Bucks Eke Out Celts: Milwaukee 84- Boston 83

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	A very tough loss, in a game where the Celts played quite
well.  The Celts had a good chance to win at the end, as Kenny
Anderson defied conventional wisdom by driving to the basket with
about 8 seconds left in the game.  As conventional wisdom dictates, he
got absolutely mugged by the Bucks (and got no relief from the refs).
Walker got great position on the offensive rebound, but could not put
the ball home.  Over all the Celts played an intense spirited game,
despite being handicapped by a fairly outrageous free throws attempted
differential.  Eric Riley and Walter McCarty were activated for
tonight's game.

	Things looked a little slow for the Celts at the outset of the
game.  Tim Thomas and Robert Traylor brought a lot of energy to the
Buck's lineup, as they abused the Celts on the offensive boards.
Milwaukee jumped out to an 11-5 lead.  Ron Mercer got his game going,
and led the C's on an 8-0 run to take back the lead (13-11) halfway
through the period.  The Celts were playing a real nice tempo, and
trying to take advantage of the Bucks on the break.  Del Curry hit 2
free throws on the last possession of the quarter to give the Bucks  a
24-22 lead.

	Antoine came out with real energy at the start of the second,
as he led the C's on an 8-0 run to take a 30-24 lead.  The Celts began
to suffer some defensive breakdowns on the perimeter, especially
leaving NBA leading 3 point shooter Del Curry open for some easy
looks.  The Bucks took back the lead after a Ray Allen 3 39-38.  With
Battie and V.P. both having two fouls newly activated Eric Riley saw
some action (not too effective, actually).  Walter McCarty also
reappeared, adding some nice defensive energy and hitting Walker on a
great looking alley oop.  The Bucks continued to hammer the ball home
from the outside, and collected quite a few trips to the line.  They
led at the end of the half 52-48.

	Traylor again wreaked havoc at the beginning of the third.  He
scored 4 of the Bucks opening 6 points, as Milwaukee assumed a 56-51
lead.  The Celts tied the game at 58-58, but the Bucks responded with
an 8-3 run.  The Celts came back and tied the game again at 68-68 just
before the half.  On the last play of the quarter, Del Negro missed a
jumper, and Walker dove out of bounds and saved the ball.
Unfortunately, he saved right to Gatling, who dropped the ball in the
hoop to assume a 70-68 lead heading to the final stanza (hmmm, compare
a basketball game to a piece of music?).

	On a Paul Pierce 3, the Celts took their first lead in a very
long time at 73-72.  The Bucks came right back at 77-73.  A couple
moments later (4:30 to go) Potapenko drove the lane and dished(!) off
to Walker for an easy hoop to give the Celts the lead 79-77.  The
Celts were up 81-79, with about 2:10 to go, when Kenny Anderson was
robbed, getting called for an offensive foul, taking away a basket
that would have put the Celts up 4 (and should have sent Kenny to the
line).  Instead Glenn Robinson hit a jumper on the next play to tie
the game at 81-81 with 1:40 to go.  On the next play Walker just threw
the ball away.  On the next Celts possession Anderson got credit for
the basket (on a nice drive) after a goaltend.  The Celts had a bit of
a defensive break down on the next play, as they allowed Del Curry
about 1.5 inches of room, and he responded by drilling a 3 (naturally)
to give the Bucks the lead 84-83 with 40 second to go.  The Celts had
4 chances to score on the next possession, including the Walker
offensive rebound, but they couldn't get anything to drop and the
Bucks walked away with the win, 84-83.

	The Bucks had a huge advantage in free throws attempted
(30-12: at one point it was 28-4).  They really didn't take advantage,
though, as they shot just 16-30, while the Celts hit 11-12.  The Celts
largley negated a nice effort on the offensive boards (18-12), by
being sloppy with the ball (the Celts had 18 turnovers to the Bucks
11) neither team shot the ball especially well (C's .393 vs. the Bucks
.431).  The big negatives for the C's were 13-39 shooting from the
guards and just 9 points from the bench.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, Pierce, Walker, Potapenko
Bucks: Workman, Allen, Robinson, Thomas, Traylor

Players:
Walker: I thought that this was Toine's best game in a long time
(certainly the best this year).  It was sort of a combination of the
energy of the rookie Walker together with the head of the 4th or 5th
year player we've yet to see.  The best part of his game was the 6
offensive boards and the high energy defense (he had Glenn Robinson
for big chunks of the game, who shot 5-17).  Toine also shot 10-20,
had 23 points and 18 overall boards in 47 minutes: I don't quite
understand why he's playing so many minutes all of a sudden.
Unfortunately he marred the game with a bad turnover and the missed
offensive rebound down the stretch.  He was 1-6 on threes.

Pierce: Continues to show increasing diversity in his offensive game,
as he went inside and used fakes (!?!) to score a couple of times.  He
combined that with 5-7 shooting from the arc to score 21 points.  Also
had 7 boards in 40 minutes.

Anderson: Kenny has gone back to his normal shooting touch (knew that
was too good to last, didn't you?), as he hit for just 3-11.  He did
one of his better jobs this year of running the team, as he had 11
assists and moved the ball energetically up the court.  He was the
major factor in keeping the Celts in the game down the stretch.  I
also think that he deserves some credit for his effort on "D" (if not
for the results).  For all the talk of him not being a pressing
player, he has been participating in the press the last couple of
weeks, and the results haven't been all that bad.  I think he's
probably a better defender in the press than he is in a regular half
court set (faint praise).

Mercer: had a nice first quarter, but seemed to be pressing after
that.  I thought he took several ill advised shots in the second half,
and was forced into taking several jumpers outside his range.  After
the fast start he ended up shooting 8-22 and scoring 16 points in 37
minutes.

Potapenko: had a miserable time with Traylor, who stripped the ball
from him 2 or 3 times.  Vitaly did make some nice plays in the 4th
quarter though, as Pitino kept him in down the stretch. Had 5 points
and 8 boards in 29 minutes.

Barros: I can't quite believe I'm typing this, but Dana has gotten a
bit gun shy.  Early in the 4th quarter Minor made a nice move to get
Barros a free shot about 12 feet from the basket.  It was a shot Dana
could have made blindfolded in years past.  Instead he pulled the ball
down, and looked to pass.  After he realized what he had done he put
up a much more difficult shot against the defense.  And, in the
ultimate indignity, he was posted by Vinny Del Negro.

Battie: I'm really confused.  A couple of weeks ago Battie was playing
great ball.  Tonight he gets 6 minutes! (admittedly the main thing he
did in those 6 minutes was to pick up 3 fouls, but still).  If Tony is
going to be a factor for the Celts down the road he ought to be
playing.  Does Toine really need 47?

McCarty: Other than the real nice alley oop to Walker he wasn't much
of a factor in his ten minutes (I don't think he played in the second
half).  He does give the Celts another forward, which should help the
rotation a bit.

Minor: 4 points and 5 boards in 13 minutes.  I thought he was a bit
more spritely tonight after a down week or so.

Riley\Shintzius: combined for 10 minutes.  I don't know why the Celts
would want both of these guys on the roster.

Coaching: Pitino seems to have returned to his normal positive
disequilibrium.  He was practically bubbly after the game (which I
think was justified to a modest extent).  He continues to support
Walker,s play and demeanor, especially taking issue with some of the
rough treatment he received at the hands of the fans recently.  I like
the effect the increased pressing is having on the teams demeanor: it
would be really nice if it would cause an occasional turnover too.

Opposition's Rookie Land Behemoth:  Robert Traylor:  If this guy
doesn't go over 300 lbs. he's going to be a major pain in the ass for
the next decade.  He's enormous, mobile, has great hands and
instincts.  If the Bucks ever get a center and play this guy at PF,
opposition forwards are going to be hitting the DL in fear just before
he rolls into town.  Not only draws a lot of fouls (although he
doesn't have that free throw thing down yet), but seemed to have a
decent knack for playing aggressively without picking up too many
cheap fouls. 

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net

P.S.  I couldn't help but notice how calm George Karl was tonight, and
I was thinking that it must be a pleasure to play for him these days.
I was wondering how it might be to play for Pitino in 20 or so years,
when he's calmed down to just Hyper.