Potapenko

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

The Celtics played well enough to lose another close game to
Detroit. If they had played as well as they did over the past
two games, they would have had a good shot at Toronto and
Charlotte.

During the game telecast, it was mentioned that Pitino did 
indeed try to get Marbury.

Potapenko was impressive today in the Celtics loss. If he's 
consistently contributes like he did, he'll certainly be worth
Declercq and the first rounder. He showed a variety of offensive
skills, hitting a couple jump shots, a hook shot, and showing
the ability to put the ball on the floor in the paint, although
he didn't finish on a few of these. In particular he was blocked
by Jud Buechler on one play, which is a bit embarassing. He
finished with eight points in about 22 minutes of play (the box
scores don't show him yet). 

He boxed out his man effectively but was a bit klutzy holding on
to rebounds. Defensively, he took a couple charges on slashing
Pistons and contained Bison Dele. On one play, Stackhouse drove
on him and basically bounced off him and lost the ball. In general
he seemed to be working hard on the floor. He looked like he had
better offensive skills than any of the Celtic centers that we've
had, unless you count Travis Knight's three-point ability as an
asset. He showed an ability to score given the ball one-on-one
against Dele and Montross, and generally looked tough and physical.
He just looks so much more like a real center than what we've
had. Hopefully he can keep it up and improve.

Alex