3 IN A ROW!: Boston 107-Philadelphia 101

[wfcooper@tiac.com (Bill Cooper)]

	For the first time in a long while the C's have won 3 games in
a row, with their victory against the 76ers tonight.  Despite their
sudden injury problems the C's won with stalwart defense (mostly
halfcourt, they didn't use the full court press very much) and
unexpected offensive contributions from Walter McCarty and Greg Minor,
who combined for 31 points.  The injuries, suffered in Friday's game,
together with being on the road, and the slightly higher quality of
the opposition make this the most satisfying of the 3 wins.

	The Celts started out hot for the 2nd game in a row, as they
hit 4 of their first 5 shots (including 2 threes) on the way to taking
a 10-2 lead.  Larry Brown called a timeout, and the 6ers responded
with an 8-2 run of their own to tie the game at 10.  With Antoine
running the floor very well and the C's playing strong halfcourt
defense Boston rebuilt it's lead to 20-10.  The two team traded
baskets for the rest of the quarter, and the Celts took a 27-20 lead
to the 2nd.

	The Celts offense stalled at the start of the 2nd, and the
6ers went on a 12-4 run to take the lead at 32-31.  Tyus Edney came
into the game and made a nice offensive contribution as the Celts
rebuilt their lead to 40-34.  The Sixers ended the half with a 12-5
run of their own to take a 46-45 lead into halftime. =20

	Neither team seemed to able to gain much of an advantage at
the start of the 3rd.  Despite some strong and fortuitous play by
McCarty, halfway through the period, the C's still trailed, 60-59.
The Sixers showed signs of life first, with a 4-0 mini-run to take a
64-59 lead.  A few minutes later, Dana Barros appeared to came down on
one of the Sixer's sneakers, and twisted his ankle (not too severely,
it looked), and had to leave the game (now we know why Pitino has all
those guards on the team).  The C's did rally slightly, and went into
the 4th quarter trailing 73-71.

	Behind really strong halfcourt defense (the C's held the
Sixers to 11 points over the first 6:30 of the period), good offense
in transition off of Sixer tunrovers, and 3's by Dee and Toine, the
Celts outscored Philly, 23-11 to take a 10 point lead 94-84.  As has
been the case in the last 2 games, once they had the lead the C's had
a hard time scoring well enough to keep it.  The Sixers put together
an 8-2 run of their own to pull to within 4 at 101-97.  The only
Celtic's score between 4:30 left and .30 left was two free throws made
by Dee Brown, after a heady drive to the basket.  The C's got some
help from the Sixers (esp. D. Coleman) at the free throw line, or the
Sixers might have cut the lead even further.  Finally with 28.6 left
in the game Billups hit a free throw to put the Celts up by 5.
Iverson Threw Up an airball on the next possession, and the Sixers
were forced to intentionally foul.  The Celts hit just enough free
throws, to win out the game 107-101.

	The big stat in this game was turnovers, as the Celts had only
12, while the Sixers had 23.   This made up for the Sixers bullying
the C's on the boards (57-41 overall and a 15-11 advantage in
offensive rebounds).  The Celts shot .455, after shooting under 40% in
the first half.  They held the 6ers, who were second in the league in
field goal percentage going into the game, to .439.

Lineups:
Celts:  Billups, Brown, McCarty, Walker, Knight
Sixers: Iverson, Stackhouse, Jackson, Weatherspoon, Coleman

Players:
THE D: I really have to credit the entire teams halfcourt defense.
Except for a few moments in the third quarter the Celts didn't utilize
the full court press at all.  Nearly all of the 23 Philly turnovers
came against the halfcourt D.  The Celts contested every shot, and
caused several 24 second violations just by sticking their hands in
the face of Sixers trying to take desperation shots to beat the clock.
And the help defense in the low post was exceptional.  The Sixers
tried to post the smaller Celtics guards all night long.  The C's
guards fronted, and they got great help from the backside.

McCarty: I'm not as big a fan of Walter's as some (I don't LOVE him)
but there is no denying that he made a big contribution tonight,
undoubtedly his best game as a pro.  He set a new career high in
points with 19, on 8-11 shooting, had 7 boards, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
His points came a variety of ways, as he was the recipient of several
fine passes from Knight and Toine for easy scores, put back a couple
of offensive rebounds and made a couple of nice moves all on his own.
Down the stretch he did launch a couple of questionable shots, but all
in all a very strong night.

Walker: Solid night, though he only shot 9-23.  He hit a three early
which is always bad news as it causes him to take bad shots later in
the game.  But he still scored 25, had 13 boards and 4 assists (also 4
turnovers).  Weatherspoon really has Toine's number as he blocked
Walker's turnaround at least 3 times in the game, including twice on
critical possessions down the stretch.

Knight: didn't play all that much as he was a little too small to
handle Coleman (who must weight close to 300 lbs).  Scored 3 points,
had 3 assists, 7 boards and a blocks in 24 minutes.  Shot 1-7.

Billups: had 9 assists tonight (tho to be honest I wouldn't have said
he made that many great passes).  I know that I've expounded a lot on
what Billups doesn't do well, but let me mentions a couple things he
does do well a) he has a nose for the ball: he stolen the ball 7 times
over the last 2 games, often not from his man b) he does not turn the
ball over: he had just 1 turnover again tonight: for a rookie point
guard this is exceptional.  Chaunce scored 12 on 4-10 shooting in 29
minutes.

Dee: got more playing time due to the injuries.  Although he only
scored 9 points, he was the only Celtic who could figure out a way to
scored down the stretch.  Shot 3-8 and had 2 assists and 2 steals.

Pervis: The Celts got big contributions from 3 bench players tonight.
Pervis had 6 points (3-3), 6 boards, 3 assists and 3 blocks in 16
minutes of playing time.  Gave the Celts some beef when Coleman and
Scott Williams were in the game together for Philly.  Pervis is moving
around the court at least as well as his solid stretch of play at the
end of the 1995-96 season.

Edney- got more than 3 minutes tonight (22 actually).  Scored 14 (shot
4-9 but was perfect 6-6 on free throws), but had just 2 assists.  Did
a nice job on Iverson down the stretch, though Allen's heart just
didn't seem to be in this game.

Minor: big factor in the second half.  Scored 12 points on  5-8
shooting, though he was only 2-6 on free throws.  He was very
effective filling the lane on the break.  Still looks to be lost on
defense, once in a while.

Barros: only played 12 minutes before he turned his ankle.  Had 5
points and one assist.  Sure would have been nice to have another good
free throw shooter on the floor at the end.

DeClercq: got ten minutes of playing time (the least of the 10 Celts
who suited up for the game tonight).

Coaching: A real triumph for Pitino.  Obviously he has to get full
credit for the quality of the Celt's halfcourt defense, as well as the
decision to forgo the press.  I wonder if Rick decided to drop the
full court press because of the injuries, or because Philly shredded
it so easily in their pre-season meeting.
	This little win streak, even though it comes against the
marshmallow of the NBA, has to make Rick's life a lot easier.  He
doesn't have to sell his players on his system, as the team loses it's
first 15 games dreadfully (like the Knicks that first year).  If the
players can see some payback from all the hard work, it will be
relatively easy to keep them working hard.  As I  said at the start, I
thought that tonight's win was a pretty good one.  This is the kind of
game that a .500 team would feel good about winning and that
represents a lot of progress for the Celts, who a week ago (not to
mention a year ago) would have been happy for any kind of win at all.

The Celts are now 4-5.  They are off until this Tuesday, when they go
up to Canada to play the Raptors.=20

Bill C.
wfcooper@tiac.com =20