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The Mike Bibby Show Cancelled: C's 101, Grizzlies 77
The Boston Celtics gained a small measure of revenge Thursday night by
soundly beating the Vancouver Grizzlies 101-77.
The Celtics started the game with a familiar lineup: Potapenko,
Walker, and Griffin up front, and Pierce and Anderson in the
backcourt.
Both teams were cold to start the game, but the C's got a jumper from
Anderson and a layup by Antoine to take a 4-2 lead at the 9:15 mark.
The C's started to loosen up and even began to run the floor better
than usual and quickly mounted a 12-6 lead. Paul Pierce seemed
determined to stop any Celtic momentum by shooting ill-timed three
pointers and missing badly. Mike Bibby missed his first three pointer
dashing any hopes he would repeat the 6-6 performance in Boston. The
Celtics did a great job controlling the boards and everyone was
looking up the floor (particularly Antoine, who had some nice passes)
and generating easy baskets. The offense stalled a little at the end
of the quarter when the subs came in, but the Celtics still managed to
end the quarter with an impressive 25-11 lead.
The first three minutes of the second quarter saw the teams trade
baskets. The Celtics subs weren't generating a lot of offense but
Vancouver looked completely inept on their end and couldn't chip into
the lead the C's had built. Mike Gorman announced that Bryant Reeves
had sprained his knee in the first quarter and wouldn't be returning
to the game. Abdur-Rahim, who had been contained pretty well up to
this point, warmed up and started putting some points on the board.
Eric Williams was very productive off the bench in the first half,
coming up with a few baskets including a lightning quick turnaround
jumper from the post that he used to display all the time in his first
two seasons in Boston (I had wondered what happened to that shot).
Pierce abandoned the three pointers for mid-range jumpers and was on
fire, knocking down everything from 18 feet and in. That must have
helped loosen him up because shortly after he hit a three. The C's
had a little flurry of offense at the end of the quarter with two
buckets each from Antoine and Kenny. They finished the half leading
52-34.
Vancouver chipped into the lead to start the third quarter but never
really threatened as the C's stayed calm and hit the shots they needed
to. They had active hands on defense, getting three steals in a very
short stretch of the quarter. Paul Pierce kept knocking down the
mid-range jumpers and Antoine was scoring down low. The lead was
66-46 with 4:10 to go and Vancouver made their last push to make it a
competitive ball game. Bibby heated up and got the lead down to 14
but Antoine countered with a bucket and a foul, missed the free throw
which Fortson gobbled up, then made the bucket and was fouled himself
(but missed the free throw, darn it). That was the final nail in the
coffin for the Grizzlies and the quarter ended with the C's leading
76-54.
The fourth quarter was academic, and the C's came away with the 101-77
win.
Players
=======
Pierce: It took two badly missed three pointers to do it, but Paul got
his butt inside the three point line and knocked down just about every
mid-range jumper he took. I hope he learns a lesson from it. The
three pointer is a nice weapon but he goes to it way too often. Very
active on the defensive end with four steals. Had one moment that
unfortunately epitomizes the team, where he was on a two on one break
with Antoine running the floor with him and took it himself rather
than pass it to a wide-open 'Toine. He got fouled and made both free
throws, but it's that kind of play that indicate (to me, anyway) that
the C's still have a chemistry problem. A team that's in sync and
running smoothly passes that ball, 'Toine jams, and everyone runs back
up the floor with a big smile on their face. Oh, well.
Walker: Threw some nice passes, particularly on the break and helped
get the Celtics running early. Briefly reverted to his old ways and
had one fast break where he took it himself and picked up an offensive
foul for his trouble. On the whole had a nice game and was looking
more than usual for the mid-range shot, making a couple of them.
Potapenko: Really a non-factor as he only got 18 minutes. It wasn't
like he was playing poorly, it just looked like Pitino was trying to
jump-start Battie by giving him some extra minutes at V's expense.
The seven rebounds were nice, though.
Anderson: Was shooing the ball well but could probably easily average
ten assists per game if he just looked for people consistently. Had
some nice passes, just didn't do it nearly often enough. Got to love
the zero turnovers.
Griffin: Quiet in that Griffin sort of way. Definitely not producing
the way he was early in the season, who knows how much his ankle is
bothering him. Filled the gaps with eight points, seven rebounds,
three assists and a steal.
Williams: Looked sharp on offense in the first half, didn't do much of
anything in the second.
Battie: High energy, low production. Did keep Adbur-Rahim under
control for the beginning of the second quarter. And he did have
three blocks.
Fortson: Minutes dipped again but still led the team in rebounding
with eight. Helped break the Grizzlies spirit when he got the rebound
off 'Toine's missed free throw and put it back up for two and the
foul. Tommy has started singing his praises, quite the turnaround
from a week ago when he was spouting the C's party line about Danny
asking for too much money. What a strange ride it's been for Fortson
these past few weeks.
Barros: I can't believe he's under contract for one more year.
Please, someone pull the plug!
McCarty: Ten minutes for ThanksRick, who came up with three points, a
foul and a turnover.
The Celtics play the Los Angeles tonight in Los Angeles.
Dan
Boston 101, Vancouver 77
February 24, 2000
CELTICS REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS PTS
Griffin F 34 2-6 0-1 4-4 4 3 7 3 3 1 2 1 8
A. Walker F 33 12-20 0-2 0-1 1 5 6 5 3 3 3 0 24
Potapenko C 18 2-5 0-0 0-2 2 5 7 0 3 0 3 2 4
K. G 35 11-21 0-1 0-1 1 2 3 6 1 3 0 0 22
Anderson
Pierce G 32 11-17 1-3 2-2 1 4 5 2 5 4 3 0 25
E. 30 3-4 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 4 1 1 0 6
Williams
Battie 22 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 0 1 1 4 3 3
Fortson 14 3-4 0-0 0-1 2 6 8 0 3 0 0 0 6
Barros 12 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 0
McCarty 10 1-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3
Ellison DNP - Coach's Decision
Cheaney DNP
TOTAL 240 46-81 2-10 7-13 12 32 44 17 25 13 18 6 101
(56.8) (20.0) (53.8) Team Rebs: 5 Total TO: 18 (11
Pts)
GRIZZLIES REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-A 3PM-A FTM-A OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS PTS
Abdur-Rahim F 42 10-24 0-1 0-1 1 6 7 6 3 0 2 1 20
O. F 32 5-8 0-0 3-3 4 2 6 0 2 0 4 2 13
Harrington
Reeves C 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
Bibby G 38 5-11 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 6 0 1 6 0 11
Dickerson G 37 6-14 1-2 5-6 0 5 5 3 4 2 4 1 18
Long 25 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 0 2 1 0 0 2
Scott 24 2-3 0-1 3-5 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 0 7
Price 10 1-2 0-1 1-2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 3
D. West 8 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 2
Lopez 8 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Parks 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
Palacio 4 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 240 31-74 2-8 13-19 8 24 32 19 16 5 19 4 77
(41.9) (25.0) (68.4) Team Rebs: 9 Total TO: 20 (26
Pts)
SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Total
Boston 25 27 24 25 101
Vancouver 11 23 20 23 77
Technicals None
Disqualifications:
Officials Danny Crawford, Ron Olesiak, Rashan Michel
Location General Motors Place
Attendance 13,001
Time 1:58