Mike Szostak: Celtics On The Upswing

[Way Of The Ray <wayray@ix.netcom.com>]

        4.3.99 00:01:56

        Celts learning to do dirty work

By MIKE SZOSTAK
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- Whether it was the booing they endured from
their own fans, weariness of being slammed by talk
radio's fellowship of the miserable or finally getting
in something approximating Coach P condition, the
Boston Celtics are beginning to resemble an NBA team on
the upswing.

All they need now are a few victories, at home as well
as on the road, to boost their morale.

The Celts lost their fifth consecutive FleetCenter game
last night, an 84-83 heartbreaker to the Milwaukee
Bucks. This was as close as a one-point game could be.
Milwaukee's biggest lead was six points. Boston's was
seven. There were 15 ties and 9 lead changes.

But the story for the 18,128 fans was the way the
Celtics lost. They played hard. They battled to the
end. They dived for loose balls. They did a lot of
dirty work inside and on the baseline. They made the
Bucks work for most of their points.

Indeed, the Celtics even had the ball for most of the
last 22 seconds, and had not one but three chances to
win. Glenn Robinson thwarted the first when he blocked
a Vitaly Potapenko shot on the right baseline. Kenny
Anderson missed a layup but followed and got the
rebound. After another Anderson layup fell short when
Ervin Johson whacked him in the paint, Antoine Walker
caught the ball and attempted a reverse layup. As the
ball balanced on the rim, Johnson went up and swatted
it off like a fly. Milwaukee got the rebound with 1.8
seconds left.

End of game.

Pitino, who took a lot of heat for his team's miserable
March (4-14), was happy with his team's performance, if
not the outcome. So were the fans.

``It was a great ball game. Milwaukee made some really
tough shots down the stretch. I told the guys that all
you have to do is play with a lot of energy like last
year, and the fans will not boo. I guarantee it. If we
can continue to play like this, we're going to be a
great basketball team in the very near future and make
tremendous strides,'' Pitino said.

``I really like the way we're playing. I like our
desire. I like our energy right now. The last four to
five (games) have been good for us. I'm very pleased.
I'm more encouraged than ever that this team is going
to jell into a good unit. We're a practice away from
really developing into a good team,'' he said.

Pitino's Celtics could model themselves after coach
George Karl's Bucks. A few years ago, the Bucks held
season tickets to the NBA Lottery. They collected so
much talent -- Glenn Robinson, Vin Baker, Ray Allen --
but they lacked maturity and struggled to win.

Sound familiar?

Sure, Baker was a three-time all-star with the Bucks,
but the team was going nowhere. Now, Baker toils in
Seattle, and Robinson and Allen are trying to become
the all-stars.

``Playing on a winning team,'' Karl said. ``There's a
big step up from being an all-star on a losing team.
There's a responsibility to being a stud. It's not just
statistics and highlight-film stuff. It's doing the
dirty work, having the mental toughness, all the little
intangibles.''

The young Bucks -- center Robert Traylor is a rookie,
forward Tim Thomas a second-year man, Allen a
third-year veteran and Robinson a fifth-year pro -- are
learning a few lessons from old pros Dell Curry, Vinny
Del Negro and Chris Gatling. That's one reason why they
are 19-12 overall and 10-6 on the road.

Walker, Ron Mercer and Paul Pierce are to the Celtics
what Robinson, Baker and Allen were a few years ago.
They are working to get where the Bucks are. After a
slow start, Walker is showing flashes of maturity.

``You get what you deserve. You're in shape now. You
get what you deserve in life. You're working hard, you
get what you deserve. It works the other way. He
(Walker) should get the credit. I was a little
bewildered by the boos because he's working so hard.
He's so devastated that we lost tonight. He's working
so hard right now,'' Pitino said.

He is. Walker went into the trenches and fought for
rebounds and layups. He even went into the baseline
media table late in the game to save a loose ball.
Unfortunately, his save landed in Gatling's hands for
an uncontested layup.

So what. The effort was A-plus.

Pitino is sounding like his Celts are turning the
corner.

``I really believe this. I keep saying adversity is
good. Adversity makes you stronger, but everyting that
Antoine Walker just went through is really going to
help him in the long run, because he realized at that
point, well, I'm not going to take any bad shots any
more because I don't want to hear boos. And I'm going
to carry this team on my back, if need be, to put it in
a situation to win.

``All this adversity is making this team closer and
stronger, and it's going to pay huge dividends down the
road. Now we would rather not get booed. We would
rather not have these tough losses, but I'm a firm
believer in that we've got to go through this struggle
right now to develop into a good basketball team. The
fight they had tonight on the backboards, the fight to
win, the will to win at the end of the game just going
after that basketball and grabbing the rebound and
getting that second shot and it almost goes in, that's
what winners are all about.''

And that's what the Celtics still lack. Wins.

              

    Copyright © 1999 The Providence Journal Company
               Produced by www.projo.com