Celts Get Revenge on Heat: Boston 96 - Miami 84

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	That's just a bit more like it.  The Celts took an 8 point
lead into the 4th quarter, and, led by some excellent floor play by
Antoine Walker, built the lead up to 18 points (helped out by some
horrible free throw shooting by the Heat).  They came away with a 12
point lead 96-84.  Pierce played the game with a scratched hand (not a
big deal in and off itself, but  the cut broke open once forcing him
from the game).  Pierce tied the all time Celtic record with 9 steals.

	The Celts came out in this game, looking as though they had
put in a few tough days in practice.  Their passing was sharp, and it
looked as though they had worked on the pick n' roll some.  They also
did a nice job of dumping the ball down to the center position when
Mourning came over to clog up the lane.  Early on, though, Griffin got
into some foul trouble trying to stay with Mashburn, and picked up his
2nd foul just 3 minutes into the game.  Williams came into the game,
and also picked up a couple of quick fouls, but Pitino decided to keep
him in the game.  At the same time, though, the Celts took the lead
with a stylish 12-0 run, topped of by a steal by Pierce at midcourt
leading to a satisfying jam (C's up 19-8).  Mourning began to exert
himself at this point, and the Heat where able to close to within 2 at
the quarter (23-21).

	The bench continued to play poorly, finishing loosing the once
11 point lead to the Heat when Lenard tied the game at 23-23 at the
start of the second.  The second team then got off a 6-0 run (with
some help from V.P.).  With the Celts up 31-25, Zo fouled Battie,
picking up his third foul of the half.  The starters came back into
the game, and assisted by some great shot blocking by Battie and
Pierce, got out to leads of 39-28, and then 43-31.  Riley, thinking he
was loosing control of the game, risked Mourning collecting his 4th
foul, by putting him back into the game with 2:11 to go.  Battie
turned the ball over, and then, hustling to get back into the play,
got hit in the eye, by the ball.  As Battie collapsed to the floor,
Pierce was called for a technical.  Pitino rushed out to defend his
guards, and was called for a technical himself.  Rick really went
nuts!  Joe Forte, the ref who called both T's, stepped away from Rick,
and pivoted, so he bumped Pitino in the chest.  Whereupon he called
another Tech on Rick and threw him out of the game!!  Lenard hit all
three free throws to cut the C's lead to 5 at 43-38.  The score was
45-40.  I've no real idea what Pierce said to get the T, or what got
Rick so mad that he got tossed (Pitino said after the game that he
deserved to get thrown out).  Pierce had 7 steals in the first half.

	The Celts got off to a good start in the second half, pushing
out to a ten point lead at 58-48.  The Heat began to get in some foul
trouble, with Brown and Majerle picking up their 4th fouls early in
the quarter.  With about 5:00 to go in the period, Walker snuck out
after a missed Miami jumper, and for one of the few times this year,
the Celts found him down the court alone for the easy basket.  Whether
it was by plan, or due to Pitino being in the locker room, the
rotation to the second team was severely shortened with the Starters
staying out on the court for all but the last few minutes of the
third.  The Celts lead going in the 4th 69-61.

	The Celts pushed their lead back above the ten point mark
early in the 4th after a Anderson 3 point play, and a couple of free
throws by Pierce.  O'Brien got all of the starters back into the game
with just 2 minutes gone in the quarter.  Midway through the period,
though, the Heat had gotten the lead back down to 7 several times.
With the score at 83-74, Walker got the margin above 10 for good, with
a steal, and a length of the court drive (85-74).  After a Heat 3,
Walker then found Anderson for an open three pointer.  Walker
continued to control the ball, driving and creating openings in the
Miami defense, as the Celts pushed the lead up to 95-77.  The Celts
took home the win 96-84.

	The Heat actually shot a little better from the floor than the
Celts: while the C's outshot the Heat .455-.446, the Heat were 6-17 on
threes while the Celts were just 4-14.  The Heat gave away most off
that slight advantage by shooting just 12-24 from the free throw line
(including missing 6 in a row down the stretch).  The Celts won the
game with tough defense, good rebounding (47-40) and turnovers (Heat
committed 19: the Celts 14).

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Hear: Carter, Majerle, Mashburn, Brown, Mourning

Players:
Walker: a lot of guys played well tonight, and overall several guys
played better than Toine.  but Walker's play down the stretch was very
impressive.  He brought the ball up the court, allowing Kenny, who was
having an excellent shooting night, to stay on the wing.  He drove to
the basket consistently, and either passed the ball for a good shot,
took the shot, and opened up offensive rebounding opportunities, or
got to the foul line.  In terms of his growth as a player, that 5
minute or so stretch of the 4th quarter is what Walker should be
pointing too.  He was the reason that the Celts were pulling away from
the Heat down the stretch, and not hanging on for dear life.  He
scored just 14 points (4-16: he was 0-5 on threes, many of which were
ill advised), had 7 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks in 38 minutes.

Pierce: Had 9 steals, though I think the stat guys must have padded
that number a bit.  Scored 26 points on 9-22 shooting (considering he
had at least 3 easy scores of steals, that's not so good), Also had 5
boards and 4 assists, and one really pretty block.  the one thing he
did in the game that was impressive, was to drive the ball, and then
when Mourning came over to try and block his shot, slip the ball to
Potapenko or Ellison for easy baskets.

Anderson: great night shooting the ball.  was 8-9 from the floor and
scored 22 points.  Oddly enough, as he is shooting the ball the best
he has in his career, he plays less and less of a roll as a playmaker.
Walker was running the team down the stretch (and Griffin also handled
the ball a lot in the 4th).  Kenny is playing almost like a 2 guard (a
rather small one admittedly).  After tonight's game he's shooting
.458 from the field (career .417) and .454 on threes (career .344).
Conversely he's averaged 7.3 assists a game over his career (and had 2
seasons over 9).  This year he's just over 4.0

Battie: A great night on D.  He had 5 blocks, and I think all of them
were brilliant.  At least once he blocked the shot to himself, and
started the C's offense.  Also had 12 boards and 9 points in 23
minutes.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Tony obviously worked
on his turn around this past summer, and it has probably surpassed the
12-15 foot jump shot as his best offense.  The C's haven't really
learned to use it yet.

Potapenko: 14 points and 9 boards in 26 minutes.  Shot 7-10, and moved
nicely behind Mourning to make himself a good target for drivers.

Griffin: not many times I've mentioned Adrian this far down.  He
actually played a pretty good, if rather quiet game.  After he got
those 2 fouls very early, he went the rest of the game without
committing one.  He scored just 4 points, had 3 boards and 5 assists.
The Celts were very conscious of Mashburn tonight, and Griffin,
Williams and Cheaney combined to hold him 5-13 shooting (The other C's
helped out also, which explains Jamal's 6 assists).

Williams: got more playing time, than he has most of the season.
Didn't do all that much with it though, as he scored 5 points and had
2 boards in 21 minutes.

Cheaney: Had a wonderful block on Mashburn late in the game but got
called for the foul (but mashburn missed both throws).  Still can't
hit anything.

Pervis: got just 9 minutes tonight.  Steady as usual.  

Dana: shooting woes continue.  I was noticing in the first half that
the spacing when the second unit is on the court is really terrible.
Everyone but Dana seems to want to stand about 15 feet from the basket
(Maybe they figure they can't score, so they'll wait for the
inevitable miss, and go for the offensive rebound).

McCarty: a big key to the game tonight was that Waltuh did not miss a
single shot.  As close to a perfect game as he's played (I have it on
confidence that the 6-6 game against Toronto was a test of David
Sterns new guided basketball program (developed by the JPL): it's the
backup in case the new "new" rules don't increase scoring).

Coaching: The substitution patterns in this game, particularly in the
second half were dramatically different that anything we've seen in
the last 2.2 seasons.  Instead of sticking to a predetermined scheme
(that you and I could have written a script for, before the start of
the game), substitutions seemed to be make in response to game
situations.  The C's were having trouble in the 4th controlling the
boards (because most of Rex Walters bricks bounced out to the three
point line).  So O'Brien put Pervis and Potapenko in the lineup at the
same time!  with 4:00 to go in the game.  Same with Cheaney, Williams
and Barros.  They came into the game for specific reason at specific
times.  

The Celts are now 8-7.  They play in Philly tommorrow night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net