Rockets Blast Celts: Houston 100- Boston 94

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	The Celts were definitely showing the effects of playing their
second game in 2 says and the 5th in a week.  They tried to repeat the
tactic from the game they played against the Rockets in Boston, of
disrupting the Rockets offense by taking the ball away from Steve
Francis.  Their tired legs weren't able to do all the switching
necessary to that kind of defensive scheme, and they were caught in a
number of defensive breakdowns as a result.  In general, the Rockets
did a much better job of getting to loose balls, and running up and
down the floor.  Once again, though the C's were able to summon up
enough energy to come back and make a game of it in the late stages.

	The Celts, and particularly Kenny Anderson got off to a pretty
good start.  They got out to a 16-10 lead, with Kenny getting a number
of scores taking the wing on the fast break.  Potapenko made his first
appearance in a week, and Kenny quickly hit him with a nice pass.  The
Celts got some scoring off the bench at the end of the period, as Dana
and Cheany both hit shots to give them a 23-19 lead.

	Pitino went back to his starters rather quickly at the
beginning of the second (with the Celts up 25-23).  But the starters
couldn't get the rhythm of the game back, and the Rockets forged a
30-25 lead on the strength of an 11-0 run.  Walker had a particularly
rough stretch here.  Towards the end of the period, the Celts rallied
a bit, and were able to take a couple of one point leads.  The Rockets
outscored the C's 7-0 at the end of the half, to take a 45-39 lead.
The Celts were outscored 26-16 in the second quarter.

	The Celts came out and took another 1 point lead at the start
of the 3rd, but the Rockets got Cato back into the game early in the
third, and he began wreaking havoc on the C's again.  The rockets put
together a 9-0 run to go by 9.  With about 2:00 to go in the period,
McCarty was called for a flagrant foul on Carlos Rogers, who sunk the
two free throws.  On the ensuing possession, the Rockets scored to
take a 12 point lead at 74-62.  Houston led 66-76 at the end of the
quarter.

	Mobley was doing some nice work at the start of the 4th, as
the Rockets stretched their lead out to 17 at 86-69 (8:16).  The Celts
were able to rally, and came back with an 11-0 run of their own.  On a
conventional three point play by Griffin, they pulled to within 8 with
5:41, and it didn't look impossible that they might pull the game out.
The Celts fouled on the next two defensive stands, and Griffin and
Anderson both missed on pretty good drive opportunities.  On the next
play Mobley hit a 3 and the Rockets were up by 13 again with 4:11 to
go.  Walker (who was in the midst of a pretty lousy performance up
till this point) scored 10 of the Celts next 12 points, as they got
the Rockets lead back down to 4 with just 1:30 to go.  I thought that
the Celts went into intentional foul mode a little bit quickly here,
and perhaps made poor choices of Rockets to foul.  In any case, the
Rockets hit 6-8 free throws down the stretch, and the Celts couldn't
convert on any of the threes they took.  With 13.9 left, and the Celts
trailing by 5, they tried an alley oop to Battie from the sideline
(?).  It went awry, and the game was over in the Rockets favor 100-94.

	The C's actually had an edge in field goal percentage
.488-.447.  And they had a nice turnover edge in turnovers 17-12. The
Rockets dominated the boards 48-38, and got to the free throw line 40
times to the celts 24 (again 10 of those were intentional fouls in the
last 2 1:30 of the game).  The Celts were just 1-13 on threes!

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Griffin, Williams, Walker, Battie
Rockets: Francis, Anderson, Bullard, Rogers, Hamilton

Players:
Anderson: had a very nice game, especially early.  Scored 23 points on
10-15 shooting, had 5 assists and 2 steals in 40 minutes.  Really nice
shot selection, and while he didn't have a quantity of assists, the
ones he did get credit for were good ones.

Walker: something like 1-7, 2 points and 0 rebounds in the first half.
He ended the game with 24 points on 9-19 shooting, and 7 boards.  I
can't tell you what the difference was. although his shots just seemed
solider in the second.  Not that they were taken from better spots,
but they seemed less hurried.  Made several nice plays down he
stretch.  Was 1-6 on threes.

Griffin:  Another solid game, with 13 points, 9 boards, 2 assists and
2 steals.  When he is penetrating these days, he is much more likely
to take the shot himself than to pass it, as the did earlier in the
season (other teams are playing him to pass, more?). He did fail to
finish a nice drive down the stretch, and then missed a tough 3 from
the corner, either of which might have helped the cause mightily.
Shot just 5-12, and 0-2 on threes.

Williams:  Where has all the offense gone?  2 points on 1-4 shooting
in 23 minutes.  Continues to play the improved floor game with 3
assists and 3 steals.  Why can't the C's run a play for him in the
post?

Battie: another disappearing game for Tony.  7 points and 4 boards in
18 minutes.  Not sure of the reason for the short minutes, he wasn't
in foul trouble or anything.

Potapenko: and it wasn't like V. was distinguishing himself either.
V.P. had 8 points and 6 boards.  Oddly Battie played all the minutes
against Hamilton, where you would have though V.'s size might have
helped a bit, and Potapenko took all the minutes against Cato, where
Battie's mobility and leaping might have done some good (Cato killed
the Celts with 27 points in 33 minutes).

Cheaney: he's getting closer and closer to that breakout game as a
Celtic.  He was 6-10 tonight for 10 points, 7 boards and 2 assists in
35 minutes.  He's going to have a 20 point night before Pierce gets
back.

Barros: only got 9 minutes, as the Rocket's points are a lot bigger
than him.  Had 4 points and 2 assists though.

McCarty: is playing hurt and only got 9 minutes.  On the flagrant
foul, I thought he was being more spastic than nasty.

Coaching:  Maybe a bit of a lapse in coaching judgement here.  Why
have the Celts play an intensely switching, gambling defense on the
second night of a back to back?  I mean, lot's of teams seem to be
able to beat the Rockets, and I bet they don't double Steve Francis
every time he gets the ball.  And I doubt Cato goes for 27 against
them either (probably why he only averages 7 a game).  I think Rick
should have played as straight up as possible, and made the Rockets
earn every point.

The Celts host the Lakers on Monday night.  They are now 10-13.

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.net