Tonight's game - some quick stats and impressions

[HMURDOCH@aol.com]

Well, it was only Toronto, but here's some early stats from ESPN :

Pierce : 21 points, 12 rebounds !, 5 steals, in 37 min.

His first double double.  Although he wasn't credited with it, it looked to me
like he got a couple of blocks as well.  Also had a nifty tap off a Toronto
player to save a possesion as he was going out of bounds.  Was hitting very
well from 3-point land too.  Seemed to be very alert to opportunities to get
his hands on the ball leading to 5 steals.  I guess this is what you call a
well rounded game.  Certainlly knows what he needs to do in the game very well
for a rookie.  And the execution isn't too shaby either.

I have to say, he looked like a veteran against Toronto tonight, not like an
underclassman at college.  Again, it's only Toronto, so we'll see how it goes
in regular season.

Barros : 20 points, 9 assists in 33 min.
Declerq : 15 points, 8 rebounds in 25 min.  Nice hair ;-)
Ganett : 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist in 28 min.  

I think Garnett looked better than the stats show on 2-7 shooting, as most of
his misses seemed to come from getting whacked taking it to the basket - as
may be indicated by getting 5-6 from the foul line.

Shintzius and Popeye didn't play - I think Pitino wanted a better look at
Battie and Riley.

My biggest impressions of the game were that there was a lot of very good
passing from a lot of players.  Encouraging to see - especially if Anderson
has trouble with the knees later.

And that a lot of GMs will really be kicking themselves about their draft
picks !

Hank M.