Pistons Edge C's: Detroit 111- Boston 106

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Well, no, it wasn't really that close.  The Pistons were up by
11 with 2:30 to go in the game, when the Celts hit 3 treys to make the
game close.  As usual, the C's couldn't make the clutch free throws,
though, and the Pistons went on to win.  Grant Hill just murdered
whichever Celts was guarding him, and the Piston went to a team
defensive scheme to stop Walker (who had a big game against them the
last time the 2 teams met), which was quite effective.

	The Celts started out the game in miserable fashion.  Eric
Williams picked up early fouls trying to stay with Hill, and the Celts
just couldn't score.  The Pistons went up 14-3, and then 20-8.  The
Celts got a little help from the bench and did manage to break double
figures.  They were very lucky to be down by just 11 at the end of the
period (23-12).

	Barros continued his recent solid offense at the start of the
second and the Celts bench managed to match buckets with the pistons.
Still, they were trailing by the same 11 point margin, 7:00 into the
period (36-25).  Kenny Anderson came back into the game, and with the
help of an active Walter McCarty, helped the Celts to a 17-0 run that
put them up by 6 (the highwater mark for the Celts.  The Piston
starters got back into the game, and stemmed the tide.  The C's led at
the break 50-46.

	The Celts continued their solid offense into the third
quarter, but Grant Hill really began to make his presence felt.
Cheaney had started the second half in place of Williams, but Hill
quickly got him into foul trouble also. Then Pitino went to Griffin
who had no better luck.  With about 5:00 to go in the period, Hill
scored on a drive to get the lead back for the Pistons.  Meanwhile,
Pitino went back to the bench, but didn't get the same level of
productivity as in the first half.  The Celts were only able to score
3 points over the final 5:00 of the period.  The Pistons took
advantage to build an 80-71 lead going into the final period.

	The Pistons stayed in control of the game for the first 6:00
of the 4th, maintained a 10-11 point lead.  with about 5:00 to go,
Pierce hit what would be the first of 5 Celtics threes down the
stretch, as he cut the lead to 7 (95-88).  On the next possession
Walker scored on a nice pass from Anderson to cut the margin to 5.  In
a huge play, on the following possession, Walker got to the free throw
line, and missed both free throws.  The Pistons grabbed the miss, and
ran the ball down the court for a quick and easy score for Stackhouse.
Instead of being down by 3, the Celts were behind by 6.  Walker came
right back and hit a 3 to partially repair the damage.  The Celts fell
quite for a moment, and let the Piston put up 5 unanswered points to
push the lead back up to 11 at 104-93.  The Celts were seemingly out
of it, but the were able to score 11 points over 4 possessions to cut
the Piston lead to 107-104 (3 treys, K.A. 2, and Toine 1).  The Celts
were down by 4 after Stackhouse hit one of two free throws (.33 to
go).  Barros faked a 3, drove, and drew the 6th foul on Laettner with
20.4 to go.  Dana could only hit 1 of his.  A few moments later,
Walker had another chance at the free throw line, and hit 1 of 2
again.  The Pistons won by a final of 111-106.

	Another big free throw difference in this one.  The Pistons
went to the free throw line 23 more times than the Celts (56-33).  And
it didn't help much that the Pistons also hit 23 more free throws
(basically they shot 100% on the 23 "extra"throws: due to the Celts
shooting just 60%).  FG% was even, rebounding was even, turnovers were
even.  The Celts relied heavily on the 3, and hit it well at 10-22.

Lineups: 
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Williams, Walker, Potapenko
Pistons: Hunter, Stackhouse, Hill, Laettner, Mills

Players:
Walker: maybe a bit of a learning experience for Toine.  Every time he
would get the ball 15-20 feet from the basket, Laettner would drop off
him by 5 feet.  Magically, 1 or 2 Pistons would drop into the paint
alongside him, so Toine appeared to be facing a wall of defenders (how
that isn't an illegal defense is beyond me).  It made it impossible
for him to get to the basket himself, and very hard for him to lay off
for easy baskets,  His only choice was to pitch the ball outside for 3
pointers.  I'm not sure that he ever did totally catch on.  He ended
up with 16 points on 6-15 shooting, and had 9 boards, 2 assists and 5
turnovers.  He missed a couple of big free throws again, which
shouldn't make us forget that he's shooting at 70% for the season (a
big improvement).  I think that at crunch times, though, old habits
win out over new ones.

Anderson: continues to shoot well from the outside.  He was 4-6
tonight on threes, and scored 24 points.  He still had just 5 assists
in 30 minutes, and is of no use in pushing the temp.

Pierce: Actually a very nice, steady game for Paul.  I thought that
Tommy made a good point.  Pierce often uses a very quick spin move to
get himself to the basket, but when he does it, he loses sight of the
rest of the court, and frequently turns the ball over or charges.  In
the last couple games he's gone away from that move, and has been
driving straight up, and making some nice passes off the dribble.
Tonight he shot 8-14, and had 7 boards, 6 assists and 1 turnover in 40
minutes.  Nice stuff.

Potapenko: Most non existent game in a long time.  He took just 1 shot
in 18 minutes, and had 3 points and 1 board.

Williams: 4 fouls, 0 points in 15 minutes.  Big time trouble with
Hill.

Cheaney: also had major problems with Hill, but at least scored 9
points on 4-5 shooting.

Fortson: becoming the master of the jump shot.  hit on 2-3 tonight,
and had 10 points and 6 boards in 19 minutes.  There does seem to be
an inverse relationship between Danny's new found jump shooting and
his offensive rebounding though.

Barros: another big night for Dana with 15 points on 5-7 shooting.
Not that it's done much good the last 2 weeks, but you have to think
the Celts would have another 3 or 4 wins if Dana had played like this
from the start of the season.

McCarty: came into the game in the 2nd, and injected some life into a
weary Celtic squad.  On the tangible side of the ledger, though, shot
1-6 and had 5 personals in 20 minutes.

Battie: Wow, how far down can this guy go.  1 point, 2 boards and 6
fouls in 10 minutes.  He's putting Danny to shame.

Griffin: better not to say anything.

Coaching: Hill really hasn't played that well against the Celts so far
this season, so I can't blame Rick too much.  But I have to wonder
exactly what his plan was for defending Grant.  

The Celts are now (cringe) 30-45.  They host the Sixers on Friday.	

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net