Finally!

[opi@unesco.org]

Antoine Walker starting at small forward alongside Pots and Battie last
night produced the following terrific stat line:

27 points on 10-13 FG, 6-7 FT, 6 assists, 2 turnovers, 4 rebounds, 2
fouls in 35 minutes.

Last night Antoine put up mature, dare-I-say "Y2K All Star", numbers on
the Cheese Wiz. I'd like to see more consistent rebounding numbers (3
straight poor rebounding games so far) but he is making a habit of
getting around 5 assists, and that's a good sign. A lot of opposing
small forwards are going to hang out on the perimeter in order to
eliminate our best defensive rebounder from the paint, hoping to be able
to overwhelm Pots and Battie down low (16 rebounds combined last night).

Last night, I believe Battie played for the first time this season at
his natural power forward position. He put up 9 points, 9 boards and 3
blocks on 3-6 shooting with just one foul. These numbers (9+ boards) are
roughly what he produced as a starting power forward after Antoine went
down last spring.

BTW, have you all noticed that Paul Pierce's 3-point percentage is way
down so far? No big deal, I guess.

IMO, it will be hard to keep either Turner or Griffin off this team
through a phony injury. Although it is a risk, I'm in favor of keeping
Marty Conlon (3 minutes last night) on 10-day injured reserve until
Pervis Ellison goes down. I suppose Antoine and Battie will each get 5+
additional minutes per game until Danny Boy returns, although I'm sure
McCarty and Williams will also guard second string power forwards on
occasion. It's not a very deep position in the league right now
(especially backup 4's who can score on you), so I think Walter and Eric
can do the job.

Go Y2K Celts!

****