Another Bummer in Chitown: Chicago 96-Boston 79

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Something about the water in Illinois, I guess.  Unlike the
first game they lost in the Windy City, the Celts were never in this
game. They did get to within 4 points once in the third quarter, but
the Bulls won going away.  The Celts were sluggish, disorganized, and
abandoned all of the things they've done well when they've won, so far
this year.  To top it all off, Adrian Griffin injured his ankle,
midway through the first quarter, and had to leave the game.  There
was no word, as to his future status.
	
	Both teams got off to a very slow start.  The Celts really had
no idea how to approach the game on offense, and nearly every early
possession ended up with on the Celts driving the ball to the basket
through a crowd of Bulls, and either turning the ball over, or putting
up a shot with virtually no chance of going through.  The Bulls were
getting generally better shots, but having no luck getting them to
drop.  Midway through the quarter Griffin drove the ball to the
basket, but stepped on one of the Bulls sneakers, twisting his ankle
as he went down to the floor.  On one of the very few smooth offensive
possessions of the game for the Celts, Walker hit Williams for a layup
to give the Celts an early 11-8 lead.  Matt Maloney, who had just been
signed by the Bulls (who are really hurting for guards), came into the
game, and supplied the Bulls with some missing outside shooting.
Maloney hit 2 threes, and Artest chipped in with another, as the Bulls
closed the quarter with a 8-2 run to take a 19-15 lead.

	The Bulls finally began to hit some shots at the start of the
second, while the Celts continued to play as thought they were
suffering from post-traumatic lobotomy syndrome.  The Bulls scored on
7 of their first 8 possessions in the period on their way to a 37-21
lead.  The Celts offense (with the exception of Eric Williams)
continued to be sporadic at best.  The Bulls slumped and let the Celts
get back to within 6 at 40-34, before they scored the last 2 baskets
of the half to take a 10 points lead into the half.

	The Celtics started the third with a little more intensity,
and they were able to cut the Bulls lead to 5 (50-45) with 5:45 to go.
Elton Brand (who played very well) got the Bulls back into the saddle
as he scored 8 points on 3 straight Bulls possession to make the lead
11 again.  The Celts put together another run late in the quarter,
after a flagrant foul by Simpkins against Walker.  Toine hit 3 free
throws on the possession, as the Celts cut the lead to 4 (60-56).  The
Bulls closed out the quarter with a 6-1 run (66-57).

	After a Walker steal/Pierce Drive cut the Bulls lead to 10
(71-61) the Celts were still technically in the game.  The Bulls put
an end to all the C's hopes with a 12-6 run to push the lead back up
to 16 with 5:16 to go (83-67).  The Bulls got the lead up as high as
20 a couple of times late in the quarter, before settling for a final
margin of 17 at 96-79.

	The Celts were pretty solidly dominated by the Bulls who
outshot them (.493-.426), hit more threes (.389-.182) and took more
free throws (32-27).  Rebounding was even, and the Celts had 2 fewer
turnovers.  The C's had just 16 assists and only attempted 68 shots
(might be a low in the Pitino era).

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Potapenko
Bulls: Armstrong, Artest, Kukoc, Brand, Simpkins

Players:
Pierce: the most brain dead game I can ever remember Pierce having.
He had 7 turnovers in the game, and just seemed lost and confused,
especially in the first half.  He actually shot a pretty good
percentage, as he got a couple of offensive put backs and other easy
opportunities.  But he was constantly making blatantly dumb plays,
passing the ball blindly to teammates who just weren't there, or
forcing the ball against 3 or 4 bulls at once.  Dreadful game.  Did
have 20 points, 3 assists and 4 steals.

Walker: has Toine had a good game in Chicago since he joined the
Celts?  The Celts just couldn't get organized enough to run anything
good down low for him, and the Bulls seemed well aware of the
necessity of keeping him from getting the ball in the paint.  Walker
took the low road, and attempted 5 treys (made 1).  Overall he shot
5-15, had 16 points and 3 boards in 35 minutes.  The respective
coaches avoided the Brand/Walker matchup for most of the night, but in
the 4th Walker was trying to guard Elton and definitely not getting
the best of it.  He ended up fouling out.

Anderson: Played for 36 minutes, and got 11 points, 6 boards and 5
assists.  Just couldn't find the energy to take advantage of the
Chicago guards (B,J, Armstrong went out of the game in the second
quarter, and for the rest of the game Maloney held down the point
guards spot).

Griffin: Only played for 5 minutes before he hurt his ankle.  It must
be serious, as there was not thought of him trying to continue.  He
was taken off the court and had the ankle x-rayed (no break, at
least).

Potapenko: Scored 2 points and had 2 boards in 21 minutes.  shot 1-5
against a team that doesn't even have a center.

Williams: may have been the only Celtic who laced his sneakers all the
way up in this game.  he came into the game, and played alertly.
Scored 16 points on 7-11 shooting.  Also had 5 boards, 2 assists and 2
steals in 35 minutes.

Battie: Actually had 8  points and 6 boards in 20 minutes.

Fortson: continues to pile up the personal fouls at an alarming rate.
Not only does he get called for a fair number of fouls on the
defensive end, but he also seems to pick up 1 or 2 offensive fouls
setting screens in each game.  Had 5 points and 6 boards in his 16
minutes (to go along with his 5 fouls).

Barros: 1-5.  Somehow, the Bulls kept creating situations where he was
guarding Kukoc.

Cheaney: 0 points on 1 shot in 20 minutes?

Coaching: Another total failure in the second game of a back to back.
This seems to be a real problem for the Celts and Pitino.  I really
think that if the Celts don't have a practice to spend getting ready
for a specific opponent they have very little chance of playing
reasonably well, much less winning.  The game cried out for  trying
the press, as the Bulls (especially when Kukoc was off the court) had
very little in the way of ball handlers.  But when Pitino tried to put
it on, the execution was so half hearted, that it had very little
effect.

Opposition Rookies of Note: Elton Brand.  Played well tonight, with 26
points on 9-14 shooting and 14 boards.  He plays within himself, and
makes very few bad plays.  Probably not a franchise player, but he
could be a very solid contributor on a championship quality team.  I
think, that compared to most players his age, he has a big advantage.
There's no chance of him being confused about what his role on the
team should be.  He doesn't try to shoot three's (or even jumpers),
handle the ball, or pass it too much.  He just gets down in the paint
and grinds it out.  Players like Walker and Pierce, who have more
diverse talents, have a much harder time defining a role, once they
get into the NBA.

The Celts are now 14-18.  They host Vancouver on Monday.  

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net