C's Come Back Strong: Boston 94 - Toronto 90

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	The Celts mounted a stirring comeback this evening, utilizing
a 14-0 run at the end of the game (8 of those points from Calbert
Cheaney(!).  They had to do that to overcome the effects of a third
quarter scoring drought of biblical proportion as they shot just 3-17
from the field and 7-16 from the free throw line, and allowed the
Raptors to build a 13 point lead.  Pitino started Cheaney at guard, so
he could match up Pierce against Carter at the 3 spot.

	Both teams got off to fast starts on the offensive end, and
the game was tied at 15 apiece with 6:00 to go in the first.  The C's
guns fell silent for a moment and the Raptors took advantage to take a
5 point lead at 20-15.  Potapenko fouled Davis after he had already
been beaten to give the Raptors the 3 points play and remove himself
from the game.  The Celts continued to plug away, and were able to tie
the game just before the end of the score on a driving Pierce scoop
shot (26-26).  Anderson and Walker combined for 17 of the C's 26,
while Carter scored just 1 basket in the quarter.

	The second quarter was very tightly played. McCarty hit a 3
off a feed from Walker to tie the game at 35, while Dick Bevetta
called Willis and Fortson for a double foul (Bevetta seemed very
concerned to keep any intermural activity from breaking out during the
game).  The game was still tied at 47-47 with a minute left.  McGrady
hit a pair of free throws, and then Carter hit a last second jumper to
put the Raptors ahead 53-49 at the half.

	The Celts actually didn't seem to be playing that poorly at
the start of the 3rd.  Anderson drove the ball to the basket several
times, and was successful at getting to the line.  Very un-
characteristically, though, he missed 4 free throws in a row.  That
seemed to set the general pattern for the quarter, as the Celts either
settled for a jumper (which they mostly missed), got blocked by
Antonio Davis, or got to the line but missed the free throws.  They
fell behind by as many as 15 points before Pierce finally hit a jumper
with more than half the quarter gone to give the C's their first
basket of the period.  Towards the end of the period, the Celts seemed
to regain their balance, but the damage was done as they ended the
quarter down 75-62.  The Celts shot selection wasn't great, but they
could replay that period with the same shot opportunities a dozen
times and not score fewer than 20 again.  Instead they got outscored
24-13.

	Maybe because of the way they had fallen behind, the Celts
continued to feel that they had a chance to win the game (at least
judging by their play).  They were still trailing by 12 (83-71) with
8:00 to go.  They made their first real move with a  6-0 run to cut
the Raptors lead to 5 at 78-83.  The Celts were pressing for a good
part of the quarter, forcing some turnovers and generally getting the
Raptors offense out of rhythm.  The Raptors temporarily regained
control of the game with a 6-0 run of their own (89-78) with 4:12 to
go.  The Celts got started with a Cheaney lay up on a feed from Kenny
Anderson.  After a Christie missed 3, Anderson found Cheaney on the
perimeter for a three (89-83: 3:00 to go).  Cheaney came up big again
drawing an offensive charging call on Carter to get the Celts back the
ball.  After a Pierce miss, Potapenko got the board, and then got to
the foul line and hit one of his 2.  After Bogues missed an open
jumper, Walker took the rebound, and split the Raptors D for a lay-up
(89-86).  The Celts forced Carter to turn over the ball along the
baseline, but their comeback stalled (temporarily) when Potapenko
missed a 16 foot jumper.  The Raptors settled for the jumper again,
and missed again.  Walker tried to drive to the basket, but was
denied. Potapenko rebounded the miss, and pitched the ball out to
Cheaney who tied the game with yet another huge trey (89-89: .44
left).  Once again Carter put up the jumper and missed.  On the next
possession Pierce made a move, but was turned away.  He hit Walker in
the post who was double teamed.  Toine (who had done an excellent job
all night of passing out of double teams) found Pierce on the three
point line for the open shot.  Pierce canned it cold, and the Celts
were up 3 92-89, with 4.6 to go.  The Celts fouled Carter before he
could attempt the 3.  he hit the first, and intentionally missed the
second.  Pierce skyed to control the rebound, and the Celts had the
94-90 win.  Huzzah!

	Amazing how things have turned around on the boards.  They had
a 20-10 edge in offensive boards and a 54-42 overall advantage.  They
combined that with a 15-12 edge in turnovers caused them to take 3
more shots and get 12 more free throws than the Raptors.  That edge in
free throws wasn't much help, though, as they only hit 20-32, and they
also shot just .393 from the field.  

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Cheaney, Pierce, Walker, Potapenko
Raptors: Williams, Christie, Carter, Oakley, Davis

Players:
Cheaney: Had to get Calbert in first, so he doesn't get lost in the
shuffle.  He had just 8 points in the game, but all of them came down
the stretch.  And he also had the huge charge call against Carter.
Earlier in the game, he had gotten a charge call against Oakley who
absolutely leveled Cal (who actually left the game for a couple of
minutes).  Just 8 points, and 2 boards in 25 minutes.  Must be some
kind of record for statistical understatement of a players impact on
the game.

Walker: a lot of positives in this game for Toine.  Shot 9-19 from the
field, and except for a couple of threes did a nice job on shot
selection.  He also had 12 boards (4 offensive).  Most impressive to
me at least, was his 8 assists.  He was really on top of the double
teaming in the post, and probably got the Celts half a dozen easy
shots, just by making good decisions.  Very Nice.

Pierce: Big game for Paul on both end of the court.  Had 30 points
(10-22), 7 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks in the game (to go
along with 7 turnovers (more than half the Celts total).  One of his
blocks was an absolute classic against Carter, as Vince went up,
adjusted his shot in mid-air.  Paul was able to match his adjustment
and get the block without fouling.  Mid air ballet.  Obviously with
the mediocre field goal percentage and the 7 turnovers, Pierce was
still forcing things a bit, but (together with the Washington game) a
big improvement over his recent play.

Anderson: Kenny was on fire for the first 5 plays of the game, and had
a very tough time after that.  He ended up with 13 points, 7 boards, 3
assists and 2 steals in 32 minutes.  Although Kenny was not the leader
in the Celts comeback he did make a couple nice passes to help things
along.  Maybe more important, was that he could participate in
pressing the Raptors something I doubt he would have been able to do
effectively last year.

Potapenko: Not a good shooting night for Vitaly, but he did post
Fortsonesque rebounding numbers with 12 boards (7 offensive) in 28
minutes.  He no longer automatically goes up with the ball after an
offensive board, but is probably now passing the ball out about 60% of
the time, which helps a lot in maintaining control of the ball.  Also
had 9 points and a pair of assists.

Fortson: wasn't too shabby in his short minutes either with 6 points
and 7 boards in 14.

Battie: is feeling the minute squeeze with just 9.  Had just 1 board
and was 0-3 on jumpers.

McCarty: I thought he played reasonably well, but took way too many
shots at 1-5.  He did have 3 boards and 3 assists in 20 minutes.

Barros: got to play against a guy smaller than him (Kenny looks like
Shaq next to Mugsy).  Didn't help a lot though, as he still had just 4
points and 1 assist in 16 minutes.

Williams: got just a few moments.  I'm not quite sure if he was hurt
when he entered the game or re injured his knee. but he wasn't able to
play for long.

Coaching: It looks like Pitino has made a serious down payment, at
least, on turning the season around.  None of these wins exactly
knocks you down, but they're certainly games the Celts had to win to
make the playoffs, and they won them with contributions from their big
guns.

	Also wanted to mention, that while I'm not generally a big fan
of Pitino's habit of doubling players on the perimeter to get the ball
out of their hands, it certainly played a role in holding Carter to
just 8-28 shooting tonight.  Especially down the stretch, Carter
forced the ball on numerous occasions (that charge that Cheaney drew
on him was ridiculous).  One thing I thought helped the doubles
effectiveness, was that the C's didn't use it all the time, but
instead varied the defensive set.  Whatever it's general advisability,
it paid off in this win.

The Celts are now 18-20.  They host Seattle this Friday.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net