Desperate Celtics have nothing left to lose

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Desperate Celtics have nothing left to lose


By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 5/11/2003

here are few playoff fates worse than a four-game sweep, though the Kings
could offer the Celtics a sobering perspective on loss. But while Sacramento
knows it will be without Chris Webber for the remainder of the postseason
(torn cartilage in his left knee), Boston is wondering who will show up for
Game 4 against the Nets tomorrow night and in what mental and physical shape.



Paul Pierce left Friday night's Game 3 midway through the fourth quarter with
a muscle strain in the back of his right leg. Antoine Walker exited with
almost five minutes remaining and promptly lost his cool with a fan before the
Celtics lost the game, 94-76.

Pierce is expected to play, though his injury will be reevaluated today.
Walker is a little harder to gauge, though he should play in Game 4 barring
any punitive league action that may result from the confrontation with the
fan. It remains uncertain whether he can be any more effective with the
Celtics facing elimination than he has been through the first three games.

''It has been tough going for him,'' said coach Jim O'Brien. ''But he is a key
leader for us. He is a key defender. He is a key rebounder. If any one of the
six or seven guys that we're playing the majority of the minutes does not have
a good game, it affects us in every phase. If it's Antoine or Paul or Tony
Delk that doesn't have a good game, it's going to decrease our ability to win
this.''

Pierce and Delk have produced. But Kenyon Martin has frustrated Walker at
every turn. The frustration Walker feels is more than understandable
considering he is averaging 12.0 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in
this Eastern Conference semifinal. But he did set a career playoff high with
15 rebounds in Game 3, an accomplishment easily overlooked given the falloff
in his offensive production. Much of what Walker did in the first round to
help Boston upset Indiana also has been largely forgotten.

Still, New Jersey coach Byron Scott does not see Walker losing his confidence.
''You don't have a player like Antoine, who's been an All-Star the last couple
years, all of a sudden lose confidence because he hasn't played these three
games particularly well . . . I just don't see a guy like that losing
confidence,'' said Scott. I think he understands that he's going to work
harder to get good shots, to get better shots. He'll keep trying. He'll keep
loading that gun up with those bullets and keep firing. If they go in, they go
in. If they don't, they don't. I think the one thing he won't do is all of a
sudden not look to shoot the ball and not be aggressive. I think he'll come
out aggressively.''

Walker has become the symbol of an unforeseen unraveling by the Celtics. While
the Nets' overall regular-season record and season-series record against the
Celtics indicated that Jason Kidd & Co. were a better team, no one suspected
they were this much better. Even Scott was not counting on a sweep after his
team posted the franchise's largest margin of victory in the playoffs (18
points). ''That's the only thing that's really going through your mind -- you
don't want to get swept,'' said Scott. ''No matter how hard you play, it's a
very embarrassing feeling. I know our guys [in the Finals vs. the Lakers last
year], we wanted to prolong the series as long as possible. I think those guys
over there are probably thinking the same thing. It's the last game of the
season for them. If they win that one, then the next game is the last game.
Every game is just do-or-die for them right now.

''I don't know if you necessarily feel you're running out of answers. They
probably feel right now they still haven't played their best basketball. They
feel if they can put one game together where they play extremely well and all
cylinders are clicking that they have a real good chance of winning. You try
to forget about all the negative things and just try to focus on the positive
things that you've done.''

No bulletin-board material there, but the Celtics would be the first to
acknowledge there are few positives right now. And there are more distractions
than they are willing to admit. A team picture is one thing. A new executive
director of basketball operations is quite another. Awkward timing may have
been unavoidable once word leaked out, but that does not mean players would
avoid wondering about the future beyond the playoffs. Considering the Celtics
are a close-knit team, the prospect of major personnel changes certainly had
to cross players' minds.

Add the announcement of Danny Ainge's hiring to a list that includes questions
about Kidd and his wife, fans at the FleetCenter, and the experience of being
a black athlete in Boston. Without question, Celtics-Nets has had more than
its share of off-the-court issues.

With a day off yesterday, a practice today, and a shootaround tomorrow, the
Celtics need to refocus in a hurry. Can they? If Boston did push the series to
a fifth game back in New Jersey, it probably would be more because of pride
than anything else. Walker, Pierce, & Co. don't want to suffer the
embarrassment of a sweep. No team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the NBA
playoffs.

''We've got a team that's got a lot of heart,'' said Walker. ''We've been
together a long time, seven or eight of us, and I don't know if New Jersey is
a sweep better than us. I don't know if they're four games better than us. I
don't think they are.

''Hopefully, guys stay focused, don't think about going home. Let's make this
a series. We still can come back and get [Game 4]. We're a good enough road
team where we can go get a win.

''If our guys stay focused on the next 48 hours and stay focused on what we
can do to still win a game in the series, then who knows after that?''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

[demime 1.01b removed an attachment of type image/gif which had a name of T.gif]