C's Get Costly Win: Boston 103-Toronto 99

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	The Celts won their 2nd consecutive game this evening, but it
came with a price.  Both Ron Mercer and Bruce Bowen were injured and
had to leave the game (They both will, reportedly, play tonight in
Philly).    For a change, the Celts won this game on the offensive end
of the court, as their 3 point shooting was a combined 7-13.

	For once the Celts actually got off to a fast start, as they
ran successfully several times on the way to a 9-2 lead.  Darrell
Walker called a quick timeout, and the Raptors responded with a 9-0
run of their own to grab the lead back.  With the score at 20-16
(Toronto), the Celts went on a 6-0 run to take the lead again.
=46inally the 2 teams settled down and played steady basketball through
to the end of the quarter, as the score was tied 31-31.  The first
quarter saw an exceptional performance by Antoine Walker, as he shot
5-6 (all from inside), and was dominating on the boards.

	The Raptors came out fast to start the 2nd, and outscored the
C's 7-2 to take a 38-33 lead.  With Walker and Knight out of the game
the C's were having a very hard time controlling their defensive
boards.   Celtic killer Reggie Slater came into the game and did his
usual thing (11 points in the 2nd quarter) as the Raptors gained their
biggest lead at 51-45.  The Celts managed to come back to within 2 at
the half 55-53.

	After trading baskets in the opening moments of the 3rd, the
C's went on a 6-0 run, to take a 64-62 lead.  After Toronto briefly
regained the lead, Dana Barros hit three-pointers on consecutive
possessions to give the C's a 70-66 lead.  On the next Celtic's
possession, Ron Mercer broke free behind the Raptors defense and was
essentially body slammed to the court by Popeye Jones.  You could see
Mercer's head bounce back off the floor after it made contact.  He
seemed to maintain consciousness throughout, as he was taken back to
locker rom and stitched up (a small wound opened on the side of his
head).  Pitino was particularly incensed, because, under NBA rules if
the Flagrant Foulee (Mercer in this case) is unable to continue, the
opposition gets to pick a player off the bench to come into the game
and shoot the free throws (Andrew DeClercq).  Declercq missed both
throws, but Walker did convert on the ensuing possession so the Celts
now led 72-68.  A few plays later, in irrelevant action after a
defensive rebound, Reggie Slater caught Bruce Bowen in the nose with
an elbow, breaking it and sending a 2nd Celtic to the locker room.
After all this the Celts settled down and behind some nice play by
Billups managed to take a 77-72 lead into the 4th.

	The Celts went on a 6-2 run to start the 4th, as Billups
accounted for all 6 points (Chauncey actually scored 10 straight for
the C's combining the end of the third and the start of the 4th).  The
C's led 83-74 (their high water mark).    The Raptors began to fight
back, and, on a Shawn Respert 3 pulled to within a point at 88-87.
This began a period of some what ragged play as both teams missed some
opportunities to take control of the game, especially from the free
throw line.   Finally, with about 3:30 left in the game, McCarty hit 2
free throws to put the Celts up 94-89.  The C's hit just enough free
throws (or the Raptors missed just enough) to win the game out from
this position.  The final controversial play of the night occurred
when Dee Brown missed a three point try, and Travis Knight was able to
pull his hand back from the basket, just avoiding an offensive goal
tend.   The ref, though, had already blown the whistle and it looked
for a moment that the ball would go to Toronto.  The other 2 refs
overruled and called a jump ball which the Celts won.  Dee Brown and
Dana Barros managed to keep the game close by missing some free thrown
in the last seconds, but the Celts won anyway 103-99.

	One of those eerily close games as each team shot 36-77 from
the field.  The C's were 24-36 from the line while the Raptors were
23-33, and the Celts had 39 rebounds to the Raptors 38.  The Celts had
19 turnovers and the Rafters 20.  The difference really was from the 3
point line as the Celts shot 7-13, while the Raptors were 4-12 (which
is to say that the game could easily have gone the other way).
Although the press did not cause a tremendous number of turnovers, it
delayed the Toronto offense many times and caused rushed shots and
several 24 second violations.

Lineups:
Celts: Billups, Mercer, McCarty, Walker, Knight
Raptors: Stoudamire, Christie, Williams, Camby, Tabak

Players:
Billups: raised his NBA scoring high to 22, as he went 9-10 from the
free throw line and 3-6 on three point attempts.  He also had his best
game defensively as he had 4 steals and held Stoudamire in check.
This game is probably a good indication of how Billups can be an
effective NBA player, as he drove to the basket, picked up some fouls
and hit a couple of threes.  He still was miserable on the point guard
side of things as he shot 5-14 from the field and had a couple of
turnovers while producing 3 assists in 29 minutes of playing time.

Walker:  got religion ,as he only attempted 2 shots from more than 10
feet from the basket the entire evening.  But he was a monster on the
boards, in the paint and on defense.  As a result he shot 9-17, scored
22, had 18 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and 3 steals.  If he plays
like that I don't care if he never hits another three-pointer.

Barros: had his first offensive explosion of the year with 18 points
scored in just 17 minutes of playing time.  Went 6-6 from the field
and 3-3 on three pointers.   He did miss a free throw, though.
Obviously without Dana's performance, there is no way that the Celts
win this game.

Knight: only shot the ball 6 times as he scored 6 points.  But he did
a nice job on the boards, and was very active on defense, as he had 9
rebounds and 2 blocks in 33 minutes.

McCarty: Scored 10 points, had 4 assists, and 2 steals in 33 minutes.
The only reason he got 33 minutes were the injuries to Bowen and
Mercer as McCarty continues to play himself out of significant playing
time.  His shooting is awful (I swear he got an airball on a dunk
attempt tonight!) and Walt Williams scorched him for 15 points in the
first quarter.  The only thing McCarty had over Bruce Bowen is greater
familiarity with Pitino's system.  Bowen is superior in every other
phase of the game.

Mercer- was having one of his poorer shooting night when he went down
at 4-11.  He had 8 points and 4 assists in 23 minutes.

Bowen: only played 13 minutes before he got hurt.  Scored 2 points.

Brown: came of the bench hot in the first half, but cooled down in the
second.  Scored 9 points,but shot 3-7 and had 2 turnovers in 22
minutes.  He continues to look more and more comfortable on defense.

DeClercq: The other Celtics are beginning to realize that if they can
get the ball to Andrew within 4 feet of the basket, he actually has a
pretty good chance of scoring.  Got 6 points, 2 boards and 2 assists
in 14 minutes.

Minor- With the injuries got 10 minutes and really did nothing to aid
his cause. =20

Ellison: 3 minutes, 3 fouls.

Edney: Tyus must be in Pitino's doghouse for something.  Only got 3
minutes of playing time tonight.

Coaching:  Does Rick really want a point guard?  Dana and Chauncey
played a combined 46 minutes tonight, and accounted for 5 assists and
3 turnovers (and 40 points!).  Meanwhile Edney got 3 minutes.  Maybe
Rick would rather have scorers on the floor than a specialist to run
the offense.  If that's the case then what's the problem with
Chauncey?  He can certainly score.

Opposition Players of Note: Reggie Slater: Does this guy have it in
for the C's or what?  17 points in 17 minutes again tonight.  I can
only assume he doesn't play against the rest of the league the way he
does against the C's or he'd be on the all-star team.

The C's record in now 3-5.  The Celts are on the road tonight against
Philly (and watch out, Coleman seems to be playing hard all of a
sudden: should be a real interesting matchup between him and Walker).

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.com