Yo' Adrian!

[CeltsSteve@aol.com]

The C's came from behind to defeat the Clippers tonight,  122 - 111 to remain 
unbeaten in the LA Fila Summer League despite the efforts of Kebu Stewart who 
poured in 40 points.

The C's had another balanced attack and for the second night in a row were 
paced by CBA MVP Adrian Griffin with 23 (19 in the second half). Tony Battie 
added 20;  Walter McCarty, playing in place of Sweet P (Pierce) also had 20, 
including 10 in the 4th quarter; and Vitaly Potapenko chipped in 16 according 
to my unofficial stats.

The C's opened with a different starting quintet tonight: Wayne Turner got 
the call at PG, Bowen remained at the "2", Walter started in place of Pierce, 
Battie at the PF, and VP in the middle. The Clippers countered with Jeff 
McGiness (North Carolina) and Charles Smith (New Mexico) in the backcourt and 
a frontcourt of Rodney Elliott (Maryland?), Stewart (Cal Bakersfield) and 
Brian Skinner (last year's #1 from Baylor). The Clippers only dressed 9 
players and were led in the opening stanza by Stewart's 8 points with Skinner 
adding 5.  The C's were led by Battie and Turner, who combined for 11 and VP 
added 4. The first quarter went back and forth with neither side able to take 
command  and ended up tied  at the end of 12 minutes, 23 - 23.

In the second quarter, the C's pounded the ball inside to VP, who resoponded 
with 8 points and were sparked by Kevin Ollie's 8 point outburst of the 
bench. Ollie was much more aggressive in looking for his offense tonight and 
less into being a playmaker; no doubt because of the absence of Pierce from 
the lineup. Walter also found his offense in the second quarter and added 6.

For the Clips, it was more of Kebu Stewart and Brian Skinner as they 
propelled the Clips into a halftime lead of 53 - 50. Stewart had 18 at 
intermission and Skinner had 11.  VP was the only Celtic in double figures in 
the first half with 12.

In the 3rd quarter, Jim O'Brien inserted Griffin into the starting lineup in 
place of McCarty at the "3" spot and boy did this kid sieze the opportunity 
presented him. In a very unassuming, unemotional, and unflappable manner, he 
quickly got his offensive game in gear and scored 8 in the quarter and with 
the help of Battie's 7 in the quarter on an assortment of spectacular alley 
oops helped the C's battle back from a 6 point deficit to take the lead 86 - 
84, on a pretty baseline reverse for the final basket of the quarter by 
Griffin. Once again, it was the 6' 8" Stewart and the 6 ' 9" Skinner who kept 
the Clips close until Skinner left the game following a nasty collision with 
Eric Riley under the Clippers basket.

In the 4th, it was too much balance between Griffin, who added 11 more in 
down the stretch; McCarty's10; and Battie who continued to ooh and aah the 
crowd with his high wire act to chip in 7 for Kebu Stewart to withstand and 
the C's prevailed 122 - 111.

Others scoring for the C's (unofficially): Ollie 16, Turner 9, Bowen 6, Smith 
5, Clack 4, and Garnett 3.


For the Clips: Stewart had 40, Skinner 17, Alvin Sims 14, McGiness 8, Rico 
Hall 8, Charles Smith 6, Rodney Elliott 6.


 Other comments:

Griffin is showing signs of being a "go to" guy. The team ran several 
isolations/clear outs where he posted up his man on the baseline and they 
dropped the ball into him to let him work one on one. When the Clips finally 
did start to rotate to double down on him, he was quite adept at passing out 
of the double team to not only find but hit the open man for a wide open jump 
shot. You gotta love that; a bona fide scorer for the second team. It's a 
plus that the kid can also "D" up as well and looked pretty comfortable in 
the scheme of the press. In case you can't tell, I really like this kid and 
it's eveident the C's do, too as he's getting far more minutes than Clack and 
more importantly, he's producing. Who does he remind me of? It's hard to say; 
a 6' 5" lefty that is a heady player on both ends of the court and is as I 
said unemeotional, unflappable, and unassuming. I don't want to go overboard 
on him at this stage as after all, this is the Summer League but I'd really 
like to see what he can do in the exhibition season and beyond against 
tougher, more seasoned competiton.

Battie is someone you don't want to look away from because he has a flair for 
making a spectacular/highlight reel play.

The press unit of Turner, Bowen, Griffin, McCarty, and Battie showed some 
nice stretches of intense "D" that caused the Clips trouble with inbounding 
the ball under the basket. . . Riley has slimmed down from last year and 
looks to be a step quicker. . . and  VP still has hands of stone.

That's about it. The Grizzlies are next up tomorrow night at 5:15 Pacific 
time.

Go C's!