Celts stay on road to ruin

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Celts stay on road to ruin 
Pitino, still upbeat, blames bad defense 
Friday, April 21, 2000 
By Bill Doyle
Telegram & Gazette Staff 
BOSTON -- Celtics co-captain Antoine Walker plans to watch as much of the
NBA playoffs on television as he can.
         "I might even go see a few games," he said.
         Once again, he'll play in the postseason only in his dreams.
         The Celtics dishonored Red Auerbach's 50th anniversary season by
missing the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. That's hard to do when
you consider 16 of the NBA's 29 teams qualify each year.
         The Clippers, for crying out loud, have participated in the
playoffs more recently than the Celtics. The Clips made it three years ago.
         Only Dallas and Golden State have missed the playoffs more
consecutive years than Boston. Dallas last played in the postseason in 1990,
Golden State in 1994. The Celtics' five-year absence ties them for the
third-longest playoff drought with Denver and Vancouver. As a fifth-year
expansion team, the Grizzlies have never qualified for the playoffs.
         To put Boston's five-year drought in perspective, it matches the
number of times the Celtics failed to take part in the playoffs over their
previous 45 seasons.
         What Celtics fans want to know is: When will it end? Celtics
president-coach Rick Pitino failed to fulfill his promise to make the
playoffs this season, but he insists the team has made progress.
         "This is a better basketball team than my first year," he said.
         The won-loss record wasn't quite as good -- 36-46 in 1997-98
compared to 35-47 this year -- but Pitino believes the talent is better.
Walker and Kenny Anderson played on both teams, but two years ago Walter
McCarty started at small forward and now he rarely gets off the bench. Paul
Pierce is definitely an upgrade at that position.
         Pitino remains convinced Vitaly Potapenko and Tony Battie are an
improvement at center over Andrew DeClercq and Travis Knight. Battie, 24, is
an athletic but wildly inconsistent player. Pitino said Wednesday he
believed Battie would gain consistency once he adds strength. He said the
same thing last year.
         "If he was 32, I'd be very concerned about it," Pitino said, "but
being young, especially with young big men, it takes time to grow."
         Pierce played some at shooting guard, but when he didn't, the
Celtics had no one to adequately replace the departed Ron Mercer. Adrian
Griffin, named the Celtics' Sixth Star by Fox Sports Net, fizzled after a
fast start, and Calbert Cheaney had such a miserable offensive year, it's
difficult to imagine he graduated from Indiana as the Big Ten's all-time
leading scorer.
         "Our basketball team has improved offensively with their passing,
their cutting and their good shots," Pitino said. "They look for each other.
It's a very close-knit group. Our weakness is in our athleticism
defensively. That's where we must get better."
         The Celtics pressed during Pitino's first year in Boston and
opponents claimed the high-energy defense wouldn't last in an 82-game
season. They were right. Pitino tried to get away from the quick-fix press
this season, realizing the Celtics couldn't win over the long haul without
improving their man-to-man defense.
         But it made little difference which defense the Celtics used.
Neither stopped opponents very often. In Pitino's first two years here, the
Celtics ranked 22nd in the league in scoring defense. This year, they ranked
20th.
         Two years ago, they also tied for last in field-goal defense at
.479. This year, they ranked third from the bottom at .471. Only Vancouver
(.474) and the Clippers (.475) were worse.
         Cheaney is the only Celtic who plays tough defense. Potapenko and
Pierce are especially weak defensively, both lacking the quick footwork to
keep up with their man.
         Their inability to stop teams late contributed to losing a
league-high 13 games by three points or less. Pitino plans to work
personally with Walker and Pierce this summer.
         "Everybody has to keep a positive attitude," Pierce said. "Next
year, when everybody comes back, we can look at a lot of those close games
and I think we'll turn around and start winning them. We're not that far
away."
         The Celtics' most glaring needs are a shot-blocking big man -- only
the Pistons blocked fewer shots -- and a shooting guard who can make
3-pointers -- Boston finished 25th from beyond the arc.
         But at least one more ingredient is missing -- leadership. Walker
is too young and selfish, and fellow co-captain Dana Barros plays too
insignificant a role as a backup point guard for anyone to listen to him.
         Pitino earns $50,000 a pop giving motivational speeches to
corporate executives, but they haven't helped the Celtics. 
© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
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