Celts Crushed in La La Land: Los Angeles 109, Boston 96

[D Parker <danp@town.ipswich.ma.us>]

The Boston Celtics closed out their road trip with a loss to the Los
Angeles Lakers, dropping the game 109-96 in a game that wasn't nearly
as close as the score would indicate.

The Celtics started with game with Walker, Griffin, and Potapenko up
front and Anderson and Pierce in the backcourt.

The Celtics started the game by trying to get Vitale some jumpers.
Shaq wasn't interested in coming out to guard Potapenko and V
responded by hitting 2 of 4 jump shots early.  Unfortunately the
Celtics defense was nowhere to be found and the Lakers jumped out to a
quick 18-8 lead.  Anderson and Pierce both hit jumpers to get it down
to 18-12 but the Celtics really hurt themselves at the line, missing
three straight at one point, and ended the quarter down 30-17.

The second quarter started with Eric Williams picking up the offensive
foul and things just got worse from there.  O'Neal was dominating on
the boards as Battie and Fortson had no chance of outmuscling him off
the boards.  The Lakers were running and the Celtics were constantly
caught in no man's land -- not running hard up the floor on offense
and not getting back on defense -- and the Lakers were scoring easily
(Glen Rice really had a field day).  The lead ballooned up to 21
points before a brief Celtics flurry got it down to 14.  Shaq went to
the bench and Tony Battie started to assert himself on the boards.
The C's in general were playing better with O'Neal out and they
somehow managed to finish the quarter only down by 12.

Two Paul Pierce free throws at the beginning of the third period got
the lead down to 10 and the Lakers finally woke up and realized it
would become a ball game if they didn't pay at least a little
attention.  Kenny Anderson was uncharacteristically shaky with the
ball, almost carrying it twice (he probably should have been called
for it both times) and having it get away from him once in a while
throughout the game.  The Lakers pushed the lead back up with the help
of some really poor decisions by the Celtics (such as twice fouling a
player shooting a three pointer).  Pierce scored three straight
buckets at one point but the C's couldn't get a stop on the defensive
end so they had to settle for keeping within 15 to 20 points or so
throughout the rest of the quarter.  It ended with the C's down 84-66.

The fourth quarter saw the Lakers show mercy and not run up the
score.  They could have really killed the Celtics but settled for
handling them easily and the game ended with the score 109-96.

Players
=======

Walker:  Shot pretty well at 10-22, but only 1-4 on three pointers.
Neither Walker nor Pierce has been hitting the three lately and it's
really getting tough to watch them both chuck up three or four a
game.  Got stripped repeatedly driving to the basket as his 5
turnovers will attest.

Griffin:  A nice find from the CBA, but it might be time to
start evaluating whether he still belongs in the starting lineup.
Didn't do a whole lot in his 32 minutes, though he was active on the
defensive end with three steals.  Was guarding either Kobe or Glen
Rice (you never can be sure with the C's defense) and both had a field
day.

Potapenko:  Some early success with the jump shot against O'Neal, but
isn't wise enough yet to know how to alter his game against a monster
like Shaq.  Should review what Dave Cowens did when playing Kareem.
Hard to say why he only got 18 minutes since the bench wasn't exactly
on fire.

Pierce:  Bad shooting night, 1-4 on threes and 6-17 overall.  Looked
frustrated.  I think the losing and poor chemistry is taking its toll.

Anderson:  Ten assists, none of them particularly memorable.  Also
came up with five steals but I can barely remember what he did out
there.  Not a good game despite what the stats would indicate.

Battie:  Looked pretty good when O'Neal went to the bench, as he was
able to control the boards and the jumper was dropping.  Pretty much
was helpless when Shaq was in, though.

Williams: It didn't dawn on me until very recently (after seeing the
contract numbers someone posted) what a huge, untradeable liability
Eric Williams is.  When he's not scoring he's useless.  I always hoped
he'd develop into a defensive stopper, as he certainly has the frame
to guard a wide range of players (1's, 2's, 3's, some 4's) but it
doesn't look like it'll ever happen.  A player with no skills is no big 
deal until you sign them to a contract that pays them four million a
year.  Ouch.  I'm starting to see why the Denver papers thought they got
the better end of the Mercer-Fortson deal.  Addition by subtraction,
indeed.  Anyway, came up with a point and two rebounds tonight.

McCarty:  The eight million dollar man came up with a single rebound
and assist and nothing else during his fourteen minutes.

Overton:  Did what you would expect from your 11th or 12th man.

Ellison:  Matched McCarty's production in just two minutes.

The loss puts the Celtics at 23-32.  Their next game is at home against
the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

Dan


L.A. Lakers 109, Boston 96
February 25, 2000

CELTICS                                 REBOUNDS
PLAYER    POS MIN FGM-A  3PM-A  FTM-A  OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS PTS
A. Walker  F  37  10-22  1-4    4-6    1   5   6   2   5  0  5  0  25
Griffin    F  32  1-5    0-1    0-0    1   2   3   0   4  3  0  0  2
Potapenko  C  18  6-11   0-0    2-4    2   3   5   1   2  1  1  1  14
Pierce     G  36  6-17   1-4    6-6    2   1   3   3   2  2  1  0  19
K.         G  35  4-10   0-0    4-6    0   4   4   10  3  5  3  0  12
Anderson
Battie        25  5-11   0-0    2-2    1   7   8   2   3  2  0  0  12
E.            14  0-3    0-1    1-2    1   1   2   0   3  0  1  0  1
Williams
Overton       14  3-5    0-0    0-0    1   1   2   2   2  0  0  0  6
McCarty       14  0-0    0-0    0-0    0   1   1   1   0  0  0  0  0
Fortson       13  2-4    0-0    1-4    1   2   3   1   3  0  1  0  5
Ellison       2   0-1    0-0    0-0    1   0   1   1   1  0  0  0  0
Cheaney       DNP
TOTAL         240 37-89  2-10   20-30  11  27  38  23  28 13 12 1  96
                  (41.6) (20.0) (66.7) Team Rebs: 12 Total TO: 12 (19
                                                                   Pts)

LAKERS                               REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-A  3PM-A  FTM-A  OFF DEF TOT AST PF ST TO BS PTS
Rice    F  26  7-12   0-2    6-6    1   0   1   0   1  0  1  0  20
Green   F  23  3-5    0-0    0-0    1   8   9   2   2  1  2  0  6
S.      C  36  13-20  0-0    2-8    2   13  15  6   4  0  2  4  28
O'Neal
K.      G  31  6-12   0-0    5-6    1   5   6   5   5  3  2  2  17
Bryant
Harper  G  23  2-3    0-0    3-6    1   3   4   7   0  0  2  0  7
Fisher     28  3-4    1-1    1-2    0   2   2   4   1  0  5  0  8
Horry      25  1-5    1-1    3-4    1   2   3   2   4  2  3  1  6
Fox        20  3-9    0-2    0-0    0   2   2   3   1  1  0  1  6
Shaw       13  0-1    0-0    0-0    0   0   0   4   0  0  1  0  0
T.         13  3-5    0-0    3-4    1   3   4   2   4  0  1  0  9
Knight
George     2   0-1    0-1    2-2    0   1   1   0   2  1  0  0  2
Salley     DNP - Coach's Decision
TOTAL      240 41-77  2-7    25-38  8   39  47  35  24 8  19 8  109
               (53.2) (28.6) (65.8) Team Rebs: 14 Total TO: 19 (19
                                                                Pts)

SCORE BY PERIOD       1       2       3       4       Total
Boston                17      24      25      30      96
L.A. Lakers           30      23      31      25      109

Technicals             None
Disqualifications:
Officials              Terry Durham, Bill Spooner, Kevin Fehr
Location               Staples Center
Attendance             18,997
Time                   2:15