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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SEATTLE – The Celtics are glad Rick Pitino has departed
Boston and they're showing it.
|  | | Antoine Walker scores two of his 30 points en route to victory. |
Antoine Walker scored 30 points and the Celtics continued their
run at the playoffs under interim coach Jim O'Brien with a 108-88
victory over the Seattle SuperSonics on Thursday night.
"Because of the way things were, very negative, the first two
months of the season, the focus wasn't on us," Walker said. "It
was obviously on coach Pitino and whatever he was going to do with
his career. Now the focus is on us and the guys are just going out
there and playing hard and giving it everything we got."
The Celtics, the No. 8 team in the East, improved to 11-6 under
O'Brien, who replaced Pitino after Pitino's resignation on Jan. 8.
Boston won for the eighth time in 10 games and bounced back after a
one-point loss at Vancouver on Tuesday night.
"Everybody's playing with a lot of confidence and believing in
each other," said the 6-foot-9 Walker, who hit five 3-pointers.
"That's a credit to coach O'Brien."
Boston's strategy was to catch the Sonics early and it did.
After Gary Payton opened the game with a 3-pointer, the Celtics
scored 12 consecutive points, including 3-pointers by Walker and
Paul Pierce.
"It was important we got a big lead," O'Brien said. "You
don't want to be going down to the wire with as many weapons as
they have and Gary Payton on the court."
Pierce got into early foul trouble, but added 18 points for the
Celtics, who are 23-28.
Payton led the Sonics with 20 points, while Patrick Ewing played
one of his best games in Seattle with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Sonics, the No. 9 team in the West, fell 3 1/2 games behind
Phoenix.
"We looked like we were still on vacation," Sonics coach Nate
McMillan said disgustedly. "Tonight was really embarrassing. It
seemed like we weren't even there. Bad basketball, very bad
basketball."
Said Ewing: "I think we're a better team than the Celtics, but
we didn't prove it. It's very disappointing."
The Celtics put the game away in the second quarter, when they
hit 12 of 14 shots to take a 67-45 halftime lead.
After leading by 15 points after one period, Boston opened the
second quarter with consecutive 3-pointers by Chris Carr to go
ahead 39-18.
The Celtics took their biggest lead at 53-24 on a 3-point shot
by Walker with 6:20 left in the first half. That followed a layup
by Vitaly Potapenko and a three-point play by Kenny Anderson.
The Sonics made their run, getting to 93-80 on Payton's
16-footer with 7:14 on the clock.
But Walker responded with a layup and then sank a 3-pointer with
7:03 left. He put his little finger to his lips as if to quiet the
revived crowd at the Key Arena.
Walker added his second 3-pointer of the final period with 3:54
left to give the Celtics a 103-84 advantage.
Ruben Patterson returned for the Sonics after missing four games
because of a three-game suspension by the NBA and a sprained ankle.
He scored 10 points.
"They came out more aggressive than we were," Patterson said.
"They wanted the game more than we did."
Payton has been playing with a strained abdominal muscle.
"We know they're kind of banged up and they hadn't played for
awhile," Pierce said. "We took advantage of it."
Game notes
Chris Herren returned to the Celtics' lineup after
being on the injured list for 33 games. He underwent surgery to his
right shoulder Dec. 20. Herren scored two points in 13 minutes. ...
The Celtics play at Portland on Saturday night. They haven't won
there since March 21, 1993, when Robert Parrish had 11 rebounds and
the late Reggie Lewis scored 37 points. ... The Celtics won for the
second time in their last eight games in Seattle. ... Former
Celtics great Bill Russell watched the game at courtside with Wally
Walker, the Sonics' team president and general manager. Russell
lives in the Seattle area and coached the Sonics in the 1970s.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Boston Clubhouse
Seattle Clubhouse
RECAPS
Indiana 82
Detroit 73
Miami 98
Toronto 91
Dallas 102
Cleveland 81
San Antonio 102
Washington 78
Portland 105
Sacramento 81
Boston 108
Seattle 88
Vancouver 99
Golden State 89
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Antoine Walker Official Site
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