Sonics Nip Celts: Seattle 94-Boston 91

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Like everyone else (I'm sure), I was wondering which C's team
would show up tonight: the club that beat Utah, or the team that
turned in such memorably poor performances against Golden State and
New Jersey in 2 of their last 3 road game.s  Thankfully it was the
former, and, although the Celts couldn't quite overcome Gary Payton
and Vin Baker, they certainly did manage a more than credible effort.
Switch this performance with last nights and the Celts would easily be
2-1 on the road trip.  In general, tonight's contest was a rather
sloppily played, chaotic affair, with some rather bizarre referring
(much of it in favor of the Celts) thrown in to boot.

	The Sonics and Ruben Patterson got off to  quick start in the
game, hitting on 5 of their first 6 shots, and jumping out to an 11-4
lead.  The Celts got some serious ball hawking from Paul Pierce, and
some offense from Potapenko and were able to tie the game with a 7-0
run off their own.  The Sonics were leading by 23 (21-19) with about
2:30 to go in the period, when the Celts put together a 9-2 run to end
the quarter.  On the next to last C's possession of the period, Payton
picked up his second foul of the game, on a three point shot by
Anderson.  Payton was incensed by the call, and spent the entire time
that Kenny attempted the 3 free throws (Kenny made 2), standing next
to the ref, jawing at him.  On the final C's possession, Vitaly
crashed into Payton trying to recover a missed Battie hook shot.
Somewhat inexplicably, the foul was called on Payton (giving him 3 in
the first quarter).  Vitaly converted one of the free throws to take a
28-23 lead going to the second period.

	Payton remained in the game to start the second though.
Vitaly quickly picked up his second foul of the game, setting a screen
on Payton (may have been a makeup).  That sent Vitaly to the bench.
Pitino rather briefly tried to defend Baker with Battie, but had to
bring in Fortson after a couple of possession showed that Tony just
didn't have the bulk or the muscle for the task.  Danny was in the
game for the last 10 minutes of the half, and did a pretty fair job on
Vin.  The C's managed to hold onto their lead till about the middle of
the period, when the Sonics put together a 9-0 run to take a 42-38
advantage.  Either the Celts stiffened on defense or the Sonics
momentarily forgot what the object of the game was, as they scored
just 1 basket over the final 5 minutes of the half.  The Celts weren't
all that much better themselves, but did get treys from Barros and
Pierce to help them take a 49-44 lead into the half.  With about 3
minutes to go, the refs awarded the ball to the Sonics after it hit
Brent Barry when he was standing out of bounds.  Pitino protested a
bit too vehemently, and given as the refs were planning to do a an
incompetent job of calling the game, they had to crack down on the
back talk.  Rick picked up a technical, which Barry missed.

	Both teams were stuck in reverse to start the third.  Over the
first 5 minutes the Sonics outscored the Celts 6-5.  The Sonics gained
that one point advantage, when Anderson was called for a technical
after he got called for a phantom foul on Baker.  A few minutes later
Baker picked up his 4th foul of the game, and Westphal was forced to
go to his bench for Jelani McCoy, who was to prove to be a thorn in
the side of the Celts.  Starting at about the 4 minute mark of the
period. the Sonics put together an 8-0 run to take the lead at 66-63.
The Celts ended the period with 3 unanswered baskets of their own to
take a 71-69 lead into the final period.

	Payton was getting pretty much anywhere he wanted to start the
4th, and McCoy and Greg Foster were knocking in a lot of opportunistic
baskets, as the Sonics took the lead and then pushed it up to 83-76.
Fortson who had played well in the 2nd and 3rd periods on the boards
and defense began to tire a bit, and wasn't as effective getting to
the offensive boards.  The rest of the Celts offense was largely
accidental.  The Celts struck back with a 7-0 run to tie the game at
83.  Westphal put Baker and Grant back into the game, and the Sonics
immediately went to Baker in the low post 1 on 1 against Vitaly.
Although V. was playing reasonably good defense, Baker hit some tough
shots, as he scored 4 baskets in a row for the Sonics putting them up
by 4 with 2:30 to go in the game.  Pierce got a pair of free throws,
and then after a Lewis backdoor cut, Walker got the margin down to 2
again with another trip to the line (93-91 1:46 to go).  After the
Celts finally got a stop on Payton, Anderson threw up a bit of a wild
three, which missed.  The Sonics went to Baker again, but Vitaly
nudged him just far enough out that his runner fell short.  The Celts
got the ball with 36 second left, and got a pretty decent drive to the
basket by Toine.  He missed the shot, but got the rebound, and had a
pretty good look at a layup to tie the game.  He missed rather badly,
though, and the C's had to foul Payton, who missed one of his free
throws.  So the Celts had the ball with 15-.6 second left needing a 3
to tie.  They didn't call timeout (I'm not sure if they had one left),
leaving Potapenko on the floor.  They dribbled ball up, but the Sonics
concentrated on defending the perimeter.  Pierce had to settle for an
off balance shot with two Sonic defenders on him.  It was well off,
and the Sonics took the victory 94-91.

	The C's were just miserable on offense. They shot just .384,
while the Sonics hit 50% of their shots.  The Celts stayed close by
gathering 7 more offensive boards (17-10), and hitting a relatively
decent 21-26 on free throws, while the Sonics were 10-16.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Sonics: Payton, Barry, Patterson, Baker, Grant

Players:
Pierce: Paul's jump shot is really messed up.  It's nothing like the
shot he came into the season with.  Most of the time, he's not even
jumping when he takes it, there is much less arc to the shot, and it
doesn't go in.  He's trying to make up for that by driving, and
getting to the free throw line.  He was 7-20 from the field and 7-8
from the line.  2-7 on threes.  He had 4 steals, 8 boards (including
some vital defensive rebounds). 

Walker: Early in the game, seemed willing to settle for the outside
shot.  The Sonics were getting to him very quickly when he went down
low.  Later in the game, he began to adjust, and faced up, and drove
the ball past Grant with some success.  He also got 5 offensive
rebounds.  He ended up with 21 points (8-20), 8 boards, 5 assists and
5 turnovers (most of those trying to post, or getting offensive
fouls).  He was 1-5 on threes.   Had his shot blocked by Greg Foster.

Anderson: very erratic game for Kenny, I assume the result of strong
defense by Payton.  The hole in the Sonics defense is the mid range
area (12-18 feet), which normally would be ideal for Kenny.  But I
think with maybe 1 exception, Payton (who played 47 minutes, despite
getting 3 fouls in the first quarter), kept Kenny from getting there.
Gary harrassed Anderson all night long, forcing him to pick up his
dribble in many situations, where he would normally maintain it.
Anderson had an unusual 4 turnovers, to go with 16 points, and 4
assists.  

Potapenko: Really the only Celtic to get many good looks in the game.
Vitaly attempted 15 shots in just 24 minutes.  A couple of them were
at the far edge of his ability, which is to say they were a little bit
forced.  He hit on 7 of them, and ended up the game with 15 points,
but just 5 boards.  He did a fairly good job on Baker early, but down
the stretch, had a tough time keeping Vin from sweeping across the
lane for a short runner.  Every time baker got the ball in the low
post, Vitaly would play him a bit more to go to the right, but Baker
would go there anyway, and try a tougher and tougher shot.  The last
couple of times, they went to him, the shot was too tough, but by then
the damage was done.

Griffin: Adrian is getting played for the drive or cut to the basket,
and cannot hit jumpers he was making with regularity early in the
season.  I'd like to know how much of his success shooting the J early
in the season was the result of his off season practice regimen, as
opposed to his long term ability level.  I bet he shot a thousand
jumpers a day this past summer.  He did pick up 5 boards and 3 steals
in 32 minutes, but got 0 points (0-5).

Williams: unfortunately for Pitino, Williams was even worse, shooting
1-3, and picking up 2 offensive charges in just 13 minutes.  

Battie: in 7 minutes went 1-5, had 3 boards, and proved he can't guard
Vin Baker.  In the second half, Pitino went right to Fortson to back
up the center position.  

Fortson: 5 points, 8 boards and 3 fouls in 18 minutes.  Maybe he can't
play Pitino defense, but if you just need a guy to stand behind
someone, and keep them from bulling their way to the basket, Danny
does just fine.  Oddly enough, when Baker went out with his 4th foul
in the second half, and Mccoy came in, Fortson was much less
effective.  Mccoy got 8 points on 4-4 shooting in just 11 minutes
(some of that came with V. on the floor).

Barros: 5 points on 2-2 shooting.  But he got killed by Payton,
especially in a short stint in the second half.  Payton was getting
where he wanted against Kenny, but the shots he got were difficult.
Against Dana he was getting layups.

McCarty: just 4 minutes.

Coaching: By position, the Celts got

Point: 21 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, 4 turnovers
2 guard: 23 points, 8 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers
S Forward: 4 points, 7 boards, 1 assist, 4 turnovers (1-9 shooting)
P Forward: 21 points, 8 boards, 5 assists, 5 turnovers
Center: 22 points, 16 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers

One of the reasons for the poor productivity our of the 3 spot (in
addition to the absence of Calbert Cheaney, and the general low level
of firepower), is that the Celts offense wasn't generating easy shots
for anyone, except for Potapenko.  Anderson, Pierce and Walker were
generating points out of nothing, but Griffin, Williams and McCarty
just couldn't do that.

The Celts are now 22-30.  They appear next in Portland on Monday

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.net