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1998–99 Boston Celtics season

NBA basketball team season

NBA basketball team season

(Tom Heinsohn, Bob Cousy) Fox Sports New England (Mike Gorman, Tom Heinsohn) (Howard David, Cedric Maxwell)

The 1998–99 Boston Celtics season was the 53rd season for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association. Due to a lockout, the regular season began on February 5, 1999, and was cut from 82 games to 50.

This season was memorable as the Celtics received the tenth overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft, and selected small forward Paul Pierce from the University of Kansas. During the off-season, the team acquired second-year center Tony Battie from the Los Angeles Lakers, who had acquired him from the Denver Nuggets.

Pierce would get off to a fast start as he was named Rookie of the Month in February. However, after a 7–7 start to the regular season, the Celtics struggled losing ten of their next eleven games. At mid-season, the team traded Andrew DeClercq to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Vitaly Potapenko. Celtics fans began to get restless with head coach Rick Pitino's slow growth, as the team finished in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with a 19–31 record.

Antoine Walker averaged 18.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, and also contributed 65 three-point field goals, while second-year star Ron Mercer averaged 17.0 points and 1.6 steals per game, and Pierce provided the team with 16.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, led them with 84 three-point field goals, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team, and also finished in third place in Rookie of the Year voting. In addition, Kenny Anderson contributed 12.1 points and 5.7 assists per game, while Potapenko provided with 10.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in 33 games after the trade. Off the bench, sixth man Dana Barros contributed 9.3 points and 4.2 assists per game, while Battie averaged 6.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, Walter McCarty provided with 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and Greg Minor contributed 4.9 points per game.

The Celtics finished ninth in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 440,602 at the FleetCenter during the regular season. Following the season, Mercer was traded along with Popeye Jones to the Denver Nuggets, and Bruce Bowen signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Draft picks

Main article: 1998 NBA draft

RoundPickPlayerPositionNationalityCollege
110Paul PierceSF/SGKansas

Roster

  • Rick Pitino
  • John Carroll
  • Lester Conner
  • Andy Enfield
  • Jim O'Brien | access-date = May 4, 1999

Roster Notes

  • Power forward Pervis Ellison was on the injured reserve list due to an ankle injury, and missed the entire regular season.

Regular season

Season standings

:z - clinched division title :y - clinched division title :x - clinched playoff spot

Game log

Player statistics

Regular season

|- | 34 || 33 || 29.7 || .451 || .250 || .832 || 3.0 || 5.7 || 1.0 || .1 || 12.1 |- | 50 || 16 || 23.1 || .453 || .400 || .877 || 2.1 || 4.2 || 1.0 || .1 || 9.3 |- | 50 || 15 || 22.4 || .519 || .000 || .672 || 6.0 || 1.1 || .6 || 1.4 || 6.7 |- | 30 || 1 || 16.5 || .280 || .269 || .458 || 1.7 || .9 || .7 || .3 || 2.3 |- | 14 || 1 || 18.4 || .491 || || .655 || 4.5 || .7 || .9 || .6 || 5.4 |- | 24 || 0 || 8.5 || .294 || .261 || .750 || .9 || .8 || .2 || .0 || 2.1 |- | 13 || 0 || 16.4 || .387 || .455 || .750 || 2.4 || 2.2 || .5 || .0 || 5.8 |- | 18 || 2 || 11.4 || .392 || .000 || .824 || 2.9 || .8 || .3 || .0 || 3.0 |- | 32 || 4 || 20.6 || .362 || .260 || .702 || 3.6 || 1.3 || .8 || .4 || 5.7 |- | 41 || 40 || 37.8 || .431 || .167 || .790 || 3.8 || 2.5 || 1.6 || .3 || 17.0 |- | 44 || 7 || 17.4 || .417 || .286 || .750 || 2.7 || 1.1 || .5 || .1 || 4.9 |- | 48 || 47 || 34.0 || .439 || .412 || .713 || 6.4 || 2.4 || 1.7 || 1.0 || 16.5 |- | 33 || 32 || 28.1 || .521 || || .547 || 7.2 || 1.8 || .7 || .6 || 10.8 |- | 35 || 11 || 9.6 || .519 || || .710 || 2.8 || .4 || .3 || .7 || 2.2 |- | 16 || 0 || 4.2 || .250 || || .750 || 1.2 || .5 || .0 || .2 || .7 |- | 42 || 41 || 36.9 || .412 || .369 || .559 || 8.5 || 3.1 || 1.5 || .7 || 18.7 |}

  • † Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Celtics only.

Player statistics citation:

Awards and records

  • Paul Pierce, NBA All-Rookie Team 1st Team

References

References

  1. [https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BOS/1999.html 1998-99 Boston Celtics]
  2. (January 6, 1999). "NBA: Let The Games Begin!". CBS News.
  3. Wise, Mike. (June 25, 1998). "PRO BASKETBALL; 7 Feet 1 Inch of Potential at No. 1". The New York Times.
  4. (June 25, 1998). "Olowokandi Is the Center of Attention". Los Angeles Times.
  5. "1998 NBA Draft". Basketball-Reference.
  6. (January 20, 1999). "Knight's Out". Hartford Courant.
  7. Wise, Mike. (February 4, 1999). "PRO BASKETBALL; A Scrum for the Title". The New York Times.
  8. (March 11, 1999). "Cavs Trade Potapenko to Celtics". CBS News.
  9. (March 12, 1999). "Marbury Heads Home". Deseret News.
  10. Greenberg, Alan. (March 17, 1999). "His Strength Is His Power". Hartford Courant.
  11. Greenberg, Alan. (March 28, 1999). "Pitino Losing Grip on His Team". Hartford Courant.
  12. "1998–99 Boston Celtics Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference.
  13. (May 27, 1999). "Carter Is Runaway Rookie of the Year". Los Angeles Times.
  14. "1998–99 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball-Reference.
  15. "1998–99 Boston Celtics Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.
  16. "1998–99 NBA Season Summary". Basketball-Reference.
  17. (August 4, 1999). "Celtics Trade Mercer in Six-Player Deal". Los Angeles Times.
  18. Greenberg, Alan. (August 4, 1999). "Celts Cash Out on Mercer". Hartford Courant.
  19. (August 4, 1999). "NBA Teams Get Busy Trading and Signing". Deseret News.
  20. (September 16, 1999). "Sixers Sign Rookie MacCulloch". CBS News.
  21. Wise, Mike. (October 31, 1999). "1999–2000 N.B.A. PREVIEW; The West Is Still the Best". The New York Times.
  22. Greenberg, Alan. (January 22, 1999). "NBA: Nothing But Activity". Hartford Courant.
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This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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