Utah preview

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

    Some of you guys have compared this trip to a 7-game playoff series,
and it doesn't get any easier tonight or the rest of the way for Boston
(2-1 so far). It is worth mentioning BTW that our Vancouver 1-point
loss, while a big letdown, came against a team that now has won four
straight games with a solid victory last night over the Timberwolves.
The Portland triumph was a watershed in the sense that Boston overcame
statistical deficits across the board and a bad night from our leading
scorer, and still hung on against a great and deep team with the NBA's
best home record (as noted, the Blazers have also been annihilating
teams lately even though Pippen has missed eight or nine straight
games).

    The Celtics needed to hang in there even on an off night, instead of
folding against such an intimidating opponent. It's like the old Celts
teams that would win 60 regular season games by a +10 victory margin and
regularly shoot near 50% as a team, then go into the playoffs against a
Philly or the Lakers and be able to overcome 40% shooting and still will
themselves to victory. Against enormous pressure and with a lot of
things going wrong, Boston only allowed one lead for Portland in the
game (at 59-58 I believe) and to me that's all about Celtics Pride. In
some ways the Milwaukee and Seattle wins were bigger, since they broke a
losing streak that cast doubt on whether this team was for real. But
even though I believe the Portland win probably won't mark the highlight
of our season, I agree we should let ourselves enjoy it. On to Utah.

    Any discussion of the red hot Jazz (34-15) begins with the two
HOFers. The consensus seems to be that Stockton is fading a bit faster
than Malone, but a case can be made both ways (or for that matter that
they are just as good as ever).

    To get a sense of how dominant Karl Malone, 36, has been over his
career, this season he has "slumped" to a career low in rebounding and
field goal percentage along with his lowest scoring average since the
1986-87 season. And yet his numbers would make 99% of NBA power forwards
envious (23.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, .491 FG% so  far). Amazing!

    John Stockton, 38, is contributing with the same deadly efficiency
as always. He is second in the NBA in assists (9.3) and three point
shooting (.507). He is on pace to shoot over 50% from the field and 80%
of the line for the 7th time in the past 8 seasons, and has his highest
assist average since 1996-97. One of a kind.

    Meanwhile Karl Malone is touting ex-UConn star Donyell Marshall as
the team MVP. Marshall is shooting .489 from the field and .748 from the
line with 13 points and 7 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game. It is
impressive how solid fundamentals and winning basketball can rub off on
a player. A good rebounder, Marshall has never shot better than 42% in
his career prior to coming to the Jazz and , in fact, his career FG% is
41.4%.  Maybe we should consider sending Antoine and Paul on a two-month
basketball sabbatical to Mormon country. Imagine if Antoine could
suddenly learn to hit .489? Scary.

    The Jazz have a player in Bryon Russell, kind of a "rich man's
Bryant Stith". He's solid for 14 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 2.2 apg while leading
the team in 3-point attempts (62-143 or .434). The Jazz also have a
fifth double-figure scorer in John Starks (10.1 ppg), a streak shooter
who has been mostly disappointing both from the field (.402) and
three-point land (.315 although he's not shy about taking that shot).

    After that you have a bench made up late first-round journeymen
(Jacques Vaughn, Quincy Lewis, John Crotty, Scott Padgett) and
past-their-prime veterans (Danny Manning 34 soon, Olden Polynice 36).
Rookie teenager DeShawn Stevenson is averaging 2.0 ppg on a .320FG%.

    Utah's center situation is another reminder of how the Boston lineup
actually is suited for west coast ball. Out east these days, the
definition of a starting center is someone too skinny to guard a power
forward. But on this West Coast trip, we've already faced wider, less
mobile, prototype center with true post-up games in Bryant "Maple"
Reaves, Patrick Ewing, Sabonis and next Ostertag and Hakeem. For the
most part, Potapenko has shown his value in these kinds of matchups. A
lot of starting Eastern centers easily give up 50 or more pounds on
these guys and will get blown out of the paint in a post up without the
help of the double team. Thus Boston has been able to not only shut down
Portland's dangerous perimeter game (1-12 on threes) but they have so
far outscored their three opponents on this trip by an absurd 63 points
from three-point land.

    The Jazz average a spectacular 25.7 assists per game, over 7 more
than they allow opponents. But Utah is "only" 18-9 at home, due largely
to a 4-game home losing streak earlier this year. Like everyone we've
played lately, the Jazz are a certifiably hot and legit team, having won
8 of their last 10 games. The Boston game is a B2B for Utah, which
defeated Sacramento last night on the road behind 31 points and 14
boards and 2 blocks from the aforementioned Donyell Marshall (remember
Chris Webber was injured).

    After winning only 12 of their first 36 games, Boston has doubled
their season win total in the past 18 games (including 9 wins in their
last 11). Look for the Celtics to try to rebound from several of the
following trends. Pierce has been held on this trip to 19 points per
game on .392 shooting with just 1.3 assists and 0.7 steals. Antoine
Walker (28 double-doubles) is averaging just 6.7 boards since the All
Star break and the Celts as a whole has been outrebounded by -3 per game
so far. On the pluse side he seems to be contributing on both ends, with
clutch scoring (28.3 points) and 4.0 steals of all things. Obviously the
kid is enjoying himself playing a clutch role in these huge wins, but
I'd like for Obie to tell him to permanently lose the throat thrash and
early celebrations. It seems counterproductive for one thing (we face
Seattle and Utah again in the next two weeks), and, besides, I'd like to
think he's outgrown that stuff.

    Meanwhile several other Celtics role players have stood out for
their consistency. Potapenko is averaging 10 ppg and 7.0 rpg on the
trip, with basically the same stats game after game. Bryant Stith is
hitting half his shots and contributing 10.7 ppg, 5.3 boards, 2.3
assists and 1.3 steals. He's capable of having a big all around night
against the Jazz, which has fewer quality swingmen than we can throw at
them at once in Pierce, Williams and Stith. Kenny Anderson also may be
getting his groove back, averaging 7 assists per game against 2
turnovers in the last two road wins. We'll see if that continues tonight
in the marquee matchup with Stockton. Let's look again for 200% effort
and diving for every loose ball tonight. If the game is close near the
end, let's go and win the damn thing. Go Boston go!

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