Celts Cruise Over Cavs: Boston 103- Cleveland 89

[wfcooper@tiac.net (Bill Cooper)]

	Just a rock solid win for the Celts.  They got strong
performances from Barros, Walker, Mercer and Potapenko.  They didn't
press, as they really only used 7 players in the game, but they did a
fine job of executing on offense and defense.  One of their
outstanding passing games of the year.  McCarty suffered a groin
injury in warmups (somebody has got to explain to Rick that the
purpose of warming up is to avoid injuries, not cause them).

	Huzzah!!  For once, the Celts got off to a fast start.
Antoine hit a pair of 3's early to push the Celts up to a 10-2 lead.
Then Potapenko, perhaps still pumped from the big shot in last night's
game, began to cut to the basket.  He was the recipient of several
nice passes, especially from Walker.  Vitaly scored 13 points in the
first 7:00 of the quarter as the Celts took a 26-10 lead.  Potapenko
went out of the game, and Anderson and Henderson came into the game
for the Cavs.  The Celts offensive output fell and the Cavs began to
play much more fluidly on offense themselves.  They went on a 10-2 run
to cut the lead to 29-22.  The C's led at the end of the quarter
31-22.

	The 2nd quarter was a replay of the first.  The Celts started
off the period with a 13-5 run to take a 17 points lead.  Mercer
capped off the run with a hustling steal off Anderson, which he then
converted into a powerful jam.  The Cavs stepped up their defense, and
the Celt's offense which had been getting them some good shots, ground
to a halt.  The Cavs closed with a rush, cutting the C's lead to just
8 (55-47), at the end of the half.

	Again the Celts started out the quarter well.  They outscored
the Cavs 10-5, capped by a Ron Mercer 3!  Mercer was hot through the
quarter, as the Celts began to put some distance between themselves
and Cleveland.  With about 2 minutes to go in the quarter Walker hit 2
real nice shots (a floater and a really strong drive) to put the Celts
up 80-64.  The C's led at the end of the quarter 81-68.

	A couple minutes into the 4th, Potapenko ran straight down the
court after a made basket.  Dana hit him without V.P. breaking stride
for an easy basket.  A minute later Mercer faked a jumper, and drove
right past Ferry for a jam, to put the Celts up 17, 87-70.  The Cavs
made their final run of the game as they put up a 9-0 run, to pull to
within 8 at 87-79.  Mercer and Barros responded with a 9-0 run to put
the game away (96-79: 4:20).  The final was 103-89.

	The Celts Had More Free Throw Attempts Than The Cavs, 29-18!
In addition they outshot Cleveland from the floor .521-.461.  They
shot 8-17 on threes and were at double didgits in steal with 11.  They
only had 11 turnovers on the night.  Other than 3 minutes that
Schintzius got Pitino only played 7 guys.  They had 26 assists on 37
baskets.

Lineups:
Celts: Barros, Mercer, Pierce, Walker, Potapenko
Cavs: Knight, Person, Newman, Kemp, DeClercq

Players:
Barros: I started doing these reports the same season that Dana joined
the team, and to the best of my recollection, he has not played a
better game.  He scored 23 points on 6-11 and 8-8 from the foul line.
He also had 13 assists, 5 boards, 4 steals and just 2 turnovers
(somehow he got credit for a block also).  He played all 48 minutes,
and did a really nice job of mixing his game up, getting a few open
3's, driving to the basket for the shot or the dish, and playing
strong defense.  Outstanding!

Walker: A lot of really nice decisions in this game by Toine.  He
scored 21 on 8-16 shooting, had 8 boards and 6 assists.  On the
slightly negative side, he attempted 7 threes (made 3), and only drove
on Danny Ferry once (and he didn't even score then).

Mercer: After a weak first half where he only shot 2-10, Ron came back
with a 20 point second half.  He mixed up the drive and the jumper.
On the first play of the second half, Barros turned the corner, took
the whole Cavs team with him and dished the ball to Mercer, who hit
the easiest jumper you ever saw, from about a foot in front of the
three point line.  I looked at the replay, and wondered how he could
hit that shot so easily, and have such a hard time hitting a shot from
about 12 inches further away.  About 4 possessions later he sank a 3
pretty easily.

Potapenko:  The Veep got off to a very fast start.  Barros said after
the game, that they almost always try to go to him early in the game,
but usually can't get it done.  Tonight Vitaly was moving well, and
actually  caught the ball cleanly a couple of times.  At least twice
he ran the length of the court for fast break baskets (I'm not sure he
can do it more than once a half though).  He played solid defense on
Kemp, as well.  In the third quarter, he and DeClercq got called for a
double T, as they got into a shoving match.  After the game, Vitaly
claimed that there was nothing personal about his effort tonight?!?

Battie: Had a rough time with Kemp in the first half.  Came back
strong in the second as he did a good job fronting Kemp and denying
him the ball (and the Cavs are very clever with the post pass).  He
also grabbed some very strong defensive boards in traffic.  Had 5
points and 7 boards in 22 minutes.  You notice that Battie almost
never cuts to the basket.  If he moved as intelligently as V.P. does,
he could get 5 easy jams a game.

Minor: Rather quiet game as he got 2 points and 2 boards in 21
minutes.  You'd have thought this would be a good game for him too.

Schintzius: Was in the game for about 4 offensive possessions and had
2 turnovers and 1 assist.  Tried for a highlight quality pass on every
possession.  He thinks pass before shoot, ... and rebound, defend,
setting picks, hustling.....

Hmmm..it feels like I'm forgetting someone

Oh Yeah!  Pierce:  Did he play?... let me look a the box..28
minutes..9 points...1 rebound...1 assist/2 turnovers.  Well I guess he
must have played some.  You really couldn't tell.  It looks like he's
hit that rookie wall again.  Hope he doesn't injure himself.

Coaching: Obviously Pitino was pleased with the evenings results.  he
commented on the fine passing, and the way the Celts were looking for
each other.  I thought the 29 free throws was even more impressive.
Just think what it would have been if Toine had gone to the basket
instead of heaving up those 7 threes.

Bill Cooper
wfcooper@tiac.net

P.S. Okay, maybe I'm was a little rough on Pierce.  I just have to
cover up for calling him a Hall-of-Famer 2 months ago.