Raptors dump Celtics: Toronto 103-Boston 92

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	We Celtic fans, after basking in the glow of a successful
preseason, were treated to a heavy dose of cold water this evening.
The Celtics were ouptlayed tonight in virtually every facet of the
game, especially the hustle categories.  In particular the C's were
unable to generate any running game at all.

	Both teams started very slowly, but the Celts, behind some
strong early play from Antoine Walker and Kenny Anderson broke out
first.  The Celts took a 20-14 lead with 4:32 to go in the quarter,
and it looked as though the Celts were set to cruise.  Pitino went to
his bench though, and had to rely on players who had missed much of
the preseason (Minor, McCarty and Bowen).  With the reserves in the
game the Celt's offense ground to a halt.  They were able to score
just 4 points of the remainder of the quarter and allowed the Raptors
to come back and tie the game at the end of the quarter 24-24.

	Ron Mercer hit a jumper, about a minute into the second
quarter to give the Celts their last lead of the game at 28-26.  The
Raptors were able to choke off the Celts break and began to get fast
break baskets of their own.  Over the next 9 minutes they were able to
outscore the Celts 28-11, to take a 54-41 lead.   The Raptors went
through the first 11 minutes of the period without a  turnover.  The
Celts got threes from Minor and Barros at the end of the half to pull
the Celts to within 7, and give C's fans cause for optimism.

	After a strong first half from Antoine Walker, the Celts
seemed to be searching for offense as the second half started.  Paul
Pierce stepped forward with 2 consecutive threes to pull the Celts to
within 7 at 62-55 (7 was as close as the C's were able to get in the
entire second half).  At no point did the Celts give any hint of being
able to control the Raptors on the defensive end, as Kevin Willis and
Doug Christie were able to get a good shot on any given possession.
Midway through the quarter, the Celts seemed to get a bit frustrated,
as Anderson and Christie were called for a double technical.  Despite
some good play from Pierce and Eric Riley, the Celts were unable to
keep pace with the Raptors, and they trailed by 14 with a couple of
minutes to go in the quarter.  Once again they got some nice baskets
at the end of the quarter to pull within 11 at the end of the period.

	Early in the final quarter, Antoine Walker, who generally
sleepwalked through the second half, woke up just long enough to score
4 points, to pull the C's to within 7 (87-80) again.  The Raptors came
back with 10 straight of their own to take a 97-80 lead and put the
game out of reach.  The final was 103-92.

	This was an atypical effort by the Celts, at least judging by
last year.  They shot better than the Raptors (.432-.393), but got
killed on the boards and committed more turnovers that the Raptors
(19-15).  So the Raptors had 8 more field goal attempts and 12 more
free throws that the C's.  That, combined with 30-35 shooting from the
free throw line was pretty much the game. 

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, Pierce, Walker, Battie
Raptors: Williams, Christie, Carter, Oakley, Willis

Players:
 
Pierce:  Another pretty impressive effort.  He was very quiet in the
first half with just two points, although he did have 3 blocks in the
first half, including one especially nice leftie block on Doug
Christie.  He came alive offensively in the second half, and really
forced the action when it became apparent that no one else was going
too.  He ended the game with 19 points, 9 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks
and 2 steals.  He is very effective shooting the three along the left
side of the court about 5 feet from the baseline.  He probably
shouldn't try from anywhere else.  Also had a couple of spectacular
(though low percentage) shots go in on penetrations to the basket.

Walker:  Big time first half with 17 points.  He was especially
effective driving to the basket against Oakley.  Was a total
non-factor in the second half, offensively, defensively and on the
boards.  You hardly knew that he was on the court.  Ended the game
with 21 points and 7 boards.

Anderson:  The most disappointing performance of the night.  Kenny
played reasonably well for about the first 6 minutes of the game, and
seemed to be a liability after that.  Heinsohn and Gorman were
speculating that Anderson's inablility to press effectively might be
the reason that Pitino would prefer not to press with his starting
unit.  Kenny did collect 7 assists, but only shot 3-11 and really
failed to ignite the press.

Mercer:  He got the start, wearing a brace on his knee, but was far
from his normal self.  He shot 2-8 and was confined to taking medium
range jump shots.  His backups (mostly Bowen) weren't very effective
either, so it'll be interesting to see if Pitino can use him sparingly
enough for him to really heal.

Battie: Fouled out of the game in 19 minutes.  He scored 7, but just
had 2 boards and no clue on how to defend Willis.  He did throw a
couple of nice passes.

Barros: Typical Dana, as he came off the bench and scored 13 points on
5-9 shooting.  Not really much help in running the offense, which is
what the Celts really needed tonight.

Riley: Brings up an interesting question: is a good rebounder someone
who gets a lot of boards or is it a player who helps his team get an
overall edge on the glass?  Riley is tall, has long arms and can get
quite a few rebounds by reaching over the crowd.  But he doesn't pay
much attention to position and his man can get quite a few boards
himself.  Eric had 11 rebounds (5 offensive) and 9 points in 27
minutes.  Maybe most important, he had just 1 foul.

Bowen:  Really looked bad.  Not only was he weak offensively (though
he did hit a three), but his defense wasn't there like last year also.
Clearly missed not getting the full training camp.

McCarty: Ditto above

Minor: Also

Garnett: Played 8 minutes and had 3 points.  Way too early to tell
yet.  But with Mercer hurting and Bowen not up to speed yet, the Celts
are sure hurting for shooting guards at the moment.

Schintzius: Some kind of joke from what I could see in his 1 minute in
the game.

DNP: Popeye and DQ.  I thought that Tommy said that Declercq was
actually not in attendance at the game (though he didn't say why).

Coaching: Pitino has been floating the idea that the first unit
shouldn't press at all, and that the second team should be an official
pressing unit.  Off tonight's game it's unclear that the first unit
can generate any offense without pressing.  Certainly Toronto wasn't
having any trouble stopping them from running the fast break.  I kind
of wonder if Rick just realized he was working them too hard in
practice and that they weren't ready to play.  With the exception of
Pierce, no one looked ready to play tonight.  and they're just
starting the most grueling 3 months of their basketball careers.

Obviously, the Celts are now 0-1, and my chances of going 50-0 on
predictions are already down the drain.  The Celts play again tomorrow
night, hosting the Cavs.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net