ics looking to rebound from recent slide

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ics looking to rebound from recent slide
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 11/21/2003

The numbers don't lie. The Celtics got outrebounded, 53-44, by the New York
Knicks -- it was much worse in the second half -- and 50-31 by the New Orleans
Hornets. It was bad all game.

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They lost both. They gave up way too many second-chance points.

So, class, can you guess what the topic du jour was at practice yesterday?

"We worked on our aggressiveness on the glass," Celtics coach Jim O'Brien said
after a longer-than-anticipated workout.

Good choice.

O'Brien will get a chance tonight to see if anything registered. The Celtics
left for Philadelphia after the practice for tonight's game against the 76ers,
the first meeting of the season between the teams. The Sixers (6-6) are banged
up and aren't a very good rebounding team, either. The Celtics (5-6) are
reasonably healthy and have been absolutely pounded on the glass in the last
two games.

The Celtics go into tonight's game ranked 17th overall in rebounding and 12th
in defensive rebounding, the main area where things broke down against the
Knicks and Hornets. The Sixers are much worse -- 27th overall (in a 29-team
league) -- and 24th in defensive rebounding. (They also have the
third-smallest team in the NBA.)

Thus, it would appear that if the Celtics are going to break out of their
rebounding funk, tonight, at the Wachovia Center, might just be the time and
place. Then again, who knows what Sixers team will take the floor? Allen
Iverson, Glenn Robinson, and Derrick Coleman all missed Wednesday's game in
Toronto -- and Philly still managed to win. Iverson is listed as questionable
with a right knee bruise while Coleman (left knee) and Robinson (left ankle)
were listed as doubtful. Robinson, however, did practice yesterday.

In addition, center Samuel Dalembert, who has filled in for Coleman, was
injured in the Toronto game (left hamstring strain) and is listed as
questionable.

But rebounding will still be a priority regardless of who plays for the
Sixers. The Celtics' inability to grab defensive rebounds has meant a halt to
their running game and a stagnant half-court game.

"We have spent an exorbitant amount of time working on pushing the tempo and
getting into a passing game, quickly," O'Brien said. "But when you're not
rebounding the basketball, you're not pushing the ball, and you're not getting
into the passing game, quickly. So, to a large extent, if you're getting hurt
on the glass the way we've been getting hurt on the glass, [then] what we've
been concentrating on hasn't had a chance to show itself."

The coach absolved, sort of, the big guys, who were manhandled by Jamaal
Magloire and P.J. Brown on Wednesday. Instead, he said, the perimeter players
were not doing their job in getting to loose ball rebounds, most of which
ended up in opposition hands.

As O'Brien put it, "A number of times, our bigs hit people and the ball hit
the floor. Their team got the basketball. So, the question is, where are your
perimeter people? They're not in position."

And it's not because they're leaking, in anticipation of an outlet pass to
trigger the fast break that never comes.

"What's the use of running if you don't have the basketball? We do not have
the [inside] strength for anybody to spectate when the ball is up for grabs,
or there's a loose ball. It needs a commitment of all five of our players and
we are not getting a concerted effort by everybody on the floor. [And] we have
been just pounded on the glass." . . .

Despite the dire injury reports out of Philadelphia -- the Sixers have dressed
nine players in three of the last four games -- O'Brien said he expected all
the injured 76ers to play. Robinson has appeared in only four games this
season (he missed three because of a league-imposed suspension) while Coleman
and Kenny Thomas each has missed four games. When Iverson sat out Wednesday
night, it marked his first DNP since the 2001-02 season. Iverson leads the
league in scoring, steals, and minutes per game and has at least one steal in
his last 35 games . . . Tony Battie (sore right knee) again sat out practice
but will be available tonight. Ask if he was worried that this scenario looked
a lot like last year, when Battie hobbled through the season, O'Brien said, "I
am concerned. The swelling he had last year is the swelling he has this year."
. . . The Celtics are the only team in the league that has yet to play a game
in which either team has scored 100 points. This is believed to be a team
record, for the last time it happened, a team scored 100 points in the 10th
game of the 1954-55 season. We kid you not . . . Look for Paul Pierce today on
"Wheel of Fortune" as part of the show's NBA week to raise money for charity.
The show was taped in September in New York. Pierce represents The Colonel
Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club and appears with the Rockets' Steve Francis
and former Knicks star Walt Frazier . . . Asked what was going good for his
team, O'Brien unhesitatingly noted that the Celtics are third in field goal
defense and among the top 10 in forced turnovers.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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