impressions of the first game

[Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu (Kestutis Kveraga)]

Walker - the 'Toine we all hoped we'd see some day. Close to a perfect game.

Pierce - didn't have a good shooting night, but still had a great impact on the game.

Kenny - a bit less Kenny-like, though still preferred calling his own number instead sharing the rock, especially in the early going. Did make a few good passes and got some tough rebounds. Not a bad game overall.

Battie - tonight we saw the version that was signed to a $25M contract. Very encouraging signs from him the last few games. Let's hope that Pitino finally figured out how Tony's head works. When he applies himself, he can do so much more than Pot on his best day. 

Williams - a non-factor. 

Griffin - the good ol' 'Old School'. Put him in the same rebounding situation as Pot, and he'll come away with the ball every time. 

Pot - his downward slide continues. Come on, Vitaly, we know you're not *that* bad.
[btw, I just looooved one of BSG's wacky theories of why Pot is playing poorly: he's 'too lean and too tight', you see. Yeah, that's what's kept the Karl Malones, the Scottie Pippens and other lean muscular types from reaching their true potential all these years. Not that Pot is even all that lean - I doubt he's anywhere near Malone's 4% BF, just looking at his (relative lack of) definition.]

Stith - if he and EWill continue in their current trajectories, Stith will land in the starting lineup and Eric will replace Herren on the IL. Superb D, and knows how to get fouled better than Mr. Upfake himself. Of course, it's just one game, but he exhibited the same things in the preseason as well. Excellent foul shooter, too. 

Brown - played well, but only 13 minutes for some reason. 

Blount/Moiso - didn't do much in their limited minutes.

Carr - DNP. Don't know whether it was by design, or just the way things worked out. 

Pitino - I generally liked his substitution pattern. The frequent subbing didn't seem to disrupt the offensive flow too much, and may have helped to keep the defensive intensity high which in turn helped the Pistons into a 36% FG shooting. Also, very little 'headless chicken' [apparently a newly-favorite term of BSG] and solid man-to-man D instead. On the other hand, there's hardly anyone on the Pistons who needs to be double-teamed. 

Random thoughts - I don't know if those chastising the list for the lack of positive posts after this nice win were trolling for flames, or just ignorant of the workings of this list and people's tendencies in general. First of all, this list seems to have a long delay, in that posts sometimes don't appear on it for hours after being sent. Second, people will always exert greater effort to express their feelings when they're unhappy with the product than when they're satisfied. It's just a law of nature.

Was I having auditory hallucinations, or did they call Shaq 'the greatest center who ever played the game' during the ring handout ceremony? 

Kestas