Pierce at Fila summer pro league

["Art Silva" <art3@ix.netcom.com>]

I went to watch some summer league games on Monday and to my surprise I
caught a game between a team called the NBA pros and the Golden State
Warriors entry. Paul was playing for the NBA Pros team. I would say overall
he didn't look too good. But he was still the best player out there. First
off he showed up late. It was either at the end of the first or early in the
second when I first saw him stretching out by the bench. The coach put him
in not too long after and he never left the game. His game was way rusty.
The jumper wasn't there but he managed to score 21 or 23 mostly from the
line. Although he did have a few nice assists on fast breaks. His team was
getting pounded inside by Rick Hughes and was down by 10 or 12 for the first
part of the game. But once he got in the lead eroded little by little. The
pros eventually won. He looked very winded down the stretch and too me he
looked like he's been hitting King Taco a little too much. The warriors
tried just about everybody on their team to stop him but nobody really
could. They tried Mark Davis and Schea Cotton mostly. Rick Hughes gave it a
shot as did Bill Curley. Curley did his best to get under Pierce's skin and
did manage to evoke double technicals by the officials for the two of them.
Defensively he displayed his old bad habits. He cheated off of his man only
to have him get the rebound for and easy put back more than a few times. But
he did hold his own off the boards. Hopefully I can get down to the pyramid
again and see him play again before the end of the games. If I do I'll send
in another report.

Art Silva