Lay down, sally!

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Celtics lay a Golden egg: Suffer sixth straight loss to Warriors

by Steve Bulpett
Thursday, March 27, 2003








Early last night, coach Jim O'Brien was asked how he was personally handling
the five-game losing streak the Celtics took to the floor against the
Warriors.



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``I am generally a miserable human being, period,'' O'Brien deadpanned. ``So
square that.''

Now cube it.

Needing aggressive defense and focus to right their ship, the Celts instead
came out soggy, allowing Golden State to shoot 52 percent from the parquet
floor (47 percent on treys) at the FleetCenter. Loss No. 6 came by a 107-95
margin, but the C's had to score the last eight points in garbage time to make
it look that good. The crowd, vocal with its displeasure, was not amused. Nor
was Paul Pierce, who surveyed his club's defensive effort and said: ``We might
as well be dead.''

``We did not have an answer, clearly, for their offense,'' O'Brien said.
``They're averaging just what they got tonight, 107, over the last, now, 11
games, and we did not have the defense that was necessary to get a win against
these guys. And I don't have any easy answers other than we'll get back to
work (today) and see if we can't get this directed in a different way.''

Pierce cut things to the quick after watching Jason Richardson, Antawn Jamison
and Troy Murphy hit a combined 31-for-46 from the floor and score 29, 31 and
18 points, respectively.

``We prided ourselves last year on being one of the top two or three defensive
ballclubs in the league,'' Pierce said. ``And that's just not where we're
getting it done. It's just something that has to come from within.

``It's hard to say that we play with the same pride as we did last year.''

Pierce led the Celts with 25 points, but he made just 2-of-10 shots after
halftime. Antoine Walker was 1-for-9 from the floor after the break for his
second two-point second half in the last three games (he had 12 points, nine
rebounds and eight assists overall).

``Right now we're just not getting the job done,'' Pierce said. ``I don't
think it's nothing coach is doing. I think, you know, I'm going to step up and
just take the blame. It starts with me and Antoine, the captains of this team,
going out there showing veteran leadership, getting guys ready mentally and
physically ready to play, and to play for 48 minutes. We fight for two or
three quarters and the fight is over with. Right now our backs are against the
wall and we've just got to respond to adversity.

``I don't see any panic. Our backs have been against the wall before. This is
just another test for us. Last year we were winning games and everybody was
praising us. Now we lose six in a row in a crucial part of the season and
we're going through a little adversity. You know, everybody's against us, we
get booed off the court. Right now is just another challenge on how we're
going to respond. Maybe this is something that's good for us right now.''

The Celtics were exceedingly fortunate to get out of the third quarter with
just an 81-74 deficit, but the Warriors then went on a 13-1 run early in the
final period to remove the outcome from reasonable doubt. They led by as many
as 22 in the frame.

While O'Brien chastised his team for poor shot selection late in the third
quarter and early in the fourth while the game was slipping away, Pierce said:
``I don't think it's the offense that beat us. I mean, we're not even
defending. We're not even out there. We might as well be dead. You know, just
let them shoot wide-open shots. Let them get the ball inside and lay the ball
up whenever they want to. How you going to win like that?

``I know guys physically are probably tired and banged up, but it's the end of
the season and we've got to make our playoff push.''

Pierce also said the Celts are beginning to take on a bad appearance.

``I think if you look on our faces, it just seems like when the offense isn't
going, it really brings us down,'' he said. ``Our body language isn't
there.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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