Beat the Heat!

[opi@unesco.org]

Everytime I check out the Heat roster, I marvel at how The Greasy One
can coach so undeniably well. He's lost Tim Hardaway for more than 25
games already (that would have been a season killer for most coaches)
and he's giving major minutes to a guy who looked washed up last year in
Majerle (34.8mpg) and two of the worst NBA point guard prospects I've
ever seen in the rookie Anthony Carter and the veteran Rex Walters.

I was surprised to learn that former Celtic Ed Pinckney (one of my
all-time favorites) is now a radio voice for the Heat. In an e-mail Q&A
at NBA.COM he described the Riley practics as the "most organized in the
NBA."  Easy Ed says that "because of the length of the season, most
teams shorten the time they devote to drilling the players during
practice. The Heat maintains that conditioning drills and shooting
drills are the reason why they are so consistent throughout the season,
home and away." Pinckney had the same bashful facial expressions of Paul
Pierce and he was really efficient, focused and a dependable clutch
player in his day. Defensively he was the PJ Brown of the early
90s...very underrated in my opinion.

The return of a rusty Tim Hardaway means that the Hooter bench consists
of the sniper Voshon Lenard (12.5 ppg in under 26 minutes per game) plus
Anthony Carter (5.8 assists), Clarence Weatherspoon (18.6 mpg) and
veteran Otis Thorpe (16.3mpg). The Heat won't go much deeper than that
(Rex Walters is next at 12 minutes per game), nor do they have a true
backup center. It's probable Danny Fortson could get upwards of 20
minutes with a guy like Weatherspoon out there.

The Heat shoot a solid .468 from the field, which is what the Celtics
allow on average. They've held opponents to .422 shooting, thanks to the
shotblocking of Alonzo Mourning (4.38 blocks). PJ Brown is next at a
mere 0.72 blocks per game.

The Heat actually turn the ball over more often (15.1 versus 14.4) and
give up more steals than their opponents. But they average around 44
solid boards a game and a dazzling 24.7 assists. They also outscore
opponents by over 2 points per game from the three-point line by
launching 14.8 attempts per game (about the same number as the Celts)
and nailing a deadly .386 from that distance (the Celts average only
.329).

The Heat are just 3-3 at home in their brand new arena, with losses to
the Bulls, Grizzlies and Nets. The Celtics won the previous meeting (3rd
of December) by a score of 96-84 behind 48 points on 17-31 shooting from
the starting backcourt (Kenny and Pierce). They spanked the Greasy One
for arguably the first time despite a lousy game from Antoine (4-16
shooting), which suggests how much deeper our team finally is.

Zo has shot a deadly 17-23 in the two games this season, so look for the
Celtics to maybe try some different twists on defense. Potapenko was
actually reasonably effective last time, shooting 7-10 with 9 rebounds.

A victory against the Heat would coincide with smashing last year's
season win total (19) as well as putting the Celts clearly back in
contention in the Eastern playoff race. The Celts reportedly have put
Eric Williams on IR and have activated Adrian Griffin, although he
nevertheless will not play. Paul Pierce and Cal Cheaney both sound a
little gimpy, but have so far claimed nothing serious is wrong. Paul
Pierce, of course, had 9 steals last time the Hooters came to town.

As everyone on both sides knows, the Celts have won four of the last
five meetings. Riley will need to switch soon from grease to "grecian
formula" brand hair dye. The Heat will definitely come out to try to
embarrass us tomorrow, but the Celts' would be wise to not feel
intimidated because the Heat are a different opponent than the one we
previously met. In fact, they are only a 13-11 team since the 12-3 start
on the season.

There are many reasons why the Celtics could win tomorrow despite the
key injuries, but a lot of factors probably need to come together
including big, smart plays from Antoine Walker and unrelenting offensive
rebounding stamina from our other hot big men. Fortson needs to play a
smart game on both ends and get our team running when he's out there.

Go Y2K Celtics.


Joe

****