Pierce is the Package

[Ellie Cutler <ellie@oreilly.com>]

Is there someone already nicknamed "The Package"? If not, grab it for Paul
Pierce.  Besides great shooting (including 3 pt!), rebounding, passing,
steals, and stamina (played most of the game last night without looking too
tired), he has great poise for a rookie. Looks totally comfortable and
confident, and boy is he ever effective! Pencil him in for ROY. Battie,
Eric Riley, and DeClerq combined for 17 personal fouls in their quest to
guard the paint, though Kevin Willis still had a field day with 20+ points
and a chunk of rebounds. Battie had 11pts, 6RB, and a block in 20+ minutes,
and got whistled on everything by the refs (including of course some clean
blocks and swipes at the ball). We are definitely out-weighed in the
middle, and I was hoping to see Schintzius but he stayed on the bench while
RP got a look at Riley, who seemed to have a clue and was very mobile. He
faked Willis into a travel on one occasion where Willis was leaning into
him and Riley just backed off and let him fall.  Barros looked great off
the bench (Anderson was in early foul trouble), kept things very uptempo
and had 20 or so points.  The kid Garnett looked like a shorter version of
Bruce Bowen who can score.  

Two things are going to serve the Celts very well in this shortened season:
youth and depth.  A big key will be how Antoine takes to sharing the
limelight with Mercer and Pierce. That trio gives the C's a *hugely* potent
offense. They look great, and this is without Popeye Jones, McCarty, or Bowen.