Ce's Finally Make It: Boxton 100- New Jersey 95

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	This was as streaky a basketball game as you'll ever see.

                             C's        Nets
              1st 10 min.    32          20
           Middle 22 Min.    25          54
             Last 14 Min.    43          21

The Celts looked out of the game with 2 minutes to go in the 3rd
quarter, down 74-57.  Pitino went to the much maligned bench, and put
on the much maligned press.  It yielded positive results and a
rejuvenation in the energy level of the Celts.  The bench was in as a
unit for about 6 minutes, and were able to get the Celts back into the
game with a 19-8 run, to cut the Nets lead to 8 (84-76).  Then, Pitino
made his second excellent decision of the game and pulled the bench
off (with the exception of Battie: who played his best game since
before the turn of the century). The starters continued to play
excellent defense, and were able to provide offensive punch, as they
outscored the Nets 13-4, to take at lead at 89-88.  The Nets weren't
through and regained the lead twice.  The Celts scored the last 6 of
the game to bering the victory home.

	Early on, though, this game looked like a stroll in the park
for the Celts. Anderson and Potapenko combined for most of the celts
early offense, as they jumped out to an early lead of 32-20 (V.P. had
10 and Kenny 9).  Ominously, though, the Nets were getting far more
easy baskets, the Celts were committed turnovers, and were not getting
to the offensive boards.  The Nets scored the last 5 points of the
first quarter to close the lead to 32-25, when Pitino tried to cover
Marbury with Overton.

	That late first quarter slide turned into a careen as the Nets
bench came into the game and overwhelmed the Pitino mixed bench
starter group.  Johnny (Dorian) Newman and Scotty Burrell were on fire
from the field, and the Nets bench came with some pressure of their
own as they outscored the Celts 11-4, through the middle of the period
to take a 43-42 lead (the first of the game for the Nets).  Pitino
came back with his full complement of starters but they couldn't get
back into that early game groove.  The Nets finished the half with a
10-1 run to take a 57-48 lead.  The Nets bench (with far more minutes
played) outscored the Celts bench 23-4 in the first half.

	The Nets kept pouring it on, in the third.  They outscored the
Celtics 15-7 over the first 8 minutes of the period, culminating in a
back door, slamin' Alley Oop from Gill to Marbury.  Pitino had seen
enough, and knew that he wouldn't win the game with his starters
(exclusively).  He brought in a unit of Barros, Overton, Cheaney,
McCarty and Battie, and brought on the press at one of it's highest
intensities this season.  They started off with a conventional 3 point
play from Battie, and then a trey from Barros.  They ended the quarter
with an Battie turnaround, and then a McCarty bomb from the corner, to
reduce the Nets lead to 12, (82-70) as the period ended.

	The bench still had something left for the start of the 4th,
mostly stifling defense.  They held the Nets to just one basket over
the first 4 minutes of the period, and were able to score another 6 to
reduce the Nets lead to 84-76.  Then, in his second big decision of
the game, Pitino came back with the starters (well actually he kept
Griffin on the court, and Battie).  Anderson's stay in the game was
short lived, as he got hit in the nose, and had to leave the game in
favor of Barros.  I thought that Marbury would really exploit the
matchup with Dana (and he tried), but Dana held firm.  Meanwhile,
Antoine Walker responded with a series of brilliant plays, mostly
passing the Celts on a 13-4 run, to take their first lead of the
second half at 89-88.  The last play was three point play, as Pierce
hit the first of his free throws, and then Battie grabbed his missed
second attempt, and jammed it back in. Walker scored 4 of the points
and assisted on 5 others.  Marbury finally got past Dana for a jumper
to make the score 90-89 with 2:40 left.  Battie rebounded a missed
Pierce 3, and got fouled (hit both) to put the Celts up again.  After
another Battie free throw, Walker fouled Van Horn, who tied the game
at 92 (1:46).  After Griffin scored on a daring drive down the middle,
Burrell hit yet another 3, to give the Nets their last lead of the
game at 95-94.  On the next play Battie missed a jumper, and Griffin
made a great hustle play to knock the ball out of bounds off the Nets,
and allow Anderson (back in the game) to hit a leaner to put the Celts
up (for good) at 96-95.  With 22 seconds left, Van Horn tried a short
jumper near the basket under intense pressure.  Pierce went up and
secured the rebound, in action that made a New Hampshire primary look
tame.  Marbury fouled Anderson intentionally, and Kenny hit both
throws to put the Celts up by 3 with 17.1 to go.  The Nets got a
pretty decent 3 point attempt by Burrell off, but it missed, and
Pierce added free throws to make the margin an even 100-95.

    The big story in this game was the Celts D over the last 14
minutes of the game, as they reduced the Nets field goal percentage
(which was 52 percent at the end of the 3rd) to just .438 by the end
of the game.  The Celts ended up shooting .474 themselves.  The C's,
who got of to a very slow start on the offensive boards, came on
strong thanks to the bench (who had 8 compared to the starters 5) to
have an advantage of 5 with offset their 14-11 disadvantage in
turnovers.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Cheany, Pierce, Walker, Potapenko
Nets: Marbury, Kittles, Gill, Van Horn, McIlvaine

Players:
Battie: Tony was the spearhead of the comeback.  He played 19 minutes,
and had 14 points, and 5 boards (4 of them offensive).  As usual, when
Tony goes to the boards, he plays well, and tonight he was in attack
mode.  Why not every night (or even every other night?).

Walker:  Maybe Toine plays better tired.  Tommy observed that Toine
seemed to not have the normal energy and the stats bare him out, as
Walker attempted just 9 (made 3) shots in 33 minutes.  He did have 9
boards, 5 assists and 3 turnovers.  During the big run that put the
Cetls on top, he stayed out of the low post (and away from the three
point line).  Instead he operated from 12 to 20 feet, once spinning
between 2 Nets to put up a leaner and then driving twice and hitting
teammates for important jumper.

Anderson\Potapenko:  I think that I've been somewhat remiss, in not
mentioning, that Kenny and Vitaly have been showing signs of
developing the kind of coordination between a big man, and a point
that can yield some big dividends on offense.  When I wrote that they
led the team in the first quarter, I didn't just mead that they scored
a lot of points, but they did it playing with and off each other.
Kenny hit Vitaly running the win on the break for a jam, and then
found him again, down low for a hook.  On another occasion, Vitaly
followed an Anderson drive in for an easy put back.  On at least one
occasion Vitaly returned the favor by hitting Anderson in the corner
for a three.  Also have to mention, that Kenny played excellent
defense on Marbury, matching up on him one on one for most of the
game, and keeping him under wraps.  Kenny had 13 points (but shot
4-13), to go with 8 assists (but an unusual 4 turnovers) in 30
minutes.  Meanwhile, V. had 16 points, 8 boards and 3 assists in 29.

Pierce: bit of a quiet one for Paul.  He had 19 points and 6 boards in
35 minutes, but did have some big defensive boards down the stretch.


Cheaney:  Just 6 points, but a monster 8 boards and 6 assists out of
the 2 guard spot in just 28 minutes.  Also played some strong D, and
had 2 blocks in the game.  His game in Boston seems to be the exact
opposite of what I thought it was in Washington.

Barros: 8 points, 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 turnovers in 15 minutes.
Again I'd like to credit the job he did on Marbury for 3 or 4 minutes
in the 4th quarter.  A big contribution to the win.  I think we've all
misunderstood how important being part of a pressing team was to
Dana's level of play over the last couple of years (takes the pressure
off his weak ball handling and floor generalship, I think).  He's much
better on offense in the press.

Griffin: very quiet game, but he made to big plays down the stretch,
with the drive, and then the heroic save on the play that ended in the
shot that put the Celts ahead for good.  I think that Cheaney has been
getting the starting nod over Adrian because a) Adrian's rusty and B)
neither Adrian or Pierce are that good at putting pressure on
perimeter shooters (having started out as forwards).

Fortson: probably won the game for the Celts by going for 6 minutes
(all in the first half) without collecting a single foul.  Of course
he only collected 1 boards and 2 points, but at least he didn't get a
foul, That's the important thing.

McCarty: 5 points and 2 boards (and energy of course) in 9 minutes.

Overton: had a rough stretch against Marbury in the 1st quarter, but
came back to help in the run at the end of the third period/start of
the 4th.

Coaching: From the 4 minute mark in the 3rd quarter to the end of the
game, this was hands down the best job of in-game coaching Pitino has
down since he came to Boston.  He went to the press (I suspect half
out of desperation), and it worked.  In most games I've seen him
coach, Rick would have stayed with the subs, until they became
exhausted, then got overwhelmed when the first string of the
opposition came in, thereby losing most of the ground they gained.
But tonight, he recognized that the bench players were losing steam
and he went back to the starters before the roof caved in.  The
starters, esp. toine responded.  But he kept Battie (who just feeds
and feeds off his own energy, or starves from the lack of it) on the
court.  Frankly I think that over the last week we've begun to see the
maturing of Pitino as a game coach.  He is trying to fit his plans to
the opposition and to the game in front of him, rather than some
theoretical precepts he put up on the blackboard before the start of
the game (or the season).  That said, it'll be interesting to see how
he handles a successful game by the bench.  Will he try to go back to
using them as a pressing unit, or will he stay with the 2 starters at
a time strategy that he's been trying out recently.

Opposition Great White El Busto's of Note: (well, sorry about that, it
just slipped out). Although Van Horn had another miserable night in a
miserable season, I have to report that I did see some effort out of
him tonight, especially on the defensive board.  Perhaps he even
perspired.

The Celts are now 21-25.  They host the Blazers this Sunday.

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.net