Monday, February 16, 1998
By Dave Del Grande
STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Muggsy Bogues and Bimbo Coles played a combined 36 minutes Sunday night and they're still looking for their first field goal.
And the Boston Celtics are still looking for Bogues and Coles.
The veteran point guards both returned from injuries and immediately encountered Rick Pitino's vaunted presses -- until the Celtics gave up the futile exercise early in a 101-87 loss that produced the Golden State Warriors' first win of 1998 at the New Arena.
"I told one of the players before the game -- (Antoine) Walker--'You're going to be calling the press off,"' Bogues claimed. "I didn't think they were going to press me. Maybe they thought my hamstring wasn't loose enough."
Oh, it was plenty loose. At least it appeared that way when Bogues, delighted to see the Celtics in full retreat in the third quarter, skipped his way up the court to initiate one possession.
"You can't press him. He hasn't been pressed since he started playing," Tony Delk said of Bogues, who played 20 minutes and had just one turnover. "You've got to be smart. They have a smart coach. It was smart that they didn't press him."
Smart, maybe. But when you're the Celtics and don't have much else to offer, isn't dropping back into a standard defense a little like throwing up a white flag?
"I wish they would have kept it on. That was to our advantage," insisted Coles, who suited up for what he considered to be emergency purposes only and wound up playing 16 minutes with just one turnover. "We struggle so much in the half court, it opened things up for us and got us some easy baskets."
With the guards handling the ball expertly, the Warriors' big guys benefited with those easy baskets.
Donyell Marshall, who had gone a full month (14 games) without hitting at least half his shots in a game, poured in 13 of 19 while tying his career high with 30 points.
Joe Smith, on the heels of a 4-for-17 performance, dropped in eight of 16 on an 18-point night.
And Erick Dampier, limited to nine shots by a double-teaming Celtics defense, turned them into 13 points.
All told, the Warriors, in stopping an 11-game home losing streak, one setback shy of a franchise record, scored 52 of their 101 points from within the painted area two days after Sacramento limited them to 10 in the interior.
"They really dominated us," Pitino said of the Warriors' big men, who also combined for 31 rebounds and contributed to Golden State's 52-42 dominance in that category. "Ever since Pervis (Ellison) went out with his injury, our interior defense has hurt us."
And that's why the Celtics must force backcourt mistakes in order to be successful. Thus, they couldn't have been too happy to see Bogues suit up for the first time since Jan. 24 and Coles for the first time since Feb. 1.
"Having Muggsy and Bimbo back, I thought we played fresher," Warriors coach P.J. Carlesimo said of being able to use a four-guard rotation that included Delk (17 points, six assists) and Brandon Williams (season-high 11 points). "It's been so difficult for Tony to have to play the minutes he's been playing."
The Celtics missed their first nine shots, fell behind 12-4 and then 22-12 by quarter's end, and never came close to catching up. Incredibly, their best run of points was a six-pointer in the third quarter.
Helping account for that low number was the fact that the Warriors had 22 turnovers, but the Celtics converted them into just 12 points.
"I thought we maintained our poise," Carlesimo explained. "We said we were going to turn the ball over --we usually do -- but we didn't want to back off being aggressive. Instead of getting tentative, I thought we maintained our aggressiveness."
And the Celtics surrendered theirs.
"It makes you feel good that they had to go away from their strength, knowing you can cut off a big part of their defense and a big part of their offense," said Bogues, who, like Coles, had six assists. "I know how to handle presses."
It's too bad for the Warriors more teams don't use the tactic.
NOTES: In order to activate Bogues, the Warriors placed Duane Ferrell on the injured list with a strained right calf. ... Bogues, who had been out with a hamstring injury, left Sunday's game -- for good, as it turned out -- with a knotted-up calf. ...The Warriors' record for consecutive home losses is 12, but that extended over two seasons. The single-season record is 11, set at the beginning of the 12-game run during the 1964-65 season and now matched by this year's Warriors.
