76ers' Lou Williams off to a fast start

Through three games, Lou Williams' numbers are as impressive as his vertical leap.

After the Temple football team completed a 27-24 victory over Navy on Saturday in Annapolis, Md., calls and text messages came pouring in to the cell phone of Owls athletic director Bill Bradshaw.

Temple had run its record to 6-2 by winning a sixth straight game for the first time since 1974, and became bowl-eligible for the first time since the Owls enjoyed their last winning season in 1990.

But here are his most impressive numbers: In his first three games as a starting point guard in the NBA, Williams has 15 assists and only two turnovers.

Tonight, the 2-1 Sixers play the 4-0 Boston Celtics at the Wachovia Center.

Of all of tonight's story lines - Kevin Garnett's surgically rebuilt knee, a recovering Elton Brand, and an early-season test for the Sixers - perhaps the most exciting will be Williams against Boston point guard Rajon Rondo.

In four games, Rondo has 47 assists (11.8 a game) and nine turnovers (2.25 a game). The Celtics said yesterday they had rewarded him with a five-year contract extension.

Rondo was scheduled to attend Game 5 of the World Series at Citizens Bank Park last night. Rondo attended the game courtesy of Red Bull, ostensibly to cheer on a fellow Red Bull endorser, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins.

Yesterday at Sixers practice, Williams said he played pickup ball with Rondo this summer in Atlanta.

"It will be fun," Williams said. "It'll be good to play him in a real game, a high-level game with a bunch of minutes."

Before Saturday's 141-127 overtime victory against the New York Knicks, Williams said he wanted to play 10 games without a turnover. That night, he had seven assists and one turnover.

"I'm conscious of my turnovers," he said. "I was excited about my rebounds and turnovers the other night."

Williams had 10 rebounds. He said he's not concerned with scoring because that's the thing that comes naturally to him.

"Let's not jinx him," Sixers coach Eddie Jordan said. "He's been good, man. It's my responsibility that everything works. I told him it's not on him. . . . He's going out there with an attack attitude. I like it, and yet at the same time he's keeping us organized a lot more than I thought he would do."

Hefty praise. When asked about Williams' ability to recognize how each teammate likes to be passed to, Jordan said Williams was not even the team's best.

"Jrue Holiday is the best," he said. "I think Jrue is going to be the best in the offense that I've ever had."

Holiday, a rookie point guard, has played in only one game this season, scoring two points in seven minutes.

Class in session. Members of the Princeton University men's basketball team watched yesterday's practice at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

"They learned some things from us, how about that?" Jordan said.