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Chuck Person: The Problem Is The Ball-Hoggedy Antoine
Pitino lambastes the chemistry of the team;; Kenny Anderson says he's
totally frustrated....
==
MG In Exile
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[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
HORNETS 105, CELTICS 87
Celtics hit a low point
They can't even beat Hornets
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 03/10/99
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - He's been around
for a while. He has a Rookie of
the Year trophy and he's matched threes
with Larry Bird in the heat of the
playoffs. Chuck Person may not be headed
to Springfield soon, but he thinks he
knows the game of basketball a little.
What he saw last night wasn't right. He
said so himself.
And he was on the winning side.
Person was one of seven Hornets in double
figures as injury-marred Charlotte,
dressing only nine players, mugged the
Celtics, 105-87, before an announced
gathering of 18,342 at the Coliseum. (They
count appendages here.) Boston shot poorly
(41 percent) and played uninspiring
basketball from start to finish, and what
looked to be a sure road kill given
Charlotte's state of chaos and depleted
roster instead turned into a nightmare.
Person had one theory: The Celtics rely
far too much on Antoine Walker, who led
them with 32 points.
''The killer for them was that Antoine
Walker,'' Person said. ''He had a bad 32.
A very bad 32. I don't think that's good
basketball.''
Person then said, as an aside, that he
doesn't like to trash other players, but
he couldn't stop himself. He said a lot of
the same things about Keith Van Horn last
week, when the Hornets beat the Nets. He
said one player should not get all the
touches because it can tune out the
others, who want theirs.
''You have to trust each other, that's the
key,'' he said. ''How can you have that
much talent and not share it? One guy is
getting all the touches on that team and
that's not the way it should be. When one
guy gets all the touches, it's tough on
the other guys. You gotta play together.''
The Celtics definitely are not doing that
now. Rick Pitino said, ''I don't think we
have great chemistry,'' and added that he
was disappointed with the effort. That's a
mild understatement. If the team thought
it had bottomed out in Toronto - and it
graded the lowest of the year in that game
- this one was exponentially worse, given
the opponent.
Charlotte already was without Glen Rice
and Anthony Mason. Derrick Coleman also
missed the game with a foot injury. Then,
just before game time, Bobby Phills was
scratched with a possible stress fracture.
Charlotte still won handily, with J.R.
Reid (26 points, 12 rebounds) leading the
way.
The Hornets led at every checkpoint and
pulled away in the second half, outscoring
the Celtics by 15 points. Paul Pierce
sprained his right ankle, Ron Mercer got
cramps in his hamstrings, and Kenny
Anderson pronounced himself ''totally
frustrated'' by the proceedings. It was
not a pretty sight.
''They played really frustrated,'' said
ex-Celtic David Wesley. ''And they didn't
look real fresh out there. But the
frustration is what came out.''
Anderson agreed. He and Wesley have been
rivals for years, ever since they were on
the Nets. There's not a lot of love lost
between them - they even exchanged words
last night - but Anderson owned up to it.
''I'm totally frustrated now, but I've
been in this situation before,'' Anderson
said. ''I gotta play through it, that's
all. Right now, it's very frustrating. I
can't really pinpoint what it is. But I
have to keep my head up and play hard.
This is what I've got.''
Added Walker, ''To lose to a team which
isn't healthy and has a lot of turmoil,
it's hard to explain. I don't have an
answer for it.'' He said the offense,
which stagnated again, was well designed,
''but when the first option isn't there,
we act like it's the end of the world. We
don't go to the second or third option and
that's what separates us from being a good
team from being an average team.''
Pitino likened the situation to last year,
when the Celtics lost at Denver and Golden
State. But he added that at no time last
year did the team grade out as poorly as
it is grading it out now.
''When you start losing and play poorly,
it can steamroll,'' he said. ''If you have
great character and veterans, you can turn
it around.''
Pitino didn't bother to finish the
thought, because he knows what we know:
The Celtics have neither. And if we want
to check for sure, just ask Person. He'll
be more than happy to explain it.
This story ran on page D01 of the Boston
Globe on 03/10/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
- Follow-Ups:
- Frustration
- From: Daniel Forant Sr <dforant1@nycap.rr.com>