C's come up Short: New York 99- Boston 97

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Despite coming up on the short end of the score, this was one
of the most impressive games the C's have played this year.  Down the
stretch in the contest, they were able to execute on offense (against
a solid defensive team) better than they have in a similar situation
in years.  With 8:00 to go in the game, the Celts were down 82-67.
They outscored the Knicks, 30-17 through the end of the game.  With
1.8 seconds left, they had a chance to win the game but muffed the
inbounds pass: ouch.  Eric Williams started in place of Paul Pierce
for tonights game.

	The Celts got off to a really nice start in the game.  They
got excellent offensive production from Potapenko and Anderson, as
they moved out to a 22-13 lead with 2:04 to go in the period.
Unfortunately, for various reasons (Camby-4 blocks, the bench, Toine)
the C's offense went south, and by the end of the quarter the lead was
reduced to just 2 at 26-24.

	Things went from bad to worse at the start of the second.  The
Celts were outscored 11-4 over the first 4:00 of the period, as they
fell behind 35-30.  Pitino, who had avoided putting in the bench as a
unit to this point, put in the backups and went to the press.  Once
again it proved ineffective, and pretty much resembled throwing
gasoline on a fire.  The Knicks had built up their lead to 51-35, with
2:00 to go in the half.  The Celts were outscored 38-13 over a roughly
12:00 span.  The C's hit a few shots at the end of the period, and
were able to cut the Knicks lead to 12 at 55-43.

	The third period was very slow, and after 8:00 of play the
Celts had but the Knicks lead by just 2 points.  The Celts put
together a small burst, and cut the lead to 7 at 68-61.  The Knicks
scored the last 5 points of the quarter to restore the lead to 12
heading to the fourth (73-61).

	For the first 4 minutes of the 4th quarter in looked as though
the Knicks might win the game going away.  Alan Houston was hot from
the outside, and the Celts had no one to matchup against Larry Johnson
down low.  The Knicks had extended their lead to 15 at 82-67, when
they knocked the ball out of bounds, with 2 seconds left in the Celts
possession.  The Celts had to inbound the ball deep in the corner to
Griffin.  Adrian turned and let the ball go in the same motion, just
as the 24 second clock expired.  The ball fell directly through the
rim for a 3, and it seemed to jumpstart the Celts offense.  The C's
got two more 3's from Walker as they went on an 18-7 run to cut the
Knicks lead to 4 with 3:10 left.  The Celts got a bit closer a couple
of time, but each time the C's threatened the Knicks would go down low
to Johnson, who would overpower whomever the Celts had on him, for a
score or a foul shot.  With 21.4 to go the Celts were down 5 (98-93).
Barros scored a quick layup, and then the Celts intentionally fouled
Childs, who made 1 of 2 (99-95).  Anderson came right back with
another easy score to cut the lead to 2, but with just 2.1 seconds
left.  Houston missed 2 free throws, and the Celts had a chance to tie
or win.  They really didn't set up a good inbounds play, and Griffin
ended up throwing the ball in to Walker at mid court.  Walker
basically dropped the ball between his legs, and never got a shot off
at all.  The Knicks won 99-97.  Still a tremendous stretch offensive
exhibition by the Celts.

	The Celts stayed in this game with an enormous edge in
offensive boards (19-3).  That earned them 21 more shots from the
field (the Knicks attempted 11 more free throws (but 6 of those were
intentional)).  Unfortunately for the Celts, despite that egdge in
attempts they made exactly the same number of hoops as the Knicks (35:
C's shot .393 vs. NY's .515).  In one of their more aggressive 3 point
shooting game of the season the C's were 8-22.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Griffin, Williams, Walker, Potapenko
Knicks: Ward, Houston, Sprewell, Johnson, Ewing

Players:
Anderson-Potapenko: Looked like they were doing their imitation of
John and Karl, and they combined for a number of well executed Pick
and Rolls.  Where has this been? It actually gave the Celts a viable
option down the stretch.  Anderson had 18 points, 9! boards, and 3
assists in 39 minutes.  Meanwhile Vitaly, who did a brilliant job of
exploiting the Knicks centers tendency to follow penetration, had 21
points and 8 boards (6 offensive) in 28 minutes.  More, more, more.

Griffin: got his first start at center, although he started out the
game on Sprewell defensively.  Had 11 points, 9 boards, 5 assists, 3
steals and 4 turnovers in 42 minutes.  I thought that several times he
got turnovers, when he normally would have just passed off the ball.
Clearly felt he had to be more aggressive.  Had some trouble sticking
with Houston later in the game.  He just can't resist the tendency to
wander around and pick off a ball. 

Walker: Was 4-8 on threes including a couple of big ones during the
stretch run.  To be honest, I thought that a couple of the shots that
went in, were rather poor decisions.  Certainly Walker would have been
criticized severely if they didn't drop.  He did manage 24 points on
7-21 shooting, and 9 boards in 45 minutes.  No match for Johnson in
the box.

Williams.  Just 6 points and 2 boards in 26 minutes.  Didn't get
embarrassed on defense against the Knicks guards, but with the
shotblockers hanging around he couldn't et the post game going either.

Battie: bit of an off night for Tony.  Had 5 points and 5 boards in 21
minutes.  A first rate performance by Tony might well have made the
difference in this one.

Cheaney: hit a three tonight: likely his first as a Celt.
Unfortunately he didn't hit much else, as he was 2-7 for 5 points and
5 boards in 24 minutes.  Did do a solid job on Houston after Allan got
hot.

Barros: Made a couple of nice shots.  Scored 7 on 3-5 shooting.

McCarty: 6 minutes.

Ellison: DNP?  Seems like Pitino might have put him in so he could get
more size on the court against L.J.

Coaching: In the second quarter, when the Celts were floundering,
Pitino put the zone trap press on, and the Knicks ate it alive.  In
the 4th quarter, when the Celts were trailing he went to a man to man
press, with no trap at all.  Maybe the Knicks were unnerved by the
lack of the trap (waiting for the other shoe to drop).  What ever the
reason, it produced 2 or 3 turnovers that were key to the C's getting
back into the game.  

	Pitino's tendency to use a timeout, any time the opposition
scores 2 consecutive baskets hurt the Celts tonight.  They had to use
their last timeout, after Houston missed his 2 free throws, with 1.8
seconds left.  They couldn't call a  timeout when they didn't get a
good inbounds opportunity.  Even if Antoine had handled the pass
cleanly it would have been a miracle if he had hit a shot from 4o
feet, with a Knick in his face.

The Celts are now 10-9.  They play in Cleveland Tuesday night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net