 7 minutes.

Coaching:  You can't help but contrast the effort the Celts displayed
tonight, with what they've done earlier against the Bulls this season
(I think that the Bulls played better tonight than they were earlier
in the season).  The Bulls beat the Celts in all of the hustle
categories, and got too many more loose balls.  And the 
Bulls didn't seem to be taking things to seriously.  You really have
to question whether this team can put out the same level of effort
that hey did earlier in the season.  They look tired, and their
schedule down the stretch, isn't going to help.

The Celts are now 30-38.  They play again Wednesday against the Heat.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.com