Bulpett Analyzes Celtics Thrashing

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Boston Herald	
C's still unable to find handle: Turnovers trigger loss to Bulls
By Steve Bulpett
Saturday, October 11, 2003 
CHICAGO - On one hand, Jim O'Brien is keeping things in perspective. He knows his Celtics are bound to look a tad off-kilter this early in the exhibition season. 
	
On the other hand, the club has now committed 58 turnovers in its first two games. After giving the rock away 28 times in a loss to Detroit Wednesday, the Celts went that number two worse in a 90-77 defeat at the hands of the Bulls last night. 
	
The C's were again without Jumaine Jones (out another week or two with strained hamstrings) and Tony Delk (strained right groin) - and were again without a handle on their offense. 
	
Rookie Marcus Banks [news] had eight turnovers in 25 minutes and Antoine Walker [news] had five in 24, but clearly this was a team effort. 
	
``I'm not overly frustrated, but I don't like to have sloppy basketball,'' O'Brien said. ``I thought there was a lot of good effort defensively, but when we had certain units in we just couldn't score. And I though some of our passes were just so poor. I can't even describe them. I don't see those passes in practice.'' 
	
Despite all their transgressions, the Celtics were ahead by a point early in the last quarter before Donyell Marshall went off for 11 points (including three treys) down the stretch. The C's turned the ball over nine times in the final frame. 
	
``We're just basically trying to run a passing game, and there are a lot of guys that are uncomfortable with that,'' O'Brien said. ``We put it in because we wanted to specifically concentrate on halfcourt defense and pushing the tempo. We haven't done a lot with our halfcourt offense. Eric Williams is not getting the touches he normally gets. Paul (Pierce) and Antoine are not getting the same touches. We don't have enough halfcourt things in, so we're trying to force the tempo and we just literally forced too many passes. 
	
``I mean, we were just throwing unintelligent passes.'' 
	
Top draftee Banks looked all right when he was on the floor a bit with Pierce, Walker and Brown, but he's struggled - as is to be expected with a young point guard. 
	
At least he was on the floor, unlike Bulls forward Scottie Pippen, who was unable to play because of a sore knee. Pippen was expected to show up for the game but never did. 
	
Banks, Pierce, Walker and Brown made 13-of-27 shots; the rest of the Celts made just 11-of-45 (24 percent). That, according to O'Brien, was part of Banks' problem. 
	
``Nobody other than Kedrick, Antoine and Paul shot the basketball well, so if you take those guys out of the game it's very frustrating for a point guard if the rest of the team is shooting, like, 20 percent,'' the coach said. 
	
Delk is expected to play tonight in Indiana. So is Tony Battie, who came back last night from right knee soreness and went scoreless with five rebounds in 19 minutes. 
	
Vin Baker started at center and had six points (1-for-5 shooting) and four rebounds in 26 minutes. Brown started at small forward and had his second straight strong game (13 points, four boards), including a nice driving dunk through Eddy Curry and Marshall. Pierce led the C's with 15 points, eight of them from the line. 
	
Walker had 15 points and nearly 100 friends and family in attendance (the ticket count was up to 97 a half hour before the game).