C's Cast Spell: Celtics 116, Wizards 109

[Dan Parker <drparker@bestweb.net>]

Hi,

I wrote a summary for the Washington game but my ISP has had e-mail
problems the past few days.  Hope this is still of value to someone...

Dan

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The Celtics were feeling comfortable in the FleetCenter and got their
home stand off to a good start with a win over the Washington
Wizards.

Walker, Potapenko and Pierce started up front, with Herren at Stith in
the backcourt

The C's set the pace early, pushing the ball up the floor and displaying
good ball movement.  Bryant Stith had the touch early, scoring three of
the first four Celtics hoops and picking up a steal on defense.  Herren
had a pair of layups to get his home debut off to a good start and the
C's built an early lead.  Howard start to hit a couple of shots but the
C's had a bit of luck after Pierce drove into a crowd, lost the ball,
but saw the ball squirt to Potapenko who put in the layup and picked up
the foul.  The C's had a 15-8 lead and the quarter wasn't even half over.
Howard hit two more shots giving him a quick 8 points and cut the lead to
15-12.  Antoine picked up his first bucket halfway through the period then
hit a three.  The C's missed an alley-oop (have they made one yet this
year?) and Pitino gave the Wizards a break by putting in McCarty.  The
C's press started to give the Wizards trouble and forced two turnovers.
Battie hit a couple of jumpers, McCarty missed a jumper and two free
throws, Chris Carr had a great dish to Battie for a dunk (8 points in
the 1st quarter) and Antoine capped the quarter off with a long three
and the C's left with a 37-22 lead.

The Wizards started to heat up in the second period with Howard continuing
to score and Richmond and Hamilton taking turns raining down jumpers.
The Wiz would spend the quarter chipping away at the lead only to see
the C's keep pushing it up to 10.  Pierce was having a rough night on
both ends, shooting 1-5 at one point on offense and getting abused by
Hamilton on defense.  But Bryant Stith and Mitch Richmond both heated
up at the same time and started to put on a shooting clinic.  They
traded jumpers and three pointers and each finished with 20 point
halves.  Herren hit a couple of three pointers and the reject Denver
backcourt produced 30 points on 11-13 shooting.  The C's ended the
half leading 65-56.  It should have been more as the C's only hit
8-16 free throws to that point.

Strickland scored to start the 3rd.  Howard quickly picked up his fourth
foul and was forced to the bench.  The C's pushed out in front off a
Walker recovery off a Pierce drive and a Walker three.  The C's kept
it closer than it should have been with their poor free throw shooting
and the Wizards started to take advantage.  A bad pass to Battie let
to a Strickland layup and foul.  Pierce threw the ball out of bounds.
Washington started showing better ball movement and were more patient
in finding the open man.  Another Strickland hoop and foul tied the game
at 81.  At that point Boston turned on the gets and went on a 11-1
run capping the quarter with another long three pointer by Antoine.
The C's actually increased their lead by one from the half, 92-82.

Antoine started looking for Pierce in the 4th and Paul shook out of
his funk and scored two early buckets.  The teams traded basket with
neither going on a significant run and the C's still led by ten with
6:22 to go.  The Wizards hit a free throw
and a three to creep within six, but Battie hit a jumper to push it
back to eight.  Hamilton hit a free throw and Antoine forced a bad
three.  The Wizards hung tough on their next possession getting a
couple of offensive rebounds and capped it off with a three by
Richmond to close within four.  After a timeout Herren came back
in and hit a three of his own.  Strickland hit a pair of free throws
and the C's led by five.  Pierce hit a tough jumper then Stith stole
the ball and was fouled.  He hit both free throws to push the lead
to nine.  The Wizards never seriously threatened after than and the
final score was 116-109.

Players
-------

Walker:  Was shooting the lights out from behind the three point
line.  Hopefully he won't get overeager and go 1-6 from there next
game.  Posted up strong and spent much of the game down low despite
chucking up all those three pointers.

Pierce:  Completely lost his mojo and didn't look like he had a clue
how to get it back.  Was missing shots badly, driving into several
defenders and getting the ball stripped repeatedly.  Also was taken
to school by Hamilton on the other end.  It would help if he tried to
play more fundamental defense instead of going for everything in the
passing lanes.  Wasn't a total loss on the floor as he helped the C's
on the boards.  Should send Walker a thank you card for his help in
the 4th as it seemed to help him get his confidence back.

Stith:  Helped pick up the slack given Paul's poor effort.  Was a force
on offense matching Richmond basket for basket.  Was also solid on
defense forcing Richmond into some tough shots (though Richmond
certainly made his share).  Was a huge spark on both ends of the floor
and carried the C's in the 1st half.  Just played a great game from
the first minute to the last.

Herren:  Moved the ball around, pushed it up the floor, drove hard to
the basket and hit a couple of threes.  Abused Strickland early by
driving around him.  Rod woke up in the third quarter and started to
apply himself and made things a little more difficult.

Potapenko:  Played good solid basketball, hitting a couple of jumpers,
setting solid picks and cleaning up on the boards.  Got into a minor
altercation with Jahidi White in the 4th, with both players getting hit
with a technical.

Battie:  Solid game for Batt-man as the jumper was falling.  Rebounded
well and blocked a shot or two.  It's nice to see a game where V and
Battie play well.

Brunson:  Held the fort when Herren needed a breather.  Didn't do
anything spectacular but he's really good at preventing everything from
falling apart when he's in there.

Williams:  Didn't get many minutes but managed to contribute a little
while he was in.

McCarty:  Useless.

The C's are now 3-4.  They play Atlanta next on Friday.

Dan