The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 89

The. Bo ston Globe E5 FRIDAY MARCH 21, 2003 Changing of the guardians Celtics take in the heat on the road Berard, Brown back on defense Why is this man IJ CELTICS Continuedfrom Page El By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell GLOBE STAFF not smiling? Joe Thornton is disappointed that coach Robbie Ftorek was fired. "I think the guy probably knows SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. One significant change interim coachgeneral manager Mike O'Con-nell implemented during practice after BRUINS NOTEBOOK more about hockey than anybody else in the world," said Thornton of his former coach. hi Thornton will miss coach in his corner But Boston is not counting on a fatigued opponent The Celtics hope to work through their problems at the shootaround this morning.

1 "We've played two subpar games," said "But I have confidence in the resiliency of our basket- ball team to be able to do the things that are neces-'; sary. Well rest up and come out with a rejuvenated outlook." Maybe fresher minds and bodies will help the Celtics' shooting percentage. The most repeated im-!" age during the last two losses was the clang of the rim after Celtics' misses. Many times the Celtics were1 missing wide-open looks. Shooting slumps are part of the game, but the Celtics, who dropped a half-game behind New Orleans into sixth in the Eastern Confer- ence, could not have picked a worse time to strugglel "It's just little things that we're not getting done'as': a team," said Antoine Walker.

"We're getting frustrated when we dont make shots' early in the game1 and it affects the rest of our game. We gut out wins andweVegottogetbacktothatleveL" Boston has not shot better than 45 percent sincejt defeating New York March 5. The Celtics also need td' return to moving the ball and racking up assists. They are at their best when Walker and Paul Pierce gefj their teammates involved. Since recording 25 against the Hornets March 12, the Celtics have been in need of a helping hand.

Mm "We practice shooting all the time," said you go in and out of slumps. Sometimes you're not shooting the ball well and, all of a sudden, it comes back and you start knocking down shots. 1 1 always stay in a state of concern, but it nothing more' than any other time we've lost two games in a A The Celtics have maintained they do not worry about their offense. Defense, however, is a constant" focal point. Although Boston held Detroit to 34.2" percent shooting and New Orleans to 32 percent In 1 recent victories, the team has struggled with consist tency on defense.

O'Brien noticed dramatic defensive slippage the last time Boston played on the West Coast and it took -a couple days of practice at home to remedy the situa- tion. The Celtics dont have the luxury of a couple days of workouts late in the season, though they do have a two-day break at the end of the month after playing a home-and-away series against Cleveland. "If there's one thing we can do better, we can play better defense," said Pierce. "I'm not particularly wor-' ried about the offense because that's not what wins the playoffs." The Celtics have 14 games to gain ground in the' Eastern Conference and earn home-court advantage in the playoffs, a goal since the preseason. Wednes-' when the team was struggling.

"I think it comes back to just the way I am," he said. "Being down one or two goals, I press too much. I dont like to accept that and I dont want to lose the game, but sometimes it can cause too much trouble. I have to learn to pick my spots better and keep it simple. WeVe got talented forwards and my job is to get those guys the puck and let them do it Brown said he hadnt talked to O'Connell about how long he'd remain on defense but he's hoping it is permanent Tm more comfortable back there," he said.

"I feel like I'm more involved in the game. I feel like I can improve and get better. There are a lot of guys here and quality guys, too. You dont wish injuries on anyone but injuries do happen. If you're in, you play well and if you're not, you work hard until you get a chance and that's about it" Moving on up Mike Sullivan, who was promoted from head coach of the Bruins' top AHL affiliate in Providence to assistant under O'Connell, arrived just prior to the start of practice.

Back on the farm, Scott Gordon, an assistant to Sullivan, will take over the head duties forthe Baby B's. O'Connell said Sullivan and assistant Wayne Cashman, retained from Ftorek's staff, will be behind the Bruins' bench for the rest of the year. "I'd like one of them to run the forwards and one of them to run the defense and make sure the attitude is right and the effort is right," said O'Connell. "Well talk about the matchups before the game and IU make sure they get those and ni basically worry about how we're playing and not be as concerned about the changes." O'Connell, who said he believes he knows how to fix what's ailing his team, said the message he was sending to his players during their 90-minute practice Wednesday and hour-plus workout yesterday was to ratchet up the intensity. "Just get moving, get your feet moving, get to the man, get the puck in deep.

Things coaches say to the team all the time," said O'Connell. "We've just got to get them to do it" O'Connell said goaltender Jeff Hackett, who didnt make the trip because of a bruised finger on his right hand, is improving. "I think he skated yesterday," said O'Connell. "I dont know if he had a stick in his hand or not But he was out there on the ice." Andrew Raycroft got a scare during practice when he took a hard Martin Lapointe slap-per off the left side of his collarbone. Raycroft said he was fine Expect Steve Shields, who backed up Raycroft against the Coyotes, to get the start tonight against the Sharks The Bruins close out the three-game trip against the Kings in Los Angeles tomorrow night BRUINS Continued from Page El "He was upset" said Thornton.

"He obviously wanted to coach the Bruins, it's his hometown team. He took a lot of pride in coaching us. He did a lot for my career and a lot of guys on this team. He did a lot for me. He's an offensive coach.

I think the guy probably knows more about hockey than anybody else in the world. He taught me so much about little things that you'd never think about Hopefully, 111 be able to be coached by him again in the future. I really enjoyed him coaching me. We had a lot of fun together." Thornton, who has a career-high 90 points in 68 games, is second in the league in scoring. He credits Ftorek with helping him raise the bar by improving his fundamentals.

"Like faceoffs," said Thornton, "and play behind the net Just everything that's made me the kind of player I am now. IVe learned two steps higher just from him coaching me and telling me, 'Hey, you're a good player. Just go out there and play and you're going to do He put confidence in me. We enjoyed each other's company. "I enjoyed being taught by him and he enjoyed teaching me so I think we just had a good relationship that way.

I play behind the net a lot and I think I do that more since he's been here. He said, 'Hey, that's your friend, go back there. Nobody can climb over it and get He taught me that and a lot of things 111 use for the rest of my career. He said, 'If you control the faceoff, firing coach Robbie Ftorek Wednesday was to return Bryan Berard and Sean Brown to defense. Berard played one game at left wing Tuesday against the Coyotes after being scratched the previous two games.

Brown, who had played on the fourth line most of the year, is one of 10 blue liners. "I'm going to try to get them all some work but you cant play 10," said O'Connell. "We're going to talk about it and make a decision. Everybody probably deserves to play but everybody cant play." O'Connell said he thought Brown would be a better fit at his natural position. O'Connell.

Td like to try to keep him there. I just think he was raised as a defense man and I'd like to make sure he stays a defen-seman." Berard and Brown were enthusiastic about the move. "I like it a lot better." said Berard. That my position and that's the way I like to play the game. When you play something your whole life, you learn and understand it.

Right now, it's my responsibility to get my confidence where it needs to be and perform at a level the team needs right now. I'm going to put some pressure on myself and hopefully I can doit." Berard said putting pressure on himself got him into trouble defensively in the last month IMMIItMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMII Sharks thumbnails When, where: Tonight, 10:30 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. TVradio: NESN, WBZ (1030 AM). Records: San Jose is 26-34-6-7 (13th in the Western Conference); Boston is. 33-28-8-4 (seventh in the Eastern Conference).

Goals: Teemu Seianne 25, Patrick Mar-lean 24, Marco Sturm 24. Assists: Vincent Damphousse 34, Seianne 33, Marleau 26. GoaKenders: Evgeni Nabokov (19-25-6, 2.69); Miikka Kiprusoff (5-14-0, 3.35);Vesa Toskafa (6-2-2, 2.45). Head to head: This is the second and final meeting of the year. The Bruins won the first, 5-2, Dec.

23 in Boston. Miscellany: This is the Bruins' first game under interim head coach Mike O'Connell The Sharks are not in the playoff hunt despite winning the Pacific Division last season. Because of their struggles, coach Darryl Sutter was fired more than three months ago and GM Dean Lombardi was fired Tuesday The Sharks' game in Colorado Wednesday was postponed due to snow and made up last night, with the Avalanche winning, 2-0 The Sharks have won only two of their last 10 games, suffering two overtime losses in than span. you control the I never really looked atafaceoff like that but he's totally right He just knows so much about the game. He's an untapped resource and I just wish I couldVe gotten a lot more out of him." Thornton acknowledged the Bruins havent played as well as they can.

If they're not as good as they were in the first two months of the year, they're nowhere near as inept as they've shown since. The lapses with the Phoenix game being the final straw cost Ftorek his job. "All of us feel guilty," said Thornton. "It's our job to win. When we dont win, a lot of us aren't going to go anywhere.

It's the coach who's going to go somewhere. I feel guilty that we couldnt keep a good coach like that around. He's going to get another job and coach that team to a ton of wins as weU." Whether the Bruins finish sixth, seventh, or eighth, their captain said he knows the11 be measured by what they do in the playoffs. "It doesnt matter what you do in the regular season, we found that out" he said, referring to last year's first-round ouster by Montreal. "Last year, we just kind of coasted through the regular season at the end of the year.

We knew we were going to be in that No. 1 spot This year's a little different We have to find a hot streak right now." Personally, Thornton said he thinks he's playing fine. "I'm second in the league in scoring," he said. "But IVe just got to shoot more. Thafs the last thing Robbie said to me and I totally agree with him.

Me and Glen Murray both have to shoot more." Thornton hasnt been able to get a handle on what the difference will be with general manager Mike O'Connell behind the bench. "I have no idea," he said. "I know Robbie was a very positive coach and I liked that. WeU have to wait and see how that works. It's a little weird.

It's going to be strange. Fd like to say when Robbie was behind there, I played hard for him and when Mike Keenan was behind there, I played hard for him. If not going to change my game. I hope we can go to the Cup. You've got to dream big.

Look at Carolina last year. We just have to focus and why cant we win the Cup?" That in Thornton's eyes, will be the only justification for Ftorek's firing. "If we win the Cup, I think this will pay off," he said. "If we dont, in my mind I dont think it will pay off." days loss aroppea tnem two games Demna lourin- place Indiana. "I think some of the guys are kind of I i ii i 1 a i iirMiutiiv iiifiinrai nwf.i iiitr iff.si.

fitniitr iijivK iiiniiiv said Pierce. "The way we lost can be mentally drain-'. ing. With a day off, everybody can get their heads straight get their bodies back right Well be fine and weU come ready to play tonight. We're struggling, but this is a game that can hopefully turn us for the rest of the season." mil 1 1 1 1 iiiiiiiitiiiin i in i iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii fiim-irMi Lakers thumbnails Ftorek remains a company man FTOREK Continued from Page El Ftorek, light strains of emotion evident in his voice.

"And I feel sorry for my wife and kids. That's all. But really, I have nothing to say." Ftorek said he would attend some of the Bruins' remaining home games, keeping to the same modus operandi he employed in the spring of 2000 when he was abruptly dismissed as the Devils' head coach. Asked if were shocked by the move, Ftorek gave a slight shake of his head, and said he had nothing more to add as he reached for the door and exited for the safe harbor of his family room. Not including last night's game When, where: Tonight 10:30 at Staples Center.

TVradio: FSNE, WWZN (1510 AM). -'oO Records: Los Angeles is 38-28 (sixth in the Western Conference' Boston is 38-30 (sixth in the Eastern Conference). Scoring: Kobe Bryant 30.3; Shaquille O'Neal 26.6; Derek Fisher 10.6. Rebounds: O'Neal 10.9; Bryant 6.8; Robert Horry 6.6. Assists: Bryant 6.1; Fisher 3.5; O'Neal 3.3; Rick Fox 3.3.

1 Head to head: This is the second and final meeting. Boston won, 98- 95, Nov. 7 in overtime. Miscellany: O'Neal made headlines when he said Kings guard MikC' Bibby should not be'on the Olympic team. "When he was in Vancouver; -i no one heard of him.

Allen Iverson should be on that team." The Lakers played at Sacramento last night Bryant is second in the league scoring, behind only Orlando's Tracy McGrady (32 points per Entering last night, the Lakers had won six of their last eight and 12 of their last 15. Revolution's road trip not environmen tally friendly Soccer notes surprised because, first of all, I just hoped to get some playing time," Schmidt said from training camp in Guadalajara, Mexi-. co. "A month before the draft I didn't think I would be a big-time pick, but may-; be New England or possibly LA would i 1 take me. Then, I came to Colorado in the fifth round of this year's draft thinking Revolution coach Steve Nicol is enthusiastic about the Champions Cup, though he is accustomed to far different circumstances.

"This is a chance to do well, to play in a different environment," said Nicol, who won the 1984 Euro Champions Cup with Liverpool. "You can either look at it positively or moan about it, and thafs not an option. There is prestige involved in any international tournament, plus you are representing your country," said Revolution defender Carlos Llamosa, who was on the winning side in this event with D.C. United in 1999. "When I was with D.C.

United, we were a young league and the other teams didnt know too much about us. Yes, they underestimated us, but now they think about us differently. Especially maybe I would get a development con tract like Kyle Singer ex-BC goalkeeper1 1 1 1 A. I "If you want different elements, you can try going to Eastern Bloc countries to play. You get bad food, a bad hotel, bad everything.

We played before 60,000 people in Bucharest and they were all wearing the same brown clothes. The harder the conditions, the tougher it is to play, but you just have to make the best of it This is a chance to play in a different environment We could play in our stadium before our since D.C. and Los Angeles won the tournament and the national team did well at the World Cup." About Schmidt The system of a collegiate draft does not translate well in soccer and the MLS's superdraft has proven to be mostly a waste of time after the first two rounds. Only four of 36 players chosen in rounds 4-6 in 2001 remained in the league a year later, and only lost to Arabe Unido (1-0) in Colon, Panama, and the Earthquakes fell to Municipal (4-2) in Guatemala City. Batres and Sibrian have officiated US national team games, so they are familiar with the style of play and with several Revolution players.

lithe Revolution players are smart, they will use this to their advantage. After all, there will be very few friendly faces at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, on the outskirts of the capital city of San Jose. Though the CONCACAF Champions Cup lacks credibility and sponsorship, it does have history (the 1962 debut was six years after the Euro version began) and growth potential. The winner qualifies to meet the Copa Libertadores champion and also advances to the World Club Cup, a club version of the World Cup. This region will not soon rival Europe or South America at the club level, but because of poor promotion, CONCACAF risks falling further behind confederations that are more ambitious or superior organizationally.

The Asian Champions League is being contested with $3 million at stake: Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Iraq titleholders Al Talaba last week. The Koreans, Japanese, and Saudis have committed to making the Asian event a showcase. MLS's involvement provides the key for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, just as the US national team's improvement has increased the visibility of the region. Frank Dell'Apa urope's Champions League has become a gigantic money-M maker, a fair reflection of what a world soccer super league would look like. But while Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United, AC Milan, and Real Madrid battled for position this week before millions of televiewers, America's version of the Champions Cup is being contested in comparative obscurity.

The Revolution will participate in a two-game series against ID Alajuelense in Costa Rica Sunday and Wednesday. The Revolution surrendered their home game opportunity because of logistical problems, but they will not be in completely hostile circumstances since the referees are familiar faces: Carlos Batres of Guatemala for Game 1 and Salvadoran Rodolfo Sibrian, who studied at Boston College, for Game 2. The competency, experience, and relative empathy of the referees cannot be undervalued in this competition. In the first three games involving MLS teams last weekend, players were ejected from the Columbus Crew (Jeff Cunningham), Los Angeles Galaxy (Carlos Ruiz), and San Jose Earthquakes (Troy Dayak, Richard Mulrooney). The Galaxy tied Motagua, 2-2, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The Crew with the Revolution." Schmidt has scored against all levels of opposition, including both Rapids' goals in a 2-0 victory over Mexican power San- tos in Las Vegas last week. Colorado re- placed Carlos Valderrama with French- man Gilles Grimandi and has three veteran strikers Chris Carrierl, Zizi and John Spencer. Schmidt had brief chances with the US 3, Under-18 and -20 teams but faded from Hit the national team picture after breaking i his cheekbone in a game against Harvard two years ago. Schmidt recovered, theri broke the BC scoring record held by Paul i Keegan, a former Revolution striker now, with Republic of Ireland champions hemians. "I was always on the bubble but the competition at.that level is tremen- dous because you have guys like cus Beasley Chicago, Landon Dono-! 'Q' van San Jose, and Conor Casey Bayer; Leverkusen," Schmidt said The ton University men's soccer team will scrimmage with the Revolution April 5 at 1 Nickerson Field at 3 p.m.

The scrimmage is open to the public. CASEY SCHMIDT Rapid progress fans every week but that is not how you learn. When you are up against it, if you stand up and face it, you will come out the better for it." The Revolution qualified for the Champions Cup by advancing to the MLS Cup final last year. The Revolution's lack of experience in international competition makes them a long shot for a quarterfinal matchup with either Club America of Mexico or FAS of FJ Salvador. five of 2 1 players chosen in the final three rounds of 2002 were signed.

But Casey Schmidt has proven to be an exception to the rule. Schmidt Boston College's all-time leading goal-scorer with 35 in four seasons, has been the standout of the preseason with the Colorado Rapids and signed a contract Tuesday. Schmidt from Newbury Park, has scored 12 goals in 10 games and is contending for a starting role. "I am very.