Re: Cleveland preview

[opi@unesco.org]

Happy New Year Alex and the rest of you Celts listers! I guess
technically, Alex's New Year celebrations are still a bit away - the
(Chinese) Year of the Dragon.

Here's a cut&paste of Pitino quotes from the Herald regarding tonight's
big Cleveland game. Marc Cofman's article also notes that the new parquet
floor is a replica of the orginal, featuring the same number of panels
(264) and made of red oak lumber.

Joe

---------

``Cleveland has been one of our Achilles' heels the last few years and
they did a number on us out there last month,'' Pitino said after
practice yesterday at HealthPoint. ``They also outplayed us for three
quarters at home (in the first meeting on Nov. 17), but we were fortunate
to come back and win the game (114-103) with a big fourth quarter.

``One of the reasons they've hurt us in the past is we turn the ball over
a lot and they're great at converting turnovers into layups.''

The Celtics are coming off a 102-94 victory at Denver in which they
committed just nine turnovers. Pitino is hoping for similar results
against the Cavaliers.

``One of the reasons we were able to win the Denver game was the low
amount of turnovers,'' he said. ``Denver is very similar to Cleveland in
the sense that they have great speed and they're good at getting out on
transition and scoring. Limiting your turnovers will neutralize some of
that.''


Alex Wang wrote:

> Happy new year to everyone on the Celtics list!
>
> Just got back from vacation in Illinois, where I had the misfortune of
> seeing the Bulls play on TV several times. Elton Brand looks like a
> promising player though, and I think the concerns about his height
> were overblown. He'll have a long productive career in the NBA
> (barring injury).
>
> Anyways, I've missed the Celtics list and watching the Celtics so I'll
> do a quick preview of today's game with Cleveland. Cleveland, with a
> 12-17 record, has lost 8 of 9 games after drubbing the Celtics 115-88
> on December 14. Of course, the Celtics were without the services of
> Pierce, Fortson, and Potapenko back then. Cleveland is also 2-10 on
> the road this season.
>
> They are led by Shawn Kemp who is averaging 19.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg, but
> shooting only 40% from the field this season. However he still gets
> to the line frequently, where he's shooting 80%. Bob Sura is having
> a breakthrough season averaging 16.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.1 apg and
> shooting 46.1% from the field and a blistering 44.3% from three-point
> range. Other major contributors are Lamond Murray (12.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg),
> Brevin Knight (11.4 ppg, 7.7 apg), Wesley Person (47% 3pt FG), and
> old friend Andrew DeClercq (9.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg). DeClercq has come off
> the bench in the past two games behind Mark Bryant.
>
> Cleveland favors an uptempo style, frequently sending two players
> running off opponent's shots. Boston probably needs to take care of
> the ball and avoid hasty shots so that our players don't get caught
> out of position where they can't get back in time. At the same time,
> Cleveland is vulnerable if we can grab some offensive rebounds, so
> hopefully Danny Fortson can begin returning to his old form in this
> department (only 1 offensive rebound in 36 minutes so far). As a team
> they're shooting an incredible 42.6% on three pointers, so defending
> the three is vital. Of course, stopping Kemp is a problem - he's
> averaging 21.5 ppg on 62% shooting against us in two games this
> season.
>
> Hopefully the Celtics begin the new year on a good note by smashing
> this struggling team on the new parquet floor! They play tomorrow
> in New York so hopefully they can put the game away relatively early.
>
> Alex