Livingston Satisfied With His Pro Debut

Late in the first quarter Wednesday night, 19-year-old Shaun Livingston found himself with the ball and his team’s offense in his hands, surveying the defense, looking for the open man.

Nothing new. That’s where Livingston had been for the last four years, running his team from the point.

Oh, but there was one slight difference.

In each of the previous four years, Livingston was the big man on a smaller court, a superstar for Peoria Central High, the guard who led his school to Class AA state titles in 2003 and 2004, and was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 2003-04.

On Wednesday night, he was the new man on the biggest court of all, the NBA, entering the Clippers’ season opener against the Seattle Supersonics at the 4:14 mark of the first quarter at Staples Center.

The Peoria native’s brilliant high school career had earned him a unique distinction, the first true point guard to make the leap from high school to the NBA. He made that leap in the same spectacular fashion as the many leaps he made on high school courts up and down the state of Illinois, becoming the first-round draft pick of the Clippers, the fourth selection overall.

So what was the biggest difference for Livingston in going from preps to pros?

“Well,” he said with a casual shrug of the shoulders befitting a veteran, “in high school, I only lived five minutes from the gym.”

But, Livingston finally admitted, there was more.

“I was a little nervous,” he said, “had a few butterflies before the game.”

Only a few? Pretty impressive considering this was only the fourth NBA game he’d ever seen and none of the other three had been up close and personal. Livingston had been to three Chicago Bull games, two viewed from the nosebleed section.

Wednesday, he sat on the bench, waiting for Coach Mike Dunleavy to call on him.

When the call finally came, the Clippers were ahead, 18-10. “I just wanted to provide a spark, keep it going,” Livingston said.

He certainly did nothing to disrupt the Clipper momentum on a night when the club raced to a 114-84 victory. Livingston made his first shot, from the corner in the final quarter, and both of the ensuing shots he attempted.

He finished with six points, five rebounds, three assists, along with one turnover in 16 minutes.

“I tried not to think about where I was once I got in there,” Livingston said. “I tried to treat it like a preseason game and just focus on what I had to do.”

Watching from courtside, Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor liked what he saw.

“He tried to play within himself,” Baylor said. “He has a lot of confidence, but he’s eager to learn. He’s a pleasure to be around. The other players on the team like him. Of course, if you’re smart, you always like the point guard because he’s the guy with the ball.”

So was playing in the NBA everything Livingston had envisioned?

“It was that and a lot more,” he said. “I probably won’t realize what happened tonight until my career is over and I look back and think, ‘Wow, that was my first game.’

“Right now, I’m just glad I got that first one over and I’m ready to go on to the next one.”