Bulpett on Fort, Pervis, V, Cheaney

[opi@unesco.org]

Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett reports on Fortson, Pervis, Vitaly,
Cheaney. Great quotes from Danny Fort. He believes we can win the
Eastern Conference "and go from there." :-) Unbelieveable.

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There can be no question the Celtics miss the rebounding talent that
sits on the sideline with Danny Fortson and his fractured right foot.
But Antoine Walker will admit Fortson's absence has been good for him.

``It's saved my back a little trouble,'' Walker said with a
smile.``Believe me. I guarded the guy in practice. He's huge.''

Of course, when Fortson gets back in about a month and plays on the same
side as Walker, he will allow the Celtics co-captain a great deal more
freedom. And he won't be as large a load to deal with in practice
either.

Rick Pitino reported this week that Fortson is six pounds into his
prescribed weight loss.

``Danny's a large man,'' Pitino said, ``and any time you have 270 pounds
going on your body, you're going to have some wear and tear. So
hopefully we're going to get Danny 10 or 12 pounds lighter during his
rehabilitation, and then he'll come back better than ever.''

In the meantime, even though Fortson is a 6-foot-8 millionaire who  can
bench press the FleetCenter, he has a lot in common with the average
American. He's just another person trying to lose weight.

"I really don't have a choice,'' Fortson said with a shrug. ``I've got
to do it. That's my goal right now. The team is out there trying to win
games and my goal for right now is to lose weight and stay strong.

``All I can do is sit in a chair during games and be supportive any way
I can.''

As for diet methodology, Fortson is using the basic politician's
strategy - deny, deny, deny.

 ``It's not easy eating soups and salads and carrots and broccoli  every
day - but somebody's got to do it,'' he said. ``That's my job  right
now.

``It's all mental. You've got to go in there and look like you're going
into prison. I've been cutting out all the good stuff I like to eat and
eating that nasty salad and soup all day.''

When he returns to the battles under the boards, they will likely seem
a walk in the park compared to what he's going through now.

 ``Let's face it,'' Fortson said, ``when you're trying to lose weight,
you ain't going to eat nothing tasty.''

Watching has taught him a few things about himself and about the team he
was traded to in August.

 ``I don't like to miss a game for anything,'' Fortson said. ``It kills
me sitting over there.

``But as I've been sitting there I can see just how good this team can
become. I want to win the whole thing. Really. I would like to win  the
Eastern Conference and go from there. You know, people may  think that's
an unrealistic goal, but I set high goals. I set high goals  for the
team and high goals for myself.

``Every week this team gets better. You can see how we went out and beat
some teams that were predicted to win a lot more games than us. It goes
to show those publications (that predicted Celtic doom) don't mean
nothing. It's about how hard you come in here and work every day, how
much heart you got. That's the bottom line. Knowing that, we deserve to
win games.''

It will be easier for the Celtics to get what they deserve when Fortson
returns, especially if he can reprise his role as the fourth-leading
rebounder in the NBA last year.

As Dana Barros put it, ``We filled a big void in rebounding with  Danny,
and then he gets hurt. So now we're trying to fill that void again until
he gets back. And it's going to take 12 guys to take care of that
business.''


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In this, the final year of his contract, Ellison has been available for
all eight games, though he has played in just four. But Pitino put him
in for 15 minutes in Wednesday's win over Cleveland and Ellison
responded with four points, three rebounds, one assist and, most
importantly, two blocked shots.

``Perv did a nice job,'' said Pitino. ``And we're going to play him a
little bit more and more each game, because if we're truly going to be a
good basketball team come playoff time, he has to be a factor.

``He's the longest. He's the shot-blocker. He's the best passing big
man. He understands the game the best of all the guys. So we've got to
get him to where he gets an offensive rebound and he's not looking
around to pass it. He's looking to go up and dunk it.''

``We've been going slow with Pervis,'' Pitino said. ``We want to get
him in great shape so he doesn't get hurt, and he's very close to being
in outstanding shape.

``No longer can we say he's out of shape. He's in good shape now.''

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Vitaly is vital

The Celtics are also looking to get a little more out of their starting
center. Vitaly Potapenko was a key in the win over Cleveland, scoring 10
points in the last eight minutes, and Pitino wants to utilize his
talents more.

``Vitaly's such a good spot-up shooter,'' said the coach. ``We don't
always see it because we have so many good scorers on our team.We don't
notice it. But Vitaly is a major weapon spotting up.

 ``When we did our charts the other day on all our plays, he shoots
almost 70 percent from those areas. And we've got to continue to  get
him more shots - especially Kenny (Anderson) has got to look for him
more coming off that pick and roll.''

The problem, as was the case Wednesday, is keeping Potapenko on the
court.

 ``If he played 35 minutes a game, he'd average 12 (points) and 10
(rebounds),'' Pitino said. ``But because he only plays 26 minutes - he's
always in foul trouble - it takes away from his aggressiveness and his
nature. It's a matter of minutes played. If he can get his 32-34 minutes
a game, he'll score and he'll post good rebounding numbers.''

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Cheaney's ready

The Celts will welcome back Calbert Cheaney tonight from four games out
with a sprained right ankle.

``He's ready to play,'' Pitino said. ``I'm not sure (how much he'll go),
but I'd like to get him some time.''

 The move will cut down on Paul Pierce's and Adrian Griffin's time with
the second group.

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