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Peter May Happy; Griffin Impressive In Debut
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
CELTICS 103, RAPTORS 90
Toronto rapture
Celtics do everything right in a stunning
opening-night rout
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 11/03/99
TORONTO - The
boos started
early in the fourth
quarter. The mass
exodus came a few
minutes later. The
players themselves were
sniping at each other
throughout what had to
be an utterly
humiliating evening.
The Toronto Raptors
clearly are hoping for
big things this season, but last night,
they ran head-first into what Rick Pitino
can only hope is a sign of things to come.
His Celtics opened the 1999-2000 season in
spectacular fashion with a convincing,
authoritative, 103-90 victory over the
supposedly up-and-coming Raptors. It
wasn't even that close.
There's no way to understate it: The
Celtics were terrific from start to
finish, with many hands stirring the pot.
It was as if all the players jumped off
the coach's clipboard. Paul Pierce
silenced the Vince Carter fans with a
30-point outburst, 20 coming in the first
half. (Carter finished with 12.) Antoine
Walker added 22, Walter McCarty 20 (on six
treys), and nerveless rookie Adrian
Griffin, in his first pro start,
contributed 14 points and a team-high 7
assists.
''This was a game we'd been gunning for,''
said an elated Pitino, who added that he
did not see it as payback for last year's
humbling opening loss to Toronto at the
FleetCenter. ''We want to showcase an
attitude of unselfishness at the offensive
and defensive ends. Our guys did that.''
Yes, they did. They held Toronto, the
fifth-best shooting team in the NBA in the
exhibition season, to 44 percent. They
outrebounded the ostensibly bigger,
stronger, meaner Raptors, limiting Charles
Oakley and Antonio Davis to 8 rebounds
between them. They never even once
resorted to their full-court press; it
wasn't necessary. They shot 52 percent, a
figure boosted by an astounding 10 of 13
from international waters.
And, of course, we would be remiss if we
omitted other signs from the hoop god that
this night was theirs: a banked free throw
from Wayne Turner, the six McCarty treys
(he had only 13 all last year), and the
stunning sight of Pervis Ellison putting
the ball on the floor and driving the lane
for a finger roll past equally stunned
Raptor defenders.
''I did get caught up in the Opening Night
thing a bit,'' said Ellison, who had not
played since March 1998. ''I mean, the
excitement. The light shows. I haven't
seen those in a while.''
Pitino shook his head and couldn't
suppress a smile.
''Pervis,'' he said, ''gave us some good
minutes. He made some big plays.''
Everyone did. The Celtics never trailed,
and there was but a single tie, 2-2.
Griffin and Pierce (12 of 19) collaborated
on a 10-2 run to make it 12-4 and that,
folks, was exactly how the rest of the
night went.
The Raptors came close a couple of times,
getting within 3 points in the second and
4 in third. In the first instance, the
Celtics countered with an 11-2 run. In the
second, it was a 7-0 burst. The checkpoint
leads were 9, 8, and 14. Toronto never got
closer than the final 13-point margin in
the fourth.
This was clearly a huge downer for a team
with high hopes. Butch Carter, the Toronto
coach, had been wary of this game and
talked incessantly about not taking the
Celtics lightly.
''Those were just words,'' the coach said.
''They did to us what we did to them last
year.''
The Celtics played with a sense of purpose
while Toronto played with a sense of
entitlement. Maybe the Raptors were
overwhelmed by their own sense of
self-importance or by the prognostications
of success. It was clear at the start, in
the middle, and in the end which team was
ready to play and which one was still
reading its press clippings.
Tracy McGrady was upset that he didn't
start.
''He's probably frustrated, and that's
natural for a 20-year-old,'' Carter said.
There was visible on-court sniping among
the Raptors, which even Walker, a
provocateur in his own right, couldn't
miss.
''It looks like they're trying to get
their chemistry together,'' he said.
That was supposed to be the problem with
Boston. That has been the problem with
Boston. That was not the problem last
night. There were no problems.
The toughest game the Celtics play this
season is tonight, their home opener
against the Wizards, for it's going to be
hard to duplicate, let alone better, their
debut. No one knows whether this was a
precursor, an aberration, a fraudulent
opponent, or an on-again, off-again thing.
But for one night, on the road, against a
team that thinks very big thoughts, the
Celtics had every answer. They played like
the team that's going somewhere.
This story ran on page F01 of the Boston
Globe on 11/03/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
Boston Herald
Open and shut case for Griffin
by Steve Bulpett
Wednesday, November 3, 1999
TORONTO - Celtics coach Rick Pitino placed a call to Gerald Oliver, head
of the CBA's Connecticut Pride, the other day.
``I wanted to thank him again for recommending Adrian to us,'' Pitino said
of '98-99 CBA MVP Adrian Griffin.
Looking ahead to last night's NBA opener against the Raptors, Pitino told
Oliver, ``He's got a tough night. He has to guard Vince Carter.
``His response to me was, `Just tell him you want him to stop him.' I
said, `He's going to do that?' And he said, `Whatever you tell Adrian
Griffin to do, he will do.'
``I hung up the phone and said to Leo (Papile, the chief scout) and Chris
(Wallace, the general manager), ``Where was he when I was coaching against
Michael Jordan?' ''
Pitino laughed at the recollection . . . and smiled at the way Griffin, a
25-year-old rookie swingman started at small forward and took the measure
of one of the league's brightest young stars. Griffin had 14 points (to
Carter's 12) and added seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.
With 1:41 left in the first half, Griffin drove hard to the hoop and
jammed with veteran authority.
``Did you see that dunk?'' said teammate Paul Pierce. ``He surprised me
with that one. I mean, I know he can get up, but when he dunked on Antonio
(Davis), I kind of jumped out of my seat. I wanted to go out and give him
a hug right away.''
Griffin's own hug came in the form of a 20-foot jumper he hit a little
more than a minute into the game.
``I had a few jitters, but when it's time to play ball, you can't think
about that,'' he said. ``Sooner or later you're going to have to play.
When I did hit that first `J', any basketball player will tell you that
when you hit your first shot, you feel a little more relaxed. You get that
out of the way and you just play ball.''
Pitino simply gushed away.
``He's a very smart player, very disciplined, very focused,'' the coach
said. ``The more you're around him, the more you love him. If you keep
watching him, you keep getting amazed.''
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Griffin shows he belongs
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 11/03/99
TORONTO - He looks around the room
and sees no one who can relate to
what he's been through. A year ago, Adrian
Griffin was playing in Italy, a short
stint to make some money to carry him over
until the start of the CBA season.
Last night, he was in the Celtics'
starting lineup against Toronto. He
belonged. He guarded Vince Carter and
outscored him, 14-12. He had a team-high
seven assists and made all four of his
free throws. He also had 2 blocks, 2
steals, and no turnovers in 28 minutes.
The Celtics won easily, 103-90.
Regarding his matchup with Carter, Griffin
said, ''He's a great player. But he's
still young. He's still learning. But you
don't want to wake a sleeping dog.'' Of
his own game, Griffin said simply, ''Other
guys set the tone. That made it easy.''
Griffin is the feel-good story of this
year's Celtics. Last year, Griffin played
(and played well) for the Connecticut
Pride. He flew commercial, stayed in Motel
6 and Super 8 motels, got $25 a day meal
money and earned about $1,300 a week.
Now, he's staying at places like The Ritz
and the Four Seasons, flying luxury
charters with good food, video screens,
and comfy seats, getting $87 a day per
diem and earning $385,000 a season.
''It has sort of hit me,'' he said. ''I'm
actually here. You dream about something
like this and you hope it happens, and
then it does and it's definitely
rewarding. But I also know that it's just
a game and I have to approach it like any
other game. Regardless of what I've gone
through, or how I got here, I still have
to play.''
Coach Rick Pitino said Griffin has grown
on him. He said he talked to Griffin's CBA
coach before last night's game, wondering
what to tell him about Carter. The answer:
''Just tell him to do it. He does what
he's told.'' Said Pitino, ''Where was he
when I needed someone to guard Michael
Jordan?''
This story ran on page F05 of the Boston
Globe on 11/03/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.