Toine Has Triple Double: Boston 112- Milwaukee 101

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	This is the kind of game that a lot of people thought might
become a habit with Antoine after his rookie season, and that most of
us have since concluded was a mirage.  With about 30 seconds to go in
the first quarter, Doug Overton picked up his second foul of the game
(Anderson already had his second).  With Barros out, Pitino went to
Walker to play the point.  The move seemed to energize Toine, as for
the next three quarters he played his best (under 36 minute) stretch
of professional basketball.  He ended up with 30 points (11-20), 19
boards, 10 assists (he could easily have had 15) and 4 steals.  An
awesome performance, which still might not have been enough to
overcome the Bucks.  Paul Pierce, invisible for most of the game, came
in and delivered the knockout blow over the last 6 minutes of the
game.

	At the start of the contest things looked quite promising for
the Celts.  They were hitting the boards with gusto, and jumped out to
a 14-7 lead. Ray Allen began to hit from the field, and the Celts
began to go very very cold.  The Bucks [put to gether a 10-1 run to
take the lead.  Eric Williams continued his recent trend of hitting
outside shots with a 3 as soon as he entered the game.  Just before
the end of the quarter, Overton hit a pair of free throws to give the
Celts the 26-25 lead.  On the next play, he fouled Cassell, and Walker
was inserted into the game as the primary ball handler.  The Celts
shot very poorly in the quarter, hitting on 7-30 shots, but made up
for it with a 10-12 at the free throw line.

	Walker continues as the point at the start of the second.  He
hit a jumper early and then made a nice pass to Battie, who fed Pierce
for a three.  At the same time the Bucks were getting strong offense
from Williams and Thomas.  Anderson came back into the game, but at
the same time Ray Allen began to really heat up.  He put up 22 points
in the first half, and the Celts were down by as much as 13 late in
the second.  They rallied back behind Walker (4 pts, 1 assist) with a
6-0 run to cut the lead to 7 just before the half (59-52).

	Walker's stunning display continued at the start of the third
period.  The Celts opened with a 22-8 run to take the lead (74-67)
midway through the period.  Walker was everywhere, doing everything
imaginable to help the Celts win.  He stole the ball, dominated the
defensive board, and ran a gorgeous fast break resulting in an Adrian
Griffin layup.  He hit both Battie and Potapenko with excellent
passes, that should have given him assists, but instead resulted in
trips to the free throw line.  Toine wasn't getting much help, though
and at the end of the quarter the Bucks had regained the lead 84-83.

	Finally, I think, the furious pace of Toine's effort began to
tell.  He picked up his 10th (and last) assist of the game on the
first play of the 4th, feeding Anderson for a triple (Walker did a
nice job of passing out of the post).  The C's were still only up by 2
(93-91) when Pierce got back into the game (he was a no show up until
then).  Pierce erupted over the last 7:18 of the game.  He started off
with a three, then a steal, a couple drives to the basket and then a
jam to put the Celts up 102-93.  The Bucks, who had shot the ball
brilliantly early in the game, went cold themselves.  Cassell stole
the ball, but Pierce flew in, out of nowhere, and saved the basket at
the last moment.  Walker capped off the evening with a pair of
spectacular drives to the basket to put the Celts up by 12 (108-96)
with a minute to go.  The final was 112-101 in favor of the C's.

	The foundation of the Celts win tonight, was an enormous 26-10
advantage on the offensive boards.  That allowed the Celts to take 14
more shots.  That together with a 26-30 performance at the free throw
line, offset a poor shooting night, as the Celts hit at a .412 clip,
compared to the Bucks at .470.  The real source of the Celtic's
shooting woes were the centers, who shot a combined 8-26.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Griffin, Walker, Fortson
Bucks: Cassell, Allen, Robinson, Ham, Traylor

Players:
Walker: the one thing I thought we had learned for sure this season,
was that Toine would never develop into the regular triple double
machine we saw glimpses of his rookie season.  Tonight he was back,
like he had developed along the trajectory we imagined 3 seasons ago.
He shot the medium jumper, drove to the basket, posted, stole the
ball, went to the offensive boards (4), stole the ball (4), posted and
pitched the ball back out for easy basket, penetrated and dished, and
ran the middle on the fast break.  He  exploited just about all of his
talents, not really favoring one over the rest, for the first time I
can remember.  About the only thing he didn't do was hit the trey
(0-2, and who cares anyway).  I can't explain why those few minutes of
running the team made so much difference (the team has been playing
without a true point guard all year: he could have done this at any
time).  But rick should definitely give him a couple of minutes a
point every game, if this is any indication.

Pierce: mediocre for three and a half quarters, and awesome for 7
minutes.  The game was very much in doubt when Pierce came back in,
and Paul just picked up the baton from Toine, and sprinted the final
leg.  He ended up with 20 points (6-14), 4 assists and 2 steals in 30
minutes.  He also showed some signs of regaining his missing 3 point
touch (3-6 and a couple of the shots looked good).

Anderson: pretty much played Cassell to a standstill (which is all we
can ask).  he shot the ball poorly (6-1&0, but retrieved his own
missed shot a number of times (6 offensive boards).  15 points, 9
boards, 5 assists in 32 minutes.  Pitino drives me crazy with this
lifting players every time they pick up a foul.  Kenny got his 5th
foul with 2:55 to go in the game, and Rick took him out.  What was he
saving Kenny for, the post game interview?

Williams: another nice game for Eric, especially in the first half. he
hit a couple jump shots,a nd made some nice moves to the basket.  He
had 11 points on 4-5 shooting in 18 minutes.  

Potapenko: another poor shooting night. at 5-13.  Still had 10 points
and 8 boards in 24 minutes.  The new rotation that Pitino is using is
putting Anderson and Vitaly on the floor at different times, and Kenny
has been doing a really good job of finding shots for V. over the last
couple of months, and was probably responsible for Pots getting into
the top 5 in the league in field gaol percentage.

Battie: good energy tonight, but poor execution (in the long run, I
prefer this).  Battie shot just 3-10, but pulled down 9 boards in 22
minutes.  He did have an exceptionally brutal night passing the ball,
ending up with 4 turnovers.

Fortson: 9 minutes and just 1 foul.  Maybe the solution to the Fortson
problem is to play Toine at point for 15 minutes a night and give
those minutes to Danny.  he got 3 points and 5 boards.

Griffin: solid game with 6 points and 6 boards in 27 minutes.  As
usual he had a tough time keeping up with Allen on the perimeter
(Adrian is not a guard by instinct or practice).  Cheaney was on the
floor to guard Allen for much of the second half.

Overton: pretty tough night.  5 points on 1-5 shooting and 1 assist in
12 minutes.

Cheaney: Helped out defending Allen in the second half (Ray had 22 in
the first and 6 in the second).  4 points and 3 assists in 17 minutes.

McCarty: 4 minutes 0 everything.

Coaching: Well, Rick fell into it tonight.  How does he keep it going?
Obviously, Toine won't match this again, soon, but it would be nice to
see him continue to play with that kind of energy and verve for the
remainder of the season.  It could make a big difference for the
future.

The Celts are now 25-35.  They host the Bulls (Oh No) on Friday.

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.net