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Infobeat report
End of Game Report
BOSTON 112, NEW YORK 85
(Box Score)
BOSTON (AP) - Rick Pitino is already planning for next season, looking
for another shot at the playoffs that have eluded him in his three
seasons as coach of the Boston Celtics. After Wednesday night's
season-ending 112-85 win over the New York Knicks, there wasn't so much
as a hint that Pitino wouldn't return.
"This is a nice way to end the season. We will work very hard this
summer and come back a better basketball team," said Pitino, who said
he'll visit each player.
Boston won five of its last six games after a 10-game losing streak
eliminated the Celtics from playoff contention. The last two wins were
by 33 and 27 points, two of the Celtics' three biggest victory margins.
Still, they suffered their seventh straight losing season, while the
Knicks are headed to the playoffs for the 13th consecutive year.
"This year, we're expected to win," Latrell Sprewell said, "so there's
some pressure on us."
There wasn't much incentive to win Wednesday as New York lost for the
fourth time in its last seven games. The Knicks had already clinched the
third playoff berth in the Eastern Conference and an opening-round
series against Toronto. So key players were rested, including the
starting backcourt of Allan Houston, who had 11 points in 29 minutes,
and Charlie Ward, who was scoreless in playing just the first 10
minutes.
"A big factor is health in any playoff situation," Knicks coach Jeff Van
Gundy said. "We hoped to be healthy and play our best basketball at the
end of the year, but it hasn't worked out that way."
The Knicks led 56-55 at halftime but managed just 11 points in the third
quarter, allowing the Celtics to take an 84-67 lead into the fourth.
"We could have thrown in the towel when we lost 10 straight," said Paul
Pierce, who led the Celtics with 19 points. "We lost close games this
year. Next year we'll win those."
The Celtics (35-47) got 18 points from Kenny Anderson and 17 from Tony
Battie.
The Knicks got 17 points from John Wallace and 15 from Patrick Ewing,
who played just 22 minutes. Four substitutes played at least 25.
"We've led ourselves to believe we wait for the playoffs to start
playing our game, but that can hurt us," Houston said. "We play the kind
of basketball we are capable of and no one will beat us."
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BOSTON CELTICS 112, New York Knicks 85
(Recap)
NEW YORK (85)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pts
--- --- --- --- - - ---
Johnson 19 1-4 2-2 2-4 0 0 4
Sprewell 28 5-14 2-3 0-1 5 1 12
Ewing 22 5-9 5-6 1-4 1 2 15
Houston 29 5-12 0-0 0-3 2 0 11
Ward 10 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 1 0
Brunson 31 4-11 0-0 1-5 1 2 9
Thomas 26 3-11 1-2 6-7 4 3 7
Wallace 29 7-13 3-4 1-4 0 0 17
Dudley 25 2-4 2-8 4-5 0 6 6
Lang 12 1-3 2-4 0-3 0 2 4
Wingate 9 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Totals 240 33-83 17-29 15-37 15 18 85
Percentages: FG .398, FT .586. 3-Point Goals: 2-5, .400 (Houston 1-2,
Brunson 1-3). Team Rebounds: 19. Blocked Shots: 2 (Dudley, Thomas).
Turnovers: 19 (Wallace 5, Ewing 3, Johnson 2, Brunson 2, Ward 2, Houston
2, Sprewell, Thomas, Wingate). Steals: 8 (Lang 3, Ewing, Thomas, Ward,
Wingate, Wallace). Technical Fouls: None. Flagrant fouls: Lang, 10:34
fourth; Dudley, 18.2 fourth. Illegal Defense: None.
BOSTON (112) FG FT Reb Min
M-A M-A O-T A F Pts --- --- --- --- - -
--- Walker 29 5-9 4-5 0-6 3 3 14 EWilliams 27
2-2 0-0 3-6 2 3 4 Potapenko 20 4-12 2-2 3-6 2 3
10 Anderson 31 7-14 2-2 1-3 6 2 18 Pierce 33
7-12 2-2 0-2 3 2 19 Barros 10 2-6 0-0 0-0 4 0
5 Battie 21 5-8 7-8 0-1 1 2 17 Fortson 25
5-8 3-5 2-13 1 6 13 Griffin 19 0-0 0-0 0-3 3 4
0 Cheaney 13 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 0 Overton 10
3-4 2-2 0-0 2 1 10 McCarty 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0
2
Totals 240 41-78 22-26 9-41 27 27 112
Percentages: FG .526, FT .846. 3-Point Goals: 8-21, .381 (Pierce 3-6,
Overton 2-2, Anderson 2-7, Barros 1-3, Walker 0-1, Battie 0-1, Cheaney
0-1). Team Rebounds: 6. Blocked Shots: 4 (Battie 2, Pierce, E.Williams).
Turnovers: 16 (Walker 4, Pierce 2, E.Williams 2, Barros, Anderson,
Battie, Potapenko, Overton, Cheaney, Griffin, Fortson). Steals: 15
(Anderson 4, Griffin 3, Walker 2, Battie, Pierce, Potapenko, Overton,
Fortson, E.Williams). Technical Fouls: Illegal Defense, 26.4 third;
Fortson, 10:34 fourth. Illegal Defense: 1.
------------------------- New York 23 33 11 18- 85 Boston 29 26 29
28-112 -------------------------
A-18,624 (18,624). T-2:15. Officials-Ronnie Nunn, Don Vaden, Tony
Brothers.