Richmond Stings Celts: Washington 104- Boston 102

[Bill Cooper <wfcooper@tiac.net>]

	Well, once again the Celts fell victim to clutch shooting by
an opposition player, this time venerable NBA vet Mitch Richmond, who
hit an 18 foot jumper over the outstretched arm of Tony Battie with .2
seconds to go in the game.  Unlike several of their recent buzzer
beating defeats when the Celts had played spirited games agonist solid
teams, though, they just didn't deserve to win this one.  After a
strong start to the game, the Celts were outhustled by a markedly
inferior team, playing on their own court.

	Another nice start for the Celts (If only NBA games were 12
minutes long).  The Celts were moving the ball, well, and Richmond was
having a hard time taking the range.  They got out to leads of 9-4,
and then 19-11.  They got the lead as high as 26-13 before a few of
Richmond's shots began to fall.  The Celts led at the end of the
period 34-21.

	The Celts continued to pass the ball well, and got the lead up
to 16 at 44-28, with about 8:00 to go in the half.  Aaron Williams,
though, was exerting himself on the boards and in the paint, and
Richard Hamilton was hitting off the bench.  The Wiz closed out the
period on an 11-2 run to cut the Celts lead to 62-57.

	The Celts made a bid to take back control of the game with a
7-0 run to push the lead up to 69-57.  The Wizards struck back with an
11-2 run of their own.  Eric Williams, who had some good moments on
offense, went out of the game with his 4th foul early in the period.
The Celts did get some decent play off the bench from Griffin and
Barros, but the Whiz closed to 83-82 at the end of the period.

	The Wizards went big at the start of the period (they
apparently only have Chris Whitney as a true point guard).  Pitino was
getting some offense from Barros, and stuck with him, despite the
Wizards consistently taking advantage of him on defense.  Tracy Murray
tied the game at 91-91 with 7:16 to go.  A few plays later, Aaron
Williams gave the Wizards their first lead of the game as he put back
an errant Hamilton jumper (95-94.).  The Celts put together a couple
of consecutive baskets to take a 100-97 lead with 2:40 to go.  Juwan
Howard, invisible for most of the game scored 2 straight baskets to
give the Wizards the lead.  With 23.3 second to go, Pitino put
Potapenko back into the game.  The Celts went to Vitaly in the post,
and he delivered on a 10 foot turnaround to tie the game at 102-102.
The Whiz got the ball with 14.0 to go.  Washington got the ball down
the floor with plenty of time to go.  Whitney got the ball to
Richmond, and Battie was covering him.  Richmond faked the drive (I
don't think he had enough time to go to the basket)and Battie
retreated enough to let Richmond get the shot off.  Mitch ripped it,
and the Celts were down 104-102.  In an amusing episode to end the
game, the Celts tried to inbound the ball, but the pass bounced off
the rim without anyone touching it.  The buzzer sounded and Darryl
Walker tried to hustle the Wizards off the court, before the refs
could decide if the game was really over.  The refs, though, made the
Wizards come back out, and the Celts went into Pierce this time, but
he couldn't get a shot off.

	The Celts certainly wasted one of their best free throw
shooting performances of the season where they were 24-26 (Washington
17-19).  The Celts had a slight edge in rebounding, but the Wizards
shot 5-10 on threes.

Lineups:
Celts: Anderson, Pierce, Williams, Walker, Potapenko
Wizards: Whitney, Richmond, Howard, King, White

Players:
Walker: Toine had a very good first half, and didn't show up for the
second.  He scored 21 on 8-19 shooting, had 14 boards and 4 assists in
38 minutes.  

Pierce: Had a tough time with Richmond (as he usually does with
perimeter players).  made a number of foolish, Charge of the Light
Brigade style drives, that resulted in 5 turnovers.  He scored 18 on
5-11 shooting.

Anderson: another woeful shooting game at 2-9.  Had 4 points and 5
assists in 32 minutes.  Actually had a couple of nice passes.

Williams: in foul trouble for much of the game, he had 11 points and 3
assists in 22 minutes.  He limited his time with a couple of offensive
fouls.  Unfortunate as Howard couldn't stick with him.

Potapenko: 8 points and 2 boards in 19 minutes.  Also 3 turnovers.
Nice effort on the shot to tie the game.  Vitaly's concentrated so
much on the jumper that he's neglected a decent back to the basket
game (as long as he doesn't do it so much the other team doubles).

Barros: was having another nice offensive night at 5-8 and 13 points
in 16 minutes.  The Wizards were doing a very good job of finding him
on defense, though, and hurt the Celts badly when he was in.

Battie: hit some outside shots and had 10 points on 5-8 shooting, ad 6
boards in 23 minutes.

Fortson: played okay, but without the ferocity we've seen on some
occassions.  had 7 points and 5 boards (also 4 fouls) in 16 minutes.

Griffin: one of his more active games in recent weeks as he shot 3-8
from the field, scored 8 points, and had 3 boards and 3 assists in 26
minutes.

Cheaney: was riding the pine again, when Pitino went to him, in
desperation for some perimeter defense.  2 points and 4 boards in 12
minutes.

Coaching: I don't like Williams in the starting lineup.  The Celts
were better off with Cheaney in the starting lineup (even if for
limited minutes), and Eric coming off the bench for more offense.
Even with Kenny stuck in reverse, they have more than enough offense
on the starting lineup.

The Celts are now 30-42 (a lock on a losing record).  They're in
Cleveland tomorrow night.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net