C's Lose to Bulls ??!!!: Chicago 92- Boston 91

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Wow, that was a downer.  Maybe it was a little bit my fault,
as I had this game in the win column before it started.  The Celts
looked like they made the same assumption, especially after they got
off to a 21-9 lead.  For the 4th game in a row, the bench made a
negative contribution, and the Celts made the cardinal mistake of
letting a team  desperate for a win, hang around.  The Bulls got a
lead in the 4th quarter for the first time this season, and they were
able to make it stand up.  Kenny Anderson surprised me by playing
major minutes again.  He was reported to say, that he felt better than
he did going into last night's game.

	The Celts got off to a fast start this evening.  They had one
of their better stretches of fast break basketball this season, as all
of the starter were moving the ball around the court well.  After
Toine made nice pass to Potapenko off a 360 spin move, the Celts were
up 17-6.  They had pushed the lead up to 21-9, when Pitino went to the
bench.  He did not get the results he was hoping for, though, as the
backups were outscored 6-2 over the last 3:00 of the quarter, which
ended with the score at 23-15.

	Out of frustration, I think, Pitino went back to the starters
at the start of the 2nd (close to the first time I can remember him
doing that).  It really didn't help much, though, as the Bulls cut the
Celts lead to 3 at 30-27.  Celt Killer Chris Anstey made his presence
felt with 8 2nd quarter points.  Pitino gave the bench another try at
the end of the half, with much the same result as in the first period.
The Bulls had several chances to tie the game, but couldn't quite get
over the hump.  The C's clung to a 2 point lead, 43-41, at the end of
the half.  The Bulls were able to slow the game down in the second
quarter (just 45 possessions).

	Early in the 3rd, the Celts were able to put a little distance
between themselves and the Bulls again, as Potapenko was able to sneak
up court, and get a couple of easy layups before the Bull's D was set.
After the second one Perdue was called for a flagrant foul on Kenny,
and then a Technical a couple of moments later.  Anderson hit 3 free
throws to put the Celts up by 8 (56-48).  The Bulls quickly came back
with a 6-0 run, and the C's would not see that kind of cushion in the
game again.  Pitino went to the bench again, and they got eaten alive
once again.  The Bulls closed the game to 2 on several occasions, but
the Celts were up 69-65 at the end of the period.

	Fred Hoiberg put on a blazing display of 3 point shooting to
open the 4th, as the Bulls started out with a 13-2 run to take a 78-71
lead.  Pitino rushed the starters back into the game.  They stiffened
on defense, and Anderson supplied the offense as the C's responded
with a 8-0 run of their own(C's lead 49-78 5:51 left).  The momentum
swung back to the Bulls though, as they came back with a 8-2 run to
take an 86-80 lead with 3:12 left.  It looked like the Celts might
pull it out though.  Griffin drove to the basket and scored, and then
hit Walker for a conventional three point play to pull the C's to
within 1 at 88-87.  On the next Bull's possessions, Simpkins committed
a loose ball foul against Toine, who sank both free throws to give the
Celts their last lead at 89-88.  On the next play, Elton Brand made
his only positive contribution of the game to the Chicago cause, as
the drove to the basket to put the Bulls up for good 90-89.  With 23.1
seconds left, Ruffin fouled Walker, and Toine went to the line and
missed them both!  On the next play he fouled Brown (intentionally).
Brown made one to put the Bulls up 91-89 (16.0 left).  Kenny came down
the court, and with 10.6 left, drilled a jumper to tie the game.  The
Bulls had a tough time getting organized, and finally Hoiberg tried to
drive the ball between 2 C's.  Either he stepped on Pierce's sneaker
or just tripped over his own feet.  In any case, the refs called the
foul on Pierce, and Hoiberg made 1 foul shot to put the Bulls in the
lead with 1.7 seconds to go.  Pierce took a rather awkward 3, that
feel well short, and the Bulls had their first win of the season,
92-91.

	After a first quarter in which they shot 50%, the C's ended up
at just 38% for the game.  Meanwhile the Bulls shot .479, and
outrebounded the C's 44-43.  The Celts hung close with the edge in
offensive boards (12-8) and turnovers (16-10).  The Celtics bench
scored 14 points in 64 minutes on 3-20 shooting.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Bulls Brown, Hawkins, Artest, Brand, Perdue  

Players
Anderson: Another strong game for Kenny.  Maybe he plays a bit better
when he's nicked up a bit.  20 points, 7 assists and 4 steals in 33
minutes.  On a play in the 3rd quarter, he poked the ball away from
Brown into the back court.  Brown beat him back to the ball, but Kenny
slid on the floor and got the ball,  Then he got up, and drove to the
basket on another Bull and got the score.  I never would have guessed
we'd see that kind of hustle out of Kenny.

Walker: 24 points, 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and just 1 turnover.
He shot just 9-23, though I didn't think there were any really bad
shots.  The one big negative was the 6-11 from the free throw line,
especially the 0-2 at the end of the game.

Pierce:  Solid if unspectacular with 19 points, 6 boards, 3 assists
and 2 steals in 39 minutes.

Griffin: I think it's possible that the long minutes are beginning to
get to Adrian.  He's played 40 or more in the last 5 games or so, and
it's showing a bit (plus I bet he's been getting a bit of a work out
by the media as well).  Doesn't seem to be running around quite as
much as he was.  Still he had 6 points and 9 boards, but just 2
assists in his 40 minutes tonight.  Part of the reason both he and
Pierce are getting so many minutes, is that Cheaney is out, and
Williams not playing too well, so that Griffin is getting all of the
minutes that Paul is on the bench at the 2 guards, as well as his
rotation at 3.

Potapenko: 8 points and 11 boards in 27 minutes.  But he marred the
effort (again) with 4 turnovers.

Williams:  I thought that Eric was a big reason the Celts lost
tonight.  he was missing shots that I thought he should have made, and
for some reason is starting his offense about 5 feet further out than
he used to.  Not really getting the defender on his back, but is
driving facing the basket more.  It isn't working that well, as he
shot 1-8.  Even getting to the line 5 times won't make up for that.
And we won't even talk about his defense against Hoiberg.

Battie: shot 1-7, but went to the line and hit 4 times.  I don't have
any explanation for his problems.

Dana: 1-4 and 1 assist in 15 minutes.  Not getting loose for any
shots, and with the team stuck in half court, is of no help in running
the offense.

McCarty: did have 4 boards in his 11 minutes.

Coaching:  I thought the bench played well in the first 4 games, and I
honestly thought that they would, if anything be better when Dana got
into his groove (I didn't see Turner do anything that would make me
believe he belonged in the NBA).  Whatever the reason, the Bench has
stunk it up for the last 4 games (when Dana came back, or when Cheaney
left: take your pick).  Pitino has got to get something going.  Play
Overton (Cheaney should be back for the next game), or put in Pervis
and slide Battie over to power forward.  Or maybe start a couple of
guy who are currently on the bench and bring a Griffin off the bench.
By my notes (which are not too precise) when the C's 4 reserves were
in the game together tonight, they got outscored 29-13.

Opposition Rookies of Note:  I was underwhelmed by Elton Brand.
Hasn't done too much so, far, and seems a bit foul prone for a small
guy playing power forward.  Though taking a look at Doug Steele's
page, maybe that's not usually the case.  He did have a decent block
or two and 6 boards in 18 minutes.  It's hard to see him being another
Barkely though.

Oh well.  The Celts are now 4-3.  They're off till Wednesday, when 
they host the Cavs.  I bet the Pitino holds a practice or 2 during
this break.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net

P.S. One more thing.  It seems like every game, Tommy lists as one of
the things the Celts have to do to win, as "Get Easy Baskets".  Excuse
me, but isn't that, like, the point of the whole exercise.  Why
doesn't he just put down "Score More Points that the Opponents"?  I
like Tommy as much as anyone, but that's just dopey.