Celts are Road Warriors: Boston 102- Denver 94

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	At least for one night. I thought that Denver might come out
with a big effort after the hurting that the Celts put on them in the
Fleet Center. Instead it was the Celts who came out with heightened
intensity.  Pitino announced before the game that they were going back
to one on one defense, and let each player sink or swim, more or less
on their own.  The team seemed to respond, and they got some help from
the bench tonight, along with nice games from Walker and Pierce.


	The Celts showed signs of renewed intensity at the start of
the game.  They played tough defense, but the offense was slow in
coming.  They were down 10-9 with 7:00 to go in the quarter.  The
Celts got the lead with a 7-0 run getting a nice offensive lift from
Eric Williams off the bench.  Towards the end of the quarter, Dana and
Kenny were in the back court together, and it resulted in a nice
jumper from Dana to give the Celts a 30-21 lead at the end of the
quarter.

	The Celts got that lead up as high as 11 early in the second.
Keon Clark got matched up against Walker on defense.  The first time
down the court, Toine tried to post Clark with no luck.  Learning from
experience, the second time, down he court, he blew past him on the
drive with ease and got to the line (Unfortunately, Walker was having
an awful time from the free throw line).  Towards the end of the
quarter, Danny Fortson had a nice little stretch of activity, as the
Celts maintained their 11 points lead.  McDyess scored 5 points in the
last minute of the half, to cut the Celts lead to 5 at 49-44.

	The Celts got a big break at the start of the third as McDyess
picked up his 4th foul just 1:00 into the period.  Even so, the
Nuggets continued to cut into the Celts lead, cutting the lead to just
55-53 after LaFrentz rebounded a missed Mercer free throw.  The Celts
clamped on the defensive pressure and held the Nuggets to just 4
baskets over the last 8:00 of the quarter, as they were able to push
the lead back up to 76-68 at the end of the period.  Danny Fortson got
back into the game for the last portions of the quarter and was
effective again.

	Dan Issel gambled a bit and went back to McDyess at the start
of the 4th.  It didn't work as Antonio picked up his 5th foul on
offense on the second possession of the quarter.  The Celts seemed to
hit the traditional speed bump with the bench as they were only able
to score 4 points of the first 4:30 of the first period.  Keon Clark
put up an impressive effort as the Nuggets cut the Celts lead to just
1 at 80-79.  The Celts lead by Antoine and Pierce came back.  George
McCloud (who scored some nice baskets for the Nuggets) just could not
handle Pierce on defense at all.  The Celts got the lead back up to
90-85.  Potapenko helped to preserve that lead with a nice block on
McCloud, and then Pierce hit a bit shot to increase the Celts lead to
92-85.  Then Walker stepped up with a nice defensive effort against
LaFrentz on the perimeter.  A couple of moment later, Toine helped to
seal the game with a pair of made free throws (a rare thing in this
game).  With about a minute to go, Anderson hit Potapenko for a jumper
to put the game away.  The final was 102-94.

	
Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Nuggets: Van Exel, Mercer, Posey, McDyess, LaFrentz

Players:
Walker: Another strong game for Toine.  He overdid the 3  point shot
in the first half, but in the second he settled down, and was the
motive force behind the Celts offense.  He had some trouble with
LaFrentz in the first half, but in the second he stuck with Raef on
the perimeter.  Might have been the deciding factor in the game.
Walker shot 8-22 (2-6 on 3's), but got to the line 13 times.  He also
had 8 boards and 2 steals.

Pierce: displayed a baby hook for the first time in the first half.
Stayed away from the overly aggressive drives that have been causing
him trouble.  Was the major factor for the C's down the stretch, as he
was able to draw a number of fouls from McCloud (about 4 or 5 in the
last half of the quarter).  He shot 5-11, and got to the line 12
times.  had 8 boards and 6 assists.  Made several good passes out of
the paint.

Anderson: Continues to make some questionable decisions on the break.
He was the beneficiary of some late intentional fouls by the Nuggets
that helped him to score 14 points on 3-8 shooting to go with 6 boards
and 6 assists.  He did do a strong job on Van Exel who shot 2-13
(though he did have 13 assists).

Fortson: got the first real glimpse of what we traded Mercer for.
Danny came up with 8 points and 6 boards in just 11 minutes.  he was
active and shot 4-4.

Griffin: Got into some foul trouble early, and it seemed to take him
out of the game.  Played just 23 minutes, and had 5 boards and 2
assists.  

Williams: scored 8 points in the first quarter and just 1 after that.
did have a couple more nice stints in the post.  Seems to be having a
hard time getting calls, that I thought he got in his first 2 season
with the Celts.

Battie: seemed to do a nice job defending McDyess (on the other hand,
as soon as Fortson got on the floor, McDyess went straight at Danny).
also had 5 boards and 6 points in 20 minutes.

Potapenko: just wasn't hitting the shots tonight.  Just 2-7, though,
given the shots he got, he could just have easily hit 5 or 6 of them.
also just 1 boards in 18 minutes.

Barros: 7 points and 1 assists in 16 minutes.  He seems to have
stabilized, though not at quite as high a level as I would have hoped.

Cheaney: seems to be sliding back into his early season doldrums.  3
points on 1-3 shooting in 16 minutes.

Overton: got 1 minute

Opposition Ex-Celtics of Note: Mercer (you thought maybe Roy Rogers?).
After the debacle in Boston Ron put on a much better performance
tonight. To some extent that the point: on a good night, Ron couldn't
come close to Pierce's level of play (Ron had 4 boards and 1 assists
against Pierce 8 and 6). Pierce has already hit a level that Mercer is
probably not going to achieve in his career.

The Celts are now 12-16.  They're back in town to christen the new
floor (vs. the Cavs) this Monday.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net

P.S. Happy New Year to everyone.  I certainly hope it's uneventful.