Celts Outlast Nuggets: Boston 102 - Denver 94

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	A win is a win, but this was a very uneven performance by the
Celts.  They played a very strong first 17 minutes of the game (they
led 51-35).  They kinda went off the rails after that, and seemed to
be dissipating the game away.  The Nuggets closed to within just 2
points early in the 4th quarter.  The bench (Pitino referred to them
as the Bomb Squad after the game) came in and reversed the Nuggets
momentum, outscoring them 9-0 over the first 4:00 of the 4th.  Ron
Mercer established a new career high with 35 points.

	The Celts got off to a nice start in this game, thanks mostly
to some fine floor leadership by Kenny Anderson.  The Celts took an
8-2 lead and were up 17-8 after a Pierce 3.  After Anderson hit both
Walker and Pierce with very nice backdoor, thread the needle passes
the Celts were up 26-14.  Pitino decided to take his regulars out
early, though, and with Walker, Pierce and Anderson all on the bench,
the Nuggets came back, behind some nice outside shooting by Cory
Alexander to trail 31-27 at the end of the period.

	The early moments of the second period were the Ron Mercer
show as he scored 10 points over the first 3:30 of the quarter.  After
Pierce hit a couple free throws, off a pass that Walker put between
Eric Washington's legs, The Celts were up 51-35 with 7:00 to go in the
half.  Pierce and Anderson picked up their 2nd fouls in quick
succession, though and Pitino withdrew them both to the bench.  The
Celts went cold from the field and were able to score just 8 points
over the final 7 minutes, opening the door for the Nuggets to pull to
within 9 (59-50) at the half.  Mercer scored 19 in the first half, and
(more impressively) Anderson had 8 assists.

	The pace of the game continued to drag in the 3rd quarter.
Kenny Anderson was unable to push the pace like he had in the first
quarter.  The Nuggets were able to slowly cut into the Celts lead.
They finished off the 3rd period with a 8-2 run to pull to  within 5
at the end of the 3rd (77-72).

	Cory Alexander (who had been bombing away from three point
range all night long) hit a three to open the 4th, and pulled the
Nuggets to within 2 at 77-75.  The C's reserves (Barros, Minor, Bowen,
McCarty and Jones) really stepped up the defensive pressure and used
Nuggets turnovers to propel themselves on a 9-0 run (put the C's up
86-75) and prett6y much put the game away.  The C's regulars came back
in the game, and dithered around enough to let the Nuggets (who, to
their credit kept struggling to the last), pull to within 6 at 100-94.
The Celtics were able to hold them off, and took home the victory at
102-94.

	Two big stats tonight.  The Celt's 2 guards (playing against
the much smaller Cory Alexander, who had 28 himself) combined for 43
points.  And the Celts caused 24 Nuggets turnovers (despite the
Nuggets having 2 points on the floor, almost the entire game). while
the Celts had just 14.  That helped the C's to an advantage of 10 in
shots taken (92-82).

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, Pierce, Walker, Battie
Nuggets: Van Exel, Alexander, Williams, McDyess, Fortson

Players:
Mercer: Ron had a big scoring game to get himself off the schnide (?)
for the season (I hope).  The Nuggets are really short at the 2 guard
right now, and were forced to play Cory Alexander at the 2 guard
nearly the whole game.  Mercer absolutely crucified the much smaller
Alexander, with a variety of post ups. jump shots off screens, drives
to the basket Etc, (Actually Minor hit for 8 points too: that's 43
points from the 2 guard spot).  Mercer shot 15-24 and had 6 boards to
boot in 35 minutes.  Was the recipient off a couple of nice passes
from Walker.

Walker: Toine had a huge game on the boards with 18 (7 offensive).  he
also had 21 points (shot just 10-26), and also had 3 blocks.  A big
reason that he got all of those rebounds (the defensive ones at least)
was that the Celts centers were guarding McDyess instead of Walker
(Fortson and Clark, the guys he played against actually combined for
22 boards).  While Walker didn't guard McDyess, McDyess did guard
Toine and was a big reason for his poor FG%.

Anderson:  He played some dazzling ball in the first half, but pretty
much disappeared in the 2nd.  Kenny finished the game with 8 points
and 12 assists (just 1 turnover).  He did do a reasonably respectable
job on Van Exel, though as usual Nick's shot selection was more
responsible for that than anything.  

Pierce: After the tough shooting night in Cleveland he came back
tonight with 17 points (just 4-9 from the floor though)  Eric Williams
got him into enough foul trouble that he just played for 32 minutes.
Pierce didn't really get badly fooled by Williams, but as usual Eric
got to the line.  I've noticed one thing that Pierce really doesn't do
well, and that's fake.  He is much more likely to try to get his shot
off before the defender gets there, than he is to try to lift his man
a go around him with the dribble.  He did manage to get Williams in
the air once tonight, but this is a part of his game that needs a lot
of improvement (which is a good thing if you think about it).

Battie: a very quiet game statistically, with just 3 points and 1
board in 26 minutes.  But he did a more than acceptable job guarding
McDyess (who had a relatively quiet 17 points in 44 minutes).

Minor: Had 8 points, 3 steals and 3 boards in 13 minutes.  He was part
of the crew that pulled the game out for the C's in the early 4th, and
played a very solid game.

Barros: Just 1-5 from the field, though he did have 3 assists in his
17 minutes.  

Bowen: Hey, Bruce hit a three tonight.  I was in mid-cringe when he
took the shot, but lo and behold it went in.  He was a big part of the
save at the beginning of the 4th.

McCarty; maybe all he does is run around like a mad man, but early in
the 4th he was a big part of confusing the hell out of the Nuggets.
Maybe it's a more effective strategy than we might suspect.

Jones: came in a racked up 5 boards in just 10 minutes of playing
time.

DeClercq: Maybe the least effective of the games I've seen him play
this year.  He had to guard McDyess when he was in there and he just
fouled immediately (he racked up 4 in just 8 minutes). 

Riley: got 6 minutes when DQ and Battie were in a bit of foul trouble.
He was pretty quiet.

Coaching: I thought that the move of putting the centers on McDyess
and having Toine guard the Nuggets so called centers worked out pretty
well.  McDyess, Clark and Fortson combined for 29 points, 37 boards !
and 8 blocks while Walker and the C's centers (who together played
fewer minutes), had 24 points and 19 boards.  That may not seem too
close, but the only real chance the Nuggets had was a big night by
McDyess and Pitino's strategy kept that from happening.

Opposition Ex-Celtics of Note: Eric Williams looked pretty much like
the player who was with the Celts a couple of years ago.  He shot just
4-12, but was 12-15 from the free throw line.  He also had 7 boards,
and pretty much the same collection of junk ball moves we all know and
love.  Still no sign of a jumper (in fact he might have regressed a
little in that regard since his rookie year).  The Nuggets are
supposedly trying to unload him.  Chauncey Billups is a little nicked
up and couldn't go tonight.

	The Celts are now 7-7 on the season.  They play next this
Sunday in Toronto.

Bill Cooper