points by minute

[jmc@ptc.com]

Hi folks,

  Last night while watching the last half of the Celtics game, I was 
a bit bored so for some strange reason I thought it would be fun to 
keep track of the scoring minute-by-minute.  In case you're interested, 
below are the results.

  I'm not exactly sure of the last half of the 3rd Quarter, because 
I didn't write any of this down, but here's what I remember: 

3rd Quarter
Washington   2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 0 1 2     = 17
Boston       0 4 0 0 6 2 2 2 2 0 1 2     = 21

4th Quarter
Washington   2 2 2 3 0 2 2 3 3 1 4 0     = 24
Boston       2 4 2 0 6 2 2 0 2 3 4 3     = 30

  Notice that in both quarters the scoring was pretty normal until 
the 5th minute, when in both cases the Celtics put on an 6-0 spurt. 
The rest of the way the scoring was almost even.  Those 2 spurts made 
the difference. 

  The Celtics next best minute was the final minute of the game, which 
is an encouraging thing to see given last season's problems.  The less 
encouraging thing is the way they gave up 4 points in the second-to-last
minute.  Pitino was ranting about the "porous" defense in the post-game 
press conference, but what I saw was about the same number of really good 
defensive stands as there were defensive let-downs.  Washington was often 
in shot-clock trouble, and Battie had a couple of nice blocks late in 
the game.  Of course, they do have to cut down on the defensive let-downs. 
It was encouraging to see the pressing/trapping being effective in 
forcing turnovers. 

Jon Mc