Celts Steal Game: Boston 97-Orlando 91

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	There was more than a bit of winning ugly about this one.  the
C's started out the game by going 0-14 from the field.  The Magic
failed to take advantage of the slow Celtic start, and the C's were
able to take advantage of sloppy Orlando ball handling to win the
game.  The contest also saw (at least for one game) a resurgent effort
by Adrian Griffin, who put up double figures in points and boards.
Pitino shook up the lineup again, going with Fortson at the center
spot, and putting in Griffin at the small forward.

	As I noted above the Celts started out the game with a mixture
of poor shots and frequent turnovers.  Despite the brutal Celts play,
they only tailed 9-2 with 5:30 to go.  Finally Pierce broke the
draught with a jump shot.  Then the Celts put together a 7-0 run to
tie the game at 11-11.  Pierce played a major role in the C's
surviving the early game shooting woes, with his defense as he stole
the ball 3 times, and had a block.  Pitino went to the bench early,
and got some positive result again from Battie and Williams.  the
Celts were still down at the end of the period 19-18.

	Walker who had been very quiet in the first half began to go
to the basket early in the second. The C's took their first lead of
the game midway through the period, when Toine hit Griffin with a nice
pass for a layup (31-29).  A few moments later, Ron Mercer was going
in for what looked to be a spectacular jam.  Kenny faked like he was
going to intentionally foul Ron, but pulled off at the last moment.
Mercer took an extreme angle to evade Anderson, and seemed to lose his
footing as he went up for the jam.  He hit the floor turning his ankle
severely.  The Celts lead at the end of the half 45-40.

	Adrian Griffin scored the first 6 points of the second half by
either team, as he led the Celts to a 51-40 lead.  The Celts pushed
the lead up as high as 13 by the midpoint of the half.  Just before
the end of the half, they got a barrage of threes to help  to take a
72-59 lead at the end of quarter.  Williams had two three pointers in
the period.

	The Celts held the double digit lead through most of the final
period.  Towards the end of the game they were victimized by a series
of poor calls by the officials (who were also allowing the Magic to
play a blatant zone).  They took away three baskets from the Celts and
helped the Magic cut the lead to single digits with under 4 minutes to
go.  Orlando went to the intentional foul, and was able to score
several extremely quick baskets cutting the Celts lead to 5 (96-91)
with 20 seconds to go.  Finally Garrity missed a three, and the game
was over, with the Celts winning by a final of 97-91.

	The Celts won the game on field goal attempted, as they had an
edge in turnovers of 10 (26-16), and offensive boards (18-11).  That
gave them an edge in shots taken of 10 and free throws attempted of
11.  They needed that to overcome the .393 FG% (the Magic shot .463).
The Celts did a very nice job of playing the passing lanes coming up
with 16 steals.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Fortson
Magic: Armstrong, Mercer, Outlaw, Wallace, Amaechi

Players:
Pierce: Paul had a really tough night from the field at 7-22 and 1-5
on threes.  He made up for it with floor play, with 7 assists and 5
steals.  Early in the game, Pierce made a big difference with his ball
hawking.

Griffin: actually shot the ball 15 times (that has to be a career
high). He hit on 6 of them (which was above average for the Celts
tonight).  He also had 11 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals in
34 minutes.  Don't know how long it will last, but it was nice to see.

Walker: Take away his energetic second quarter, and Toine was a no
show for most of the game.  He only attempted 14 shots (hit 8 though),
and had 10 boards and 3 assists in 41 minutes.

Anderson: did a very nice job of playing the passing lanes with 4
steals.  But he only shot 5-16, and had just 5 assists.  He was a big
player in the early game drought, missing his shots, and unable to get
any good shots for his teammates.

Fortson/Potapenko/Battie: combined to play 47 minutes and were
actually pretty productive, though none of them broke double figures
on points or boards individually.  They combined for  20 points, and
17 boards.  Battie and Potapenko appear to have switched their
shooting touches with Tony at 4-6 and Vitaly at 1-5.  Battie in
particular is displaying some nice energy.

Williams: continues to shoot the jumper. He had 8 points (2-3 on
treys) and 2 blocks in 17 minutes.  

Overton: after the nice effort in the last game, he reverted to form
with 0-2 shooting and 0 assists in 6 minutes. 

McCarty: 7 minutes 1-3 for 3 points.

Cheaney: just 4 minutes.

Coaching: I suppose that Pitino went with Fortson remembering what a
tough time Vitaly had with Amaechi in the last game.  And of course
Danny played just 10 minutes despite getting the start, so I can't see
that it really took much playing time away from Vitaly or Battie.
Still you have to wonder at the logic.  If the Celts are going to keep
Fortson at the end of the season, then Toine needs to be playing 3 so
that next season there can be minutes for Danny and Battie at the 4.
On the other hand, if they're going to let Fortson go, then he
shouldn't really be playing at all (all of the available minutes need
to go to Battie, and Potapenko).  And if they haven't made up their
minds about Danny, then what can they learn in 10 minutes?  In
general, why are Walker, Pierce and Anderson playing over 40 minutes a
game?  What's the point?

The Celts are now 24-35.  They're off until Wednesday when they host
the Bucks.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net