Mercer and win over Sacramento

[HMURDOCH@aol.com]

Has anyone noticed how well Mercer is playing lately ?  In the game last night
against Sacramento (besides a high-light film score or two on the way to 15
points) he had some interesting stats : he was second on the team in assists
with 6, and he also had 6 rebounds (incl. 4 defensive rebounds).  Added to
that were 5 steals !  He also was high-minute man with 42 minutes (doesn't
seem to be hitting the "rookie wall" after the half-way mark of the season).

But he also does a lot of things that don't show up in the stats -things that
would be easy to miss if you didn't see the games.  He accounted for at least
three more possesions for the Celts in the game (besides the steals and
rebounds) - two by accrobatic saves of balls going out of bounds, and one by
causing the King dribbling the ball up-court to loose the ball out of bounds.
Other players like Bowen, etc. contribute in ways that don't make the box
scores too, but I've been impressed with Mercer in the past few games in this
regard.

Finally, I get the feeling that he's enjoying taking it to the basket more
lately.  He had one drive past (Polynice ?) where he had some serious hang
time and switched hands making the layup.  He seems to have that ability to
adjust his shot in slow motion in mid-air that (dare I say M.J. ?) few others
have.

Well, enough being impressed by the rookie - in other news, Anderson was great
in the opening minutes of his first home Celtic game !  Including stealing the
ball on the first play and feeding a team-mate for a layup.  Nice.  The whole
team seems to have been influenced by his passing, and everyone seems to be
looking to pass more resulting in a faster game and increased scoring.

Hank M.