C's get their ST. P's day Present: Boston 118- L.A. 84

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	It was fitting on the Irish Holiday that the Celt's got the
leading Patsies in the league (maybe the leading losers in the history
of the league).  The Celts did what they had to do, got a pretty nice
workout, and got to play a lot of people doing it, preserving some
energy for tomorrow night contest in Milwaukee.  As for the Clippers,
what can you say? this is probably the worst level of effort I've ever
seen from an NBA team (actually any team, anywhere).

	Both teams started out the game shooting fairly well.  The
Celts got some early offense from Kenny Anderson, but the Clippers got
some good work from Maurice Taylor to balance it out.  With 6:20 to go
in the period Paul Pierce left with a bad back, and Walter McCarty
replaced him.  That seemed to give the Celts a little extra life, as
they went on a 15-4 run to take a 25-18 lead.  They led at the end of
period 27-22.

	Pierce got back into the game at the start of the second, and
along with Tony Battie, provided most of the C's offense early in the
2nd.  The Clippers were being very careful with the ball against the
C's 2nd unit, and they managed not to get caught up in the C's pace.
With 6:00 to go, they were still in the game at 38-32.  Pierce
dribbled the length of the floor for a big jam (as the Clippers just
ignored him on defense), which started the C's off on a 14-2 run to
take a 20 point lead at 54-44.  The C's led at the half 54-39.

	The C's first unit seemed to be quite sure that they had won
the game and didn't seem to be inclined to put out enough effort to
put the Clips away.  The Clippers actually pulled to within 12 points
at 69-57, about half way through the period.  The 2nd team came in
with a little more intensity, and pushed the lead back up to 16 at
82-66 at the end of the period.

	The Celts got a big lift from Tony Battie at the start of the
4th, as they put away the game with a 16-5 run to open the period
(98-71).  That opened the floodgates for a rather enjoyable garbage
time for the Celts reserves.  Greg Minor hit 3 3's and Barros got to
shake his shooting woes a bit.  Eric Riley even hit a tough looking
hook shot, as the Celts wrapped up a 118-84 win.

	The Celts actually shot better from the field than they did
from the free throw line (.565-.545).  They had a huge edge on the
boards 56-37.  For some reason that didn't translate into an edge in
shots taken, as the Celts took 92 shots to 85 for L.A., but the
Clippers had a big edge in free throws 26-11.  The Celts relative lack
of ability to press showed up in the Clippers 12-11 edge in turnovers
caused.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Mercer, Pierce, Walker, Potapenko
Clippers: Martin, Smith, Nesby, Taylor, Wright

Players: Hmm, where to start.
Battie: Tony had a very nice game.  He did an especially good job of
following up on the break, and collecting offensive rebounds.  He
played for 20 minutes, had 14 points, 9 boards (4 offensive), 2 blocks
and shot 7-8.  Really looked sharp.

Anderson: a big reversal of form as he shot 10-12 tonight and scored
21 in 29 minutes.  Really didn't do much in the floor generalship
area, as he seemed to be able to take Derrick Martin off the dribble
whenever he wanted.  Nice to see Kenny shoot out of his slump a bit.
maybe the beginning of getting back to normal.

Potapenko:  Maybe a bit stung by all the criticism of his rebounding,
Vitaly had 11 boards to go with 14 points in 26 minutes.  A couple of
times he snuck up and tied up Clippers, and just ripped the ball out
of their hands (the stories about his strength aren't exaggerated).
Pitino made the point in his post game press conference, that one of
the advantages of acquiring a player from a very sound defensive team,
is that you generally get a very sound defensive player.  Certainly
true in V.P.'s case.  He switches and double teams very smoothly, and
is very fundamentally sound on defense.  He doesn't have any
quickness, and doesn't even try to guard players more 12 feet or so
from the basket.  Late in the 3rd quarter, I think it dawned on Kenny
Anderson that a player like V.P. might make a pretty good partner on
the pick and roll.

Walker: Very quiet night (why not) as he had 14 points, 8 boards and 3
assists in 27 minutes.  I thought that the Clippers certainly thought
that Taylor could abuse Walker in the post, but Derrick Martin was
just too selfish to execute the strategy. 

Mercer: Had a very nice night passing the ball as he had 6 assists in
26 minutes.  Unfortunately didn't shoot the ball well at just 3-10,
but he did go to the basket aggressively several times.  Actually
attempted a three pointer, though it didn't go in naturally.

Pierce: Should his nickname be "Fragile: Do Not Shake"?  Yeah, I know
it's a little early to say that kind of thing. Pierce was suffering
from back spasms throughout the game.  Especially in the 2nd half it
seemed to be bothering him.  Still had 12 points, 5 boards and 2
steals in 26 minutes.

Minor: Was 3-4 on threes in the game.  I don't know if I've ever seen
Rick happier than after Minor hit that 3rd three (like he was thinking
"Finally").  Greg played his usual solid game in other respects.

Barros: was missing most of his shots early, but came back in the 4th
and hit a couple of jumpers.  He got 6 assist, though I think he was
largely the beneficiary of those Minor 3's.

McCarty: Hit a 3 on his first shot.  Had a decent floor game and his
shot looks better than last year, but it's still not going in.

Jones: scored 8 points but they were all garbage (and not the good
kind).

Bowen: Looks bad for him if Minor continues to play like this.

Riley: I think that Potapenko has pretty much taken Riley's potential
spot on the team. he got a few minutes in the 2nd quarter, committed 2
fouls in about 30 seconds and was right back out of the game.

Opposition Rookies of Note: Olowokandi:  Has some nice offensive
moves.  I was very surprised after the game to see the he only shot
6-15.  Doesn't seem to be a presence on the defensive end of the court
of all.  Right now it looks as though he should every bit as good as
Joe Barry Carrol (maybe even better).  Wow, that's harsh.  Had 17
points and 8 boards in 26 minutes.

The Celts are now 8-12.  They play again tomorrow night in Milwaukee.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net