Bulpett on Celts

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

-There are several informative quotes in the Bulpett column. Pitino gets
off a funny one-liner about dropping Moiso off the bus early tonight.

-Moiso will play against the Spurs tonight.

-The Celts will wear a black arm patch for Dorothy Auerbach.

-I won't do a game preview for the rest of the season because it has
been bad luck. You can find perfectly good previews at NBA.COM, which I
hope someone can post by email to this list if they want. I love reading
previews and opposition scouting reports because it kind of gets you
pumped up for the basketball game and in a tailgate party mood.

-BTW I do love this year's team. This year's team motto won't be
"Poultry in Motion" anymore but more like "Do you believe in miracles?
Yes!" It's better than nothing.


Joe

---------
Celtics flunk their first test
Celtics Notebook/by Steve Bulpett
Thursday, October 12, 2000

After having defense preached to them for the first eight days of
training camp, the Celtics didn't do well at all with a preseason pop
quiz. In their first full public showing, they fell to Milwaukee,
116-80, surrendering 37 points on 58 percent shooting in the first
quarter.

``I didn't expect us to play well, but I didn't expect us to play that
poorly,'' said Rick Pitino, who had given warning on Tuesday that his
club wasn't yet ready. ``I thought we'd play a little better than this
because Antoine (Walker) has played well in practice, and he didn't play
particularly well tonight.''

Walker was part of a team effort, though his 4-for-11 shooting (eight
points) in 29 minutes was actually above the Celts' 31 percent clip from
the floor. He had six of the club's 24 turnovers and tried to add
perspective afterward.

``Even if we would have won, what would it have done for us? Nothing,''
Walker said. ``But we've got to clean this up. We made a lot of
mistakes. We were real sloppy. We played real careless and played into
their hands. Then they started making a lot of shots from everywhere.''

Eric Williams had 19 points for the Celts, 12 from the line. Mark Blount
was the only other Celt in double figures with 10. Vitaly Potapenko had
10 boards in 22 minutes.

Pitino repeated his earlier plan, saying, ``We want to come together for
the last four exhibition games. Until then it's going to be a little
rough. I think it's more on conditioning than anything else. Guys have
the desire, but they don't have the legs right now. That will come.''

Looking forward, Walker mentioned the upcoming deal with Denver (the
clubs are supposed to pretend there's been no agreement).

``Once Paul (Pierce) comes back, Randy (Brown, out with a sprained
ankle) gets back, Chris Herren and Bryant Stith . . . when we add our
full team and get a chance to really look at our team, that's when you
start making assessments,'' said Walker, referring to the move that will
bring the latter two for Calbert Cheaney and Robert Pack.

Moiso marked absent

Pitino was joking last night that rookie Jerome Moiso may be taking a
bit different route to this evening's preseason game in Worcester than
the rest of his teammates. The top draftee had to return to Barbados to
get his visa from Guadeloupe in proper order and missed last night's
game. The coach assured that Moiso would be around for tonight's game
with the Spurs.

``He's on a plane,'' Pitino said. ``He's on his way back.''

As for making sure Moiso gets back any possible conditioning loss,
Pitino cracked, ``We're going to drop him off five miles prior to when
we get to the Centrum.''

In truth, Moiso wasn't away long. ``He only really missed one day,''
Pitino said. ``We worked him out (Tuesday) before he left.'' . . .

The Celtics will be wearing black patches on the left shoulder of their
uniforms this season in memory of Dorothy Auerbach, wife of legendary
Celt leader Red. The patches contain her initials, ``DLA.'' Mrs.
Auerbach passed away Oct. 1 after a long illness. . . .

Before tipoff, Kenny Anderson took the microphone at midcourt and
welcomed the crowd. ``Thank you for coming out and supporting us,''
Anderson said in his remarks. ``Hopefully you're going to see some great
basketball.''