Toine has Big Night: Boston 105 - Cleveland 98

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Antoine had one of his best games in a Celtic's uniform
tonight.  Ironically, he was on the bench when the Celts made their
big move.  At the end of the 3rd period, Kenny Anderson led the Celts
on a 9-0 run to take their first double digit lead of the game at
89-78.  The Cavs, who played hard, fought their way back into the
game, getting to with 2 points at 96-94 with 3:10 to go.  The Celts
got some big defensive plays and won going away 106-98.  Dana Barros
was under the weather, and was unable to play in the game.

	For about the first 5:00  of the game the 2 clubs played even
with Walker and Lamond Murray being the hot hands.  The Cavs took the
first substantial lead of the game with a 10-0 run (21-12).  Murray
was toasting Pierce, and Pitino had to get Paul out of the game.  The
Celts got back to within 6 at the end of the period 34-28.

	Walker started the 2nd quarter with a brilliant drive as he
spun and then banked in a runner (Tommy identified the shot as
Havlicek-like, though I can't imagine Hondo performing the spin).  The
Celts got back to within 1 point at 37-36.  The Celts continued to
shadow the Cavs very closely throughout the quarter, and with 3:20 to
go in the half, DeClercq fouled Walker, who hit a pair of free throws
(his 20th and 21st of the game) to give the Celts the lead 52-51.  The
Celts pushed the lead up to 58-53.  In a play that shows new found
maturity on Toine's part (though it was ultimately unsuccessful), he
came down the court, and clearly thought about taking the three.  He
pulled the ball back down instead, and went inside to Battie for a
much better percentage shot (Tony didn't make it but...).  The Cavs
closed out the quarter with a 5-0 run to tie the game at 58-58.

	It seemed as thought the momentum of the game had moved in
favor of the Celts, but the Cavs wouldn't go away.  Walker continued
to torment Cleveland, and he was distributing the ball.  Pitino
finally gave Toine a rest with the Celts up 78-76 (Walker had 30).
With Walker on the bench, Kenny Anderson stepped up and scored 7 of 11
points, as the Celts took control of the game with a 11-2 run.  they
led at the end of the period 87-78.

	Walker got back into the game in time to score 2 free throws
to give the Celts their biggest lead of the game at 93-80 (still 10:00
to go).  The Celts offense fell apart at this point, and they mostly
lived at the foul line for the rest of the game.  The Cavs came back
with a 14-3 run to cut the lead to just 2 at 96-94 (3:10 to go).  Out
of a timeout, Walker pitched the ball back out of a double team for an
easy jumper for Kenny (98-94).  With the C's up 101-95, Walker
smothered Knight on a drive to the4basket, and then passed the ball
upcourt, leading to an easy score for Griffin to make the score
103-95.  That was pretty much it for the game, as it ended with the
Celts up 105-98.

	This was a very well played game, as the 2 teams combined for
just 21 turnovers (C's 12, Cavs 9).  Everything else except for
rebounding was very even.  The Celts outrebounded the Cavs 48-38.

Lineups: 
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Cavs: Knight, Sura, Murray, Kemp, Bryant

Players:
Walker: for the first 3 quarters this was Walkers best game as a Celt.
He tailed off a bit in the 4th, as the Cavs put a lot more effort into
keeping the ball away from him in the post (I thought that they could
have given Toine the ball facing up about 18 feet out and let him go
from there).  Even with the relatively lackluster 4th, he still had a
monster game.  32 points (8-18), 13 boards and 6 assists.  He was a
wrecking crew from the free throw line where he was 16-18.  Made a
number of nice plays distributing the ball off the break in addition
to the scoring.  Really seemed to be enjoying himself.

Pierce: tough game for Paul.  First Murray lit him up in the first
quarter.  Then he nearly blew the game for the Celts by going 0fer on
about 5 possessions down the stretch.  He ended up shooting 7-21 for
17 points, 5 boards and 2 assists.  Tommy thought that Paul was still
missing some accustomed lift on his jumper, due to his ankle injury.
I thought he was making up his mind on his shots way to early, and was
forcing shots when he should have passed.

Anderson:  with Barros out he had to go for 38 minutes tonight. Was
actually having a rather poor game up until that stretch in the 23rd
quarter.  Had some trouble containing Knight.  But kenny came up big
when it counted, as he fueled the run at the end of the third, and
then hit a big jumper, and a couple of free throws down the stretch.
16 points and 6 assists.

Griffin: another unremarkably remarkable game for Griffin.  Scored 12
(missed just 1 shot), 8 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals in 44 minutes.
Amazingly, some of his teammates (Battie) still aren't prepared when
Griffin passes the ball to them.

Potapenko: solid game against the former team with 12 points and 7
boards in 26 minutes.  had some aggressive boards.

Fortson: continues to collect enormous numbers of fouls.  6 in 9
minutes tonight to go with 5 points and 4 boards.  I don't think it
helps that Pitino pulls him out of the game nearly every time he picks
one up.  Maybe it wold help him to get 10 minutes in a row (even if he
does foul out in the process).

Battie: After being M.I.A. for most of the last month, I thought that
Tony showed some signs of coming out of his slumber tonight.  He
played with some energy, and had a positive effect on the game.  had 4
boards and 4 points in 13 minutes.

Williams: got just 7 minutes.

Overton: got embarrassed by Knight, who stripped him in the open
court, and then scored an easy layup.  1 assist in 9 minutes.

Cheaney: 4 points and 2 assists in 8 minutes.

Coaching:  Pitino has, I guess, decided to go the Tommy Heinsohn
route, and forget about the bench.  Walker, Pierce and Griffin played
well over 40 minutes and Anderson played 38.  The other clear trend
was that Pitino preferred to play Fortson over Battie (except that
Danny picked up fouls so quickly that Tony still ended up playing more
minutes). 

Opposition Supers of Note: What the devil happened to Kemp.  He spent
nearly the entire game (on offense) planted just to the right of the
free throw line, waiting for a pass.  As soon as he got the ball, he
shot the jumper.  He hit quite a few (9-18), but really didn't put any
pressure on the Cellts defense at all.  If he plays this way all the
time, he's just a slightly better, less hustling version of Charles
Oakley.

The Celts are now 13-16.  They travel to NY tomorrow night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net