Celts Great Escape: Boston 80- New York 74

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Adrian Griffin to the rescue again.  For the second time this
season, he was isolated with one of the league's finest shooting
guards, with the game on the line.  And once again he came up with the
turnover to preserve a close win for the C's.  Kenny Anderson showed a
lot of heart in putting in major minutes (and 17 points) despite
clearly being slowed by the injury he received in the last game.

[Your erstwhile reporters ritual pregame nap went juuusst a little bit
long this evening.  So as the curtain draws (?), the 2nd quarter is
just about to begin.]

BackGround:  In the first quarter the Celts outscored the Knicks
26-20.  Marcus Campy irritated a knee injury, and would be forced to
sit out the remainder of the game.

	Tony Battie pushed the Celts to an 11 point lead, with his
passing as he fed Anderson and Walker for 3's about 4 minutes into the
game.  Battie came up with a big basket of his own, in the waning
moment of the quarter, as Dana hit him with a nice pass for a big jam
to put the Celts up 46-30.  The Celts had chances to increase the lead
as high as 20 before the half, but instead Larry Johnson hit a quick
basket just before the half to cut the lead to 46-33 just before the
half.  Allan Houston scored just 3 points in the first half.

	Johnson was the only active Knicks at the start of the 2nd
half.  But Walker countered and halfway through the quarter the C's
lead was still at 14, 59-45.  Pierce put the Celts up 66-51 with a
consummate professional move, pulling a Knick up into the air with a
fake, then leaning into him to pick up the foul and hitting the jumper
(unfortunately he missed the free throw).  The Celts held an 11 point
lead at 69-58, but Allan Houston was warming up.

	The Knicks tightened up their D, and slowed the pace of the
game at the start of the 4th.  They went with a mid court trap to
force the ball out of Kenny's hand, and disrupt the C's offense.  In a
bizarre stretch in the early part of the quarter, Pierce, and then
Walker (twice) were called for charging in just 4 possessions.  The
second Walker charge was his 5th foul of the game, and forced him to
the bench.  In all the confusion the Knicks had cut the C's lead to
just 6, at 72-66.  Griffin hit Anderson for a big 3, and then Pierce
hit another leaner, to put the Celts up 77-68 with 4:07 left.  That
Pierce bucket was the last basket the Celts would score.  The Knicks
really denied the Celts anything like a good shot, and meanwhile,
knocked down some free throws at the other end of the court, and cut
the lead to just 3 at 77-74 (1:59).  Pierce did a nice job against
Sprewell, partially blocking a jumper, and then Thomas committed a
foul in the rebounding action, sending Walker to the line, with just
1:15 to go and a chance to put the Celts up by 5.  Toine misses them
both!  On the next play, Griffin played strong defense against
Houston, causing him to miss a jumper, but on the C's return
possession Anderson traveled.  On the next play, the Knicks (pity the
fools) isolated Houston against Griffin on the left baseline.  Griffin
poked the ball free, and Houston touched it just before it went out of
bounds.  Potoapenko (in the game because Battie had fouled out)
snagged the board, but Johnson fouled him immediately (25.2 to go).
Vitally misses both free throws !!  On the Knicks possession, Pierce
fouls Sprewell, giving him a chance to cut the lead to just 1 with
14.4 to go.  Sprewell misses both !!!(thank the leprechaun).  Finally
Vitaly hits 2 free throws to put the game away at 79-74 with 13.7 to
go.  The Celts did a nice job of defending the three on the next
possession, and Pierce added a free throw to make the final 80-74.

	C's shot just .389 in this game, even though they were well
over 50% at the end of the half.  They had a big edge on the boards,
especially the offensive board (15-7).  The Celts once again had more
turnovers than their opponents (20-18).  The Celts shot just 15-27
from the free throw line, though the Knicks weren't much better.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Knicks: Ward, Houston, Sprewell, Thomas, Camby

Players:
Griffin\Pierce: Not a bad job by the Celts 2-3 combo against one of
the leading duo's in the league.  Houston and Sprewell shot 13-36 in
the game, while G\P were 10-31.  But Paul and Adrian really shined on
the boards with 24 rebounds (Griffin had a mind boggling 15, including
7 offensive!).  Griffin also had 4 assists, but the turnover bug
continued as he had 4 tonight.

Walker: Played very well for the first 3 quarters, but along with the
rest of the team was shut down in the 4th.  Shot 8-16 and had 22
points in 22 minutes.

Anderson: toughed it out, despite the injury.  Shot 6-12 and had 4
assists in 40 minutes.  You've got to wonder if he plays tomorrow
night against the Brutal-Bulls.

Potapenko:  Vitaly continues to have real serious problems against
teams that clog the middle.  He did manage 5 boards and 4 points in 22
minutes.  He just can't get his shot off, or find anyone on the
outside to pass to when he gets doubled.

Battie:  got 26 minutes due to Potapenko's ineffectiveness.  Was just
a bit better himself, with 6 points on 2-7 shooting and 5 boards.  The
Celts 2 centers got outrebounded by Griffin 15-11.

Barros: The Knicks really picked on him every time Pitino tried to put
him on the court.  They would immediately engineer a switch, forcing
him to defend Houston or Sprewell, and then scored over him at will.
Dana only got 9 minutes, in a game where I'm sure Pitino would have
liked to play him more.

McCarty: didn't have the jumper tonight.  He made 2 blocks, but also
was pulled from the game in the 3rd after he made a bad defensive
mistake to give Thomas a lay-up.

Williams: More surprisingly than V.P. has had a tough time against the
clogging teams to.  Did not get a shot at the basket (FG or FT) in 9
minutes.

Coaching:  Interesting that Pitino thought this was a very important
game, as he played Anderson so much. It might backfire on him, if
Kenny exacerbates the injury and is out for an extended time.
Remember how Kenny tried to play hurt that first partial season with
the C's?  Rick also had to be ecstatic over the Celts rebounding
supremacy.  Definite kudos to Griffin, Walker and Pierce on this
count.

The Celts are now 4-2.  They have a tough back to back, with a second
day road game tomorrow night, but luckily the opponent is Chicago.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net