Herald: Herren in starting lineup on Saturday

[Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Celts get bad news on Anderson injury
Celtics Notebook/by Mark Cofman
Thursday, November 9, 2000

Celtics point guard Kenny Anderson, who fractured his jaw against the
Cavaliers on Saturday night in Cleveland, was originally expected to be
sidelined 3-4 weeks.

But after Anderson had two wisdom teeth extracted and his jaw wired
shut, the Celtics announced yesterday that his return to action would
likely be more in the 4-6-week range.

Anderson underwent the procedure on Tuesday at Nashua Memorial Hospital.
His absence, combined with the fact that newly acquired Rick Brunson
strained his right hamstring at practice yesterday and Chris Herren
remains on the injured list, has left Rick Pitino looking for answers at
point guard.

The Celtics coach, however, thinks he'll have an answer at that position
on Saturday. That's when Herren is eligible to come off the injured
list. Pitino said the Fall River native, fully recovered from the
sprained left ankle that landed him on the injured list to open the
season, will start against the 76ers in Philadelphia.

In the meantime, Pitino continues to be highly amused by Herren's
antics, on and off the court.

``He's great - in a fun way. He's Eddie Haskell,'' said Pitino,
referring to the smart-aleck teenager in the TV series, ``Leave It To
Beaver.'' ``The fans are going to absolutely love him.

``Once he comes back, he'll start against Philadelphia. He's explosive
and he can't be guarded, but he'll get hurt 15 times in the same game
and always come back to the roar of the crowd. He's a real show.''

Trip goes up in smoke

As if their experiences in Toronto on Tuesday night weren't miserable
enough, the Celtics' flight back to Boston was delayed two hours.

The team's charter was heading down the runway and set to take off at
around 11 p.m., but a grease fire in one of the ovens sent smoke through
the cabin and forced the pilot to return to the gate.

Two hours later, the Celtics were finally able to bid farewell to
Toronto after a long night. Carrying the considerable baggage of their
embarrassing 107-75 defeat to the Raptors, they landed at Hanscom Field
in Bedford yesterday at 2:15 a.m.

``It wasn't too pleasant,'' Pitino said of the flight.

``We knew what it was (that caused the fire). Oil dripping from the
food.''

The episode had Pitino thinking back to a far more dangerous experience
he had on a plane while he was coach at the University of Kentucky.

``I had a plane struck by lightning,'' he said. ``It knocked out the
fuselage. It was the NCAA Tournament and we were going to Charlotte,
(N.C.).

``It was a small jet. The team was really worried. We had knocked off a
piece of the tail and had to land within seven or eight minutes.''