Portland

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

On Saturday, Boston visits a Portland team (37-15) that has only two
games remaining against the Eastern Conference this season. Wow.

The Blazers have been using a nine-man rotation, with Detlef Shrempf now
coming out of retirement to average 17 minutes per game in place of the
injured Scottie Pippen (reportedly out another month). Overall, this is
a team that doesn't seem to have a weak or inexperienced player in their
regular rotation (top rookie Erick Barkley is buried with 4.1 minutes
per game). The team as a whole is shooting .470 from the field, while
ranking in the top ten in FG%-allowed at .434.  Meanwhile Boston has
moved up recently from last to 26th in FG% allowed (a more respectable
.457), but our recent outings raise some warning flags (see below).

The Blazers win with a plus-4 rebounding differential and a plus-3 in
assists, averaging a slick 23.5 assists per game. They average a
somewhat mediocre 5.4 blocks (15th in the NBA), with Rasheed getting 1.9
of those. Although the Blazers shoot a rock solid 77% from the line as a
team, there are still several regulars that Boston can strategically
foul if necessary such as Dale Davis (.636) or, surprisingly, Bonzi
Wells (.662)

At the 4-5 positions, look out for four experience stars (Rasheed
Wallace, Dale Davis, Sabonis and Shawn Kemp). I think all four have been
to the All Star game at one point within the past five seasons or so,
and they are each capable of inflicting pain on us. There is simply no
way the Celtics centers can let Sabonis do to us what Reeves did earlier
this week.

As for Rasheed Walace (19.1 ppg 8.2 rpg 1.9 bpg), you're probably well
aware that he has been ejected from two of the past three games. The bad
news is that Portland won those games with ease despite his absence.
Rasheed already has four ejections this season, and after having set the
NBA record for technical fouls last year (38) he is easily on pace to
smash that record. Hopefully, this will be one of the rare times the
refs won't be focused so much on Antoine Walker. At the same time,
Walker and Pierce need to keep their heads and avoid double-technicals.

At guard, Portland features bookend starters each averaging over 14 ppg
each in Stoudamire and Steve Smith, backed up by Bonzi Wells (11.7 ppg)
and veteran Greg Anthony. With the exception of Bonzi, all three guards
will jack up over 2.5 trey attempts per game and nail them at a decent
clip, so the Celtics need to watch the perimeter. Bonzi's (22 starts
this year) claim to fame is that he is hitting a blistering .532 from
the field overall. That's pretty amazing, you've gotta admit. Certainly,
it would be hard to imagine winning Saturday's game unless our backcourt
of Anderson/Stith can put up numbers that are at least close to what the
Portland backcourt is capable of.

One more guy to watch for. Amidst all this household-name talent,
defensive specialist Stacey Augmon has stepped up big as well, averaging
19.6 minutes this year with 19 starts in 47 games. He averages around
5ppg and does a little of everything.

Portland is currently enjoying a three-game winning streak, having
devastated Seattle by +17, annihilated Minnesota by +21, and stampeded
Sacramento by +24. They are the hottest team we've faced since Milwaukee
before the break, but far deeper and experienced. Like the Seattle game
last night, the Celtics will need to let it all hang out with 200%
hustle and diving for every loose ball.

Portland is tied with the Spurs for the best home record in the NBA
(21-4). Meanwhile, our Celts are on a 10-4 run and are now back above
.500 (5-4) on the road under Obie (with impressive road wins against
Minnesota, Indiana and now Seattle). After that Vancouver debacle, the
big Seattle win was like hitting a 20 yard bunker shot to save par. I
really hope we can complete a sweep of Seattle on the return leg coming
up soon.

There is one negative  mini-trend that Boston will no doubt work hard to
try to reverse against Portland. In the past four games, the Celtics
have allowed a .466FG% (and that factors in holding Milwaukee to .368FG%
just before the break). Moreover, in the past four games, opponents have
outrebounded Boston by +10.5 per game. Antoine Walker, the team leader
in this regard, has managed just 7.5 boards per game during this
stretch, and just 6.0 since the All Star break. Let's hope he can
reassert himself in the second half as a double-double machine. There is
practically no hope for the playoffs unless he and Paul continue playing
out of their minds.

After the Portland game (I really hope Greg Ode and Paul M will be there
rooting), the Celts (23-28) move on to a grueling four games in five
days, featuring a pair of back-to-backs beginning Monday in Utah and
moving onto to Texas. We've had trouble on this Texas swing dating back
to the Bird years, but I'm really hoping for a couple of "dubyas". I
guess if I told you I've removed the "w" on my keyboard, some of you
might actually believe me. ;-)

Go Boston!

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