| It's very encouraging to see Vince strap the team on his back and carry them to victory but you have to worry when he's doing it during the very first game of the season. Perhaps Vince can keep up last night's pace but for his sake let's start hoping Lamond Murray (1 for 8) makes some shots. Of course Jason Kidd's horrific jumper made the game easier. He was 4 for 18 and a lot of those shots missed badly. Even if he goes 6 for 18 the Nets win the game.
The first quarter looked ugly as the Nets quickly built an 8-point lead. Last year's Raps would have given up right about then but this year's team fought their way back into the game. Even more surprising was that the team played better in the 2nd half. It seemed that when Lenny was coach he let everyone take a 10-minute nap at half-time and the team never really awoke from their slumber. Coach O'Neill must have given them Jolt Cola or something as the Raptors went on to score 52 points after half.
Although Vince was THE MAN last night there were some other heartening performances. The JYD played with discipline and hauled down 14 rebounds. Antonio Davis put up some solid number by getting 12 points on 6 of 10 shooting and grabbed his own share of rebounds with 14. He
didn't go the foul line once though, which is something you want your big man to do. Alvin Williams nailed 4 free throws in the last couple of minutes to help seal the game. Finally, Chris Bosh has proven himself in a regular season game against a good team -- 11 points and 4 rebounds.
While Rick Brunson has been left tragically impaired with LQC, his hero Doug Overton managed to get 8 minutes of action. Overton put up some Brunsonian numbers with 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 turnovers. Overton was 1 for 1. Perhaps he should be giving Kidd a little tutorial today in practice.
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