Celts Outlast Cavs: Boston 77-Cleveland 73

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	This was a brutal, ugly game, maybe the worse regular season
NBA performance I've ever seen.  Paul Pierce was able to rise above
the muck and mire, scoring 15 of the 2 teams total of 37 4th quarter
points and carrying the Celts, bodily, to victory.  Ron Mercer and
Walter McCarty were added to the list of injured Celts, missing
tonights game.

	For the second game in a row, Antoine Walker got off to a nice
start in the first quarter.  The Celts jumped out to a 14-10 lead.
Pitino pulled Riley for Schintzius, and the Celts suffered the
consequences as the Cavs came back to take the lead at 16-14.  As
Pitino substituted more and more freely, the Celts played more and
more poorly, till they trailed 29-18.  Finally Pitino substituted
Bruce Bowen for Greg Minor at the 2 guard.  Bowen really upped the
defensive energy.  The Celts put on the press and were able to close
the first half with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to 32-27.

	Both teams started poorly in the second period, but the C's
continued to work hard on defense.  Finally, with about 6:00 to go in
the quarter, Bowen fed Walker for a basket to tie the game at 38-38.
The Celtics briefly had a lead at 41-39  at 41-39,  but the Cavs
closed on a 7-2 run to take a 43-41 lead into the half.  Toine carried
the team in the first half with 15 points.

	The third quarter of this game must have marked one of the low
points in the history of the league.  The 2 clubs combined for 24
points (9 of them on free throws) scoring just 7 baskets in the
period.  The Celts managed the one grace note of the quarter, when
Bowen hit Tony Battie for an alley-oop to close the period, with the
Celts trailing 58-55.

	The slow play continued early in the 4th, as both teams
combined for just 4 points in the first 3:30 of the period.  But Paul
Pierce really took control of the game with about 8:30 to go in the
4th.  He got started with a 3 that gave the Celts their first lead of
the 2nd half.  Pierce hit a number of free throws to put the Celts up
by 4 at 69-65.  Paul kept the Celts in the game from the free throw
line, but with 1:30 left in the game Henderson hit a jumper to put the
Cavs up by 1, 73-72.  With 41 seconds to go, Eric Riley was fouled.
Celtics hopes seemed dashed though, as he missed the first free throw,
and then the second one bounced off the rim.  Pierce slipped into the
lane, though, and tapped Reily's miss back into the basket, Giving the
C's a 74-73 lead.  After Shawn Kemp missed a turn-around, Pierce
grabbed the defensive board, got fouled, and hit 2 free throws to put
the Celts up 3, 76-73.  The Cavs got two goodsshots at threes, but
neither went down, and Walker hit a free throw to seal the game and
make the final 77-73.

	As I said on top, from an artistic standpoint, the game was
awful.  The two clubs combined for 48 turnovers, compared to 52
baskets.  The Celts had 4 more turnovers than the Cavs 26-=22, but
they did a much better job of controlling the boards, outrebounding
Cleveland 46-32.  Although the Celts shot the ball poorly (.391), they
did go the free throw line often and productively (24-33).

	
Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Minor, Pierce, Walker, Riley
Cavs: Knight, Person, Henderson, Kemp, Ilgauskas

Players:
Pierce:  This is just getting ridiculous.  I'm afraid to say how good
I think Pierce is because it's sure to jinx him.  His game is very
good for a rookie, but his ablility to step up, and elevate his play
when the team needs it far exceeds the sum of his skills.  Paul had
just 4 points and one nice block in the first 3 quarters of the game,
but he accounted for 15 points and 2 assists (out of just 22 Celtic
points) in the final period.  He basically just drove to the basket
until a teammate broke free for a dunk, or until he got fouled.  And
the tip in off of Riley's missed rebound was unbelievable.

Bowen: Ties Pierce for player of the game.  He played 42 minutes (in
fact I think he played the final 42 minutes) and really didn't do much
of anything statistically.  But he provided the spark that got the C's
excited about playing defense, and kept them in the game until
Pierce's 4th quarter explosion.  Bruce was terrorizing the Cavs 2
guards and forwards with his tight checking.

Riley: He got the start and played 40 minutes.  He had some problems
in the early moments of the game with Ilgauskas, but after that his
defense stiffened and he was a major factor on defense in the second
half.  He scored 6 points, had 11 boards and 5 blocks. and once again,
was able to stay in the game (he did pick up 5 fouls, but wasn't
really in danger of fouling out early).  I'm not sure that Riley can
be a good player: he seems to lack any ability to anticipate.  He
seems surprised whenever anyone passes him the ball, and has a real
problem catching the ball and finishing even when a teammate hits him
in good position.

Walker: Once again, got off to a nice start, but had a slow second
half.  Willie May (?) reported that he was having his back worked on
by the trainer in the second half and he stayed out of the game for at
least 12 minutes.  He scored 22, and shot 50% for the second game in a
row (8-16).  He came up with a couple of strong boards at the end to
help Pierce seal the deal.  Toine had some trouble in the low block
with Kemp, as his low post D is very predictable, He always fronts.

Anderson: Continues to be a huge disappointment.  He played for 26
minutes and had 10 points on 4-11 shooting, 3 assists and 2 turnovers.
He can't push the ball up the court at all, and he is ineffective
running the team in halfcourt.  Doesn't seem at all like the player we
briefly saw last season.

Barros: The Cavs didn't leave him open for any threes, and that pretty
much left Dana taking desperation shots as the clock ran out.  Shot
just 2-9 and had 6 points.

Battie: He played most of the game at power forward with mixed
success.  Didn't do a bad job on defense, but is still searching for
an offensive game.  Had 6 points and 4 boards in 21 minutes.

Minor: Got the start at the 2 guard in place of Mercer, but Pitino
needed Bowen's defensive energy.  Greg didn't play badly, though, and
had 6 points in 14 minutes.

Schintzius: Got in the game for 8 minutes to help Riley counter the
Cavs size.  Had 4 fouls in that time.  He did manage to throw a
classic outlet pass to Anderson for one of the few C's fast breaks of
the game. 

Garnett: Got 8 more minutes tonight, but didn't accomplish anything.

Coaching: Pitino has claimed a couple of times, that the team is more
advanced on offense that they are on defense.  Off the two regular
season games it's hard to see that the club has any offense at all.
They can't push the tempo on offense, and, so far, they don't seems
able to press.  Look for Bowen to play a whole lot more minutes that
anyone would have expected (might even start after Mercer gets back?).

The Celts are now 1-1.  They play next on Monday in Orlando.

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.net