Pacers push Celts' skid to 3

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pacers push Celts' skid to 3
By Steve Bulpett/Celtics Notebook
Sunday, October 12, 2003

INDIANAPOLIS - The Celtics' third preseason game came down to one shot, and
neither its result nor the club's record thus far are exactly what Jim O'Brien
had hoped for.

     Paul Pierce [news] isolated on Pacers rookie James Jones and worked the
clock down, but he airballed a trey, leaving the Celts with a 91-90 loss -
their third defeat in as many decisions.

     O'Brien said he's seeing progress, but noted, ``We should have gotten a
better shot at the end.''

     Pierce, who tied Antoine Walker [news] for team high with 15 points,
missed his last six shots and went 1-for-11 from the floor in the last
quarter.

     The Celts had trailed Indiana by 21 in the third quarter before putting
on a charge. But they went scoreless the last 3:17 of the game.

     Vin Baker looked the best he has thus far with eight points and five
rebounds in 19 minutes. O'Brien again praised Mark Blount's defense (three
blocks). And rookie point guard Marcus Banks [news] finally looked reasonably
comfortable.

     Carlisle rebounds

     It was an offseason of unexpected occurrences for Rick Carlisle, but
all's well that ends well for the former Celtics guard. Fired after winning
100 games in two sterling seasons with the Pistons, he was headed for
television before getting the call to lead the Pacers.

     ``I'm beyond being surprised by anything in this league anymore,''
Carlisle said. ``But I'm lucky to be in this situation now. Detroit was a
great experience, and I'll always have great, fond memories of it. The truth
is, I thought I was going to be doing TV this year. I was kind of prepared to
do that. . . .

     ``I had auditioned with Turner about a week before I got the call from
these guys. And I had an offer from ESPN to do studio and game analyst work,
so I was probably going to be signing a deal with them . . . then this thing
popped out of the blue.''

     Well, not entirely out of the blue. Carlisle had been an assistant when
Larry Bird coached here, and when Bird took over the Pacers' basketball
operation, the clock was pretty much ticking on head coach Isiah Thomas. Late
in the summer, Bird decided to bring in his guy now.

     Anderson makes point

     Old pal Kenny Anderson is with the Pacers, but he missed last night's
game with a pulled hamstring. After being traded by the Celts to Seattle in
July of last year, he considered coming back to the C's as a free agent.

     ``It was something that got talked about, but I think I wound up in a
good place,'' Anderson said. ``I still look back on my time in Boston as
great, and I still talk to some of the guys and to (assistant coach) Dick
Harter. But Rick (Carlisle) is someone I worked with in New Jersey and in
Portland, so I knew he had a good line on what I could do for him.''
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx