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Dan Shaughnessy: Young Celtics Quit On Their Coach
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Crowd at FleetCenter nearly as ugly as
game
By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff, Globe
Columnist, 03/25/99
It's all about degrees of bad when
you watch the Celtics now. It's
like the Jerry Springer show and Kevin
Costner movies: How low can they go?
We thought the game at Charlotte was the
nadir. Then the overtime loss to the Bulls
last Sunday. Then Tuesday night in
Cleveland. Now this - a 87-68 home loss to
the Minnesota Timberwolves on the same
night the beleaguered Celtics had been
''challenged'' by their beleaguered coach.
How bad did it get last night? Antoine
Walker shot 1 for 14 and fans behind the
bench were begging for the return of M.L.
Carr.
Yikes.
''I don't mind the booing,'' said Walker.
''But on every shot? Is that gonna make
things better? ... I don't know what's
with the crowd. I don't think that's
right. We need all the support we can
get.''
It was not ugly at the beginning of the
evening. There were no signs imploring
Paul Gaston to ''bring back M.L.'' (the
roundball equivalent of bringing back Lou
Gorman). There were no Rick Pitino dolls
hanging in effigy from the upper deck. The
Celtics didn't get the Don Zimmer/Ulf
Samuelsson treatment when they came out
for pregame warmups.
But there was negativity in the building.
Negativity all over town.
''I've been given great treatment in this
town by the press and by the fans,''
Pitino said before the game. ''Now, the
way we have played, I deserve to take a
lot of heat for the way the team is
playing.''
Pitino has obviously decided that the best
defense is a good offense. This is an old
Dennis Johnson trick. Members of the media
never ripped DJ because he was always
tough on himself. Same with Bill Walton.
Big Red would say, ''Tonight I was a
disgrace to the game of basketball,'' and
it was difficult to top that with any
poison pen.
And now Pitino's self- flagellation helps
mask the crises of confidence in the
Celtics' executive suites. Thanksdad
Gaston has to be wondering if he made a
wise move when he turned over complete
control and $50 million to a man who we
know is a terrific college coach, a snappy
dresser, and a top-shelf motivational
speaker.
''We've had poor performance from a team
that should be well-coached,'' Pitino
admitted. ''I have to look in the mirror
and say, `Maybe this is not a well-coached
team.' I don't think I'm doing a very good
job right now.''
Some Celtic fans have been much tougher.
Pitino was thoroughly slaughtered on
sports talk radio yesterday and the word
''fraud'' was tossed around where fans
once cited ''genius.''
Pitino has an expression for the
bloodthirsty shut-ins, guests, and hosts
of WEEI, calling them ''the fellowship of
the miserable.'' Asked if he heard himself
torched on sports talk radio the coach
shook his head and said, ''That's one
thing I will not stoop to - my UMass
education will not allow me to stoop to
that level.''
Hmmmm. He'd better not listen today.
Pitino threatened wholesale changes after
Tuesday's abysmal showing in Cleveland,
but sent out the same starting five
against the Timberwolves. This did not go
unnoticed by the discerning fandom.
''Hey, Ricky, wasn't somebody supposed to
sit?'' bellowed one fan in the opening
minutes.
''There's no one individual I can put my
finger on,'' Pitino said before the game.
''But after tonight, I will. If we grade
out, based on hustle, and I see things I
don't like, then those people are not
going to play a lot of minutes in
Philadelphia [tomorrow night].''
The first big boos of the night were saved
for Walker when he took a quick and errant
3-pointer while the Celtics were trailing
by 4 late in the first quarter. Walker
came out at the next whistle to mock
applause.
After shooting 29 percent (12 of 42), the
Celtics came off the floor at halftime and
a fan screamed, ''Rick, I feel sorry for
you.''
Walker, a listless 1 for 7 in the first
half, did not warm up before the third
period. He just sat on the bench. He no
doubt wanted to conserve some energy to
guard the sensational Kevin Garnett.
Garnett was a highlight film in the third
period, repeatedly dunking over Walker,
who still could not make a shot.
It was nasty. There were ghosts of Celtics
past all over the building: Bob Cousy and
Robert Parish (in the stands), Kevin
McHale (Minnesota general manager), Jerry
Sichting (Timberwolves assistant coach),
Cedric Maxwell and Tommy Heinsohn
(broadcast row), Jo Jo White, and M.L.
Carr. It must pain them to see this
happening.
When it got to 61-47, another wise guy
walked past the Celtic bench and said,
''Hey, Rick, if this was a horse you'd put
it down.''
The beginning of the fourth was
disastrous. Walker could not get out of
his own way, but kept trying (and missing)
treys. Down 71-50 with 9:58 left, Pitino
called time and you would have thought Dan
Duquette was being introduced.
Pitino kept his starters on the floor. It
was as if he wanted to punish them by
playing them. Walker did not come out
until there was 2:09 left on the clock.
After the beating, Pitino seemed
tranquilized. There was none of the fire
and anger he displayed in Cleveland a
night earlier.
''I didn't think it could get worse, but
it did,'' he acknowleged. ''But their
self-estemm has got to be as low as
possible and I'm not going to add to
that.''
He didn't point fingers. He didn't
threaten to bench or trade anyone. And he
said he didn't think his team had tuned
him out.
But this was bad. A 10th loss in 11 games.
A season-worst 68 points. A new low.
But the stats weren't the worst thing. The
young Celtics quit on their famous coach
last night. That was the worst of it.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist.
This story ran on page C01 of the Boston
Globe on 03/25/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.