"All We Need is Love"

[CeltsSteve@AOL.com]

Getting Person-al
Guard has 31 points in first win
BY CHRIS TOMASSON 
Beacon Journal staff writer 


Columbus discovered America. Ponce de Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth. Could John Lucas have discovered the secret to keeping Wesley Person happy?

``I've got to make sure of two things,'' Lucas said. ``I speak to him every day and I tell him that I love him.''

Well, Lucas, the Cavaliers' head coach, might just send something to Person on Sweetest Day. The shooting guard, who has been in a three-year funk, scored 31 points last night to lead the Cavs to a 110-95 preseason win over Boston at Gund Arena.

Person once was good enough to command a seven-year, $40 million contract. In recent years, though, it's surprising he hasn't appeared on the post-office wall as a suspect in a theft ring.

Person lost his job in training camp the previous two seasons under head coach Randy Wittman, whom Person says didn't speak to him much and certainly didn't love him. In each season, he sulked.

Lucas has said that the starting job at shooting guard is Person's ``to lose.'' He certainly didn't lose it last night.

Bryant Stith, the only serious candidate to unseat Person, actually got the start. But Stith shot just 0-of-6 for two points and fouled out in 26 minutes.

In 29 minutes, Person shot 11-of-17, including 6-of-9 on 3-pointers. He had 28 points after the first period.

``It was one of those nights when I got a chance to get some good looks,'' Person said. ``Everything I shot, I felt like it was going in.''

The key to what Person said was ``got a chance.'' Person believes Wittman didn't give him much of one. But Lucas ran numerous plays for Person last night.

``It's a lot different,'' Person said. ``Last year, if I hit a couple of 3s, I might not get a shot for seven or eight minutes. Once (Lucas) found out I had the hot hand, he had confidence to run a play for me. And that gave me the added confidence to hit a few more shots.''

Lucas does not yet have the confidence to anoint Person as the starter, although Person says, ``I expect to be one.'' After all, in the first two preseason games, Person managed just six points. But he did show signs of starting to turn things around on Tuesday against the Clippers, scoring 11 points in 11 minutes.

Perhaps the Cavs (1-3), who lost their first three preseason games by an average margin of 16.7 points, also are showing signs. The Cavs never trailed after the first period. The Celtics (2-3) got within two points in the fourth period, but the Cavs closed the game with a 24-11 sprint.

It helped the Cavs that Celtics forward Antoine Walker was ejected in the second period for arguing a call. It might have been a preseason game, but both teams were trying to win.

With 1:13 left in the game, every starter who was eligible to be on the floor was. The only three who weren't were Walker, Stith and Cavs forward Chris Mihm, who also had fouled out.

``I wanted to win a home game,'' said Lucas, referring to the crowd, which was announced at 7,952 but really numbered about 2,000. ``I looked out there, and it was cold in the building. We need to do something to create some names for our guys and get through football season and try to warm this building.''

It looked as if Lucas was coaching a playoff game. He used only eight players until he went to a ninth in the fourth period after three players (forward Makhtar N'diaye being the third) had fouled out. The ninth player, Rodrick Rhodes, ended up playing some stellar defense on Celtics forward Paul Pierce, who had just four of his 28 points in the fourth period.

Lucas used Mihm for 34 minutes the night after he played 45. Lucas, who wants Mihm to get used to playing big minutes in back-to-back nights, wanted Mihm to play even more. But he fouled out with 8:58 left.

``Chris has 18 points and nine rebounds and then gets the sixth foul before I could get him out of the game,'' Lucas said. ``I had to catch myself from not saying something to him because it's preseason. I can't have him fouling out in the regular season like that.''

Mihm sometimes looks dominant, but other times appears overmatched. Enter Lucas.

``Chris has not even tapped what he can do,'' Lucas said. ``It's frustrating because he's got so much more. I've got to find a way for him to get it. . . . He's a tennis player like me, and we're soft.'''

Person is another player who has been called soft. But at least last night the softies prevailed.