McCarty left on outside

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

McCarty left on outside
By Mark Murphy/Celtics Notebook
Tuesday, November 11, 2003

This wavering experience isn't exactly new for Walter McCarty [news].

     Over the course of the forward's six-plus seasons as a Celtic, his
playing time has often been the victim of numbers gluts in the various
frontcourt positions he has been known to fill.

     But even that doesn't approach Sunday night's rarity, when McCarty, who
played in all 82 regular-season games last season, didn't play because of a
coach's decision for the first time since 2001.

     ``Walter is going to play a lot of basketball for us,'' Celtics coach Jim
O'Brien said yesterday of McCarty's typically fluctuating role. ``But my job
is not to give everyone playing time. He'll play a lot of basketball, but
(Sunday) night we just had to go in another direction.''

     McCarty wasn't alone. Jumaine Jones, finally ready to play after missing
virtually all of training camp with a pair of hamstring pulls, also didn't
play against the Kings.

     ``I told Jumaine, `You're like you're in your first week of training
camp, and the rest of us have moved ahead,'' O'Brien said. ``All summer I had
him penciled in as our starting small forward, but now he has to bide his
time.

     ``It's the same situation that Kedrick (Brown) was in last year coming
out of training camp. He was injured, and then he fell behind. The most
important thing for us is that we have to win the game at hand.''

     Jones ran through a full workout yesterday.

     Eric Williams, who is still recovering from soreness in his right knee,
was allowed to sit out practice.

     On a faster Pace

     The Pacers, tonight's opponent, appear to have let out quite a sigh of
relief now that the coaching reins have been passed from Isiah Thomas to Rick
Carlisle.

     They are one of the hottest teams in the league with a 6-1 record,
including a five-game win streak.

     ``Rick and (Detroit's) Larry Brown are doing some of the things with
their teams that the previous coaches were doing, but they have also tweaked
things,'' O'Brien said. ``They just go to their teams' strengths.

     ``Right now (Indiana) is a very power-oriented team, and their inside
game can get you into foul trouble,'' he said. ``With (Ron) Artest playing the
way he is, to go along with (Jermaine) O'Neal, (Al) Harrington and (Reggie)
Miller, they have so many weapons that they're a concern.''

     Giving up too much

     They may have won the game Sunday, but the Celtics were also sloppy
enough to give O'Brien a postgame headache. Their 17 assists were matched by
their 17 turnovers, which was remarkably close to their 17.2 average through
six games. They also rank 23rd in the league in forking it over.

     O'Brien's problem is that in many cases, the mistakes have been unforced.

     ``(In most cases) I haven't seen where defense has caused our
turnovers,'' he said. ``To be where we are, and having this problem, it's like
running on a treadmill.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx