"Expendable as a Knick, Invaluable as a Celtic"

Not sure how many on here noticed this in the NY Times but it's a good read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/sports/basketball/12celtics.html?ref=sports

Expendable as a Knick, Invaluable as a Celtic
By HARVEY ARATON
Published: June 11, 2010

BOSTON — In the noisiest sports cycle in memory, a classically crazy N.B.A. championship series between the Celtics and the Lakers appears to have broken out. And in the decades-long relationship between the league’s most storied and successful franchises, this usually has not been good news for Los Angeles.

When Don Nelson’s jump shot bounced high off the rim and back down in 1969, the Bill Russell-led Celtics clinched their 11th title in 13 years on the Lakers’ home court. When Gerald Henderson stole a pass intended for Byron Scott from James Worthy and stormed in for a layup in 1984, the Celtics were spared losing the first two games at home in a series they rallied to win.

Beware of lurking leprechauns when unheralded Celtics soar, or when the unpredictable and unfiltered Nate Robinson emerges as the fourth-quarter quarterback in a game Boston had to win to have any realistic chance of capturing its 18th title.

“Something my college coach used to say is that the more energy you bring, you’ll be surprised what the outcome of the game will be,” Robinson said after he — and not Rajon Rondo, the man who adorned the recent Sports Illustrated cover — was the floor leader and co-catalyst of Thursday night’s 96-89 Game 4 victory by the Celtics, which evened the series at 2-2.

Robinson has lived by that credo, and often his former team in New York City died by it, too.

But after Robinson dived on the floor to wrestle the ball away from the Lakers’ Jordan Farmar with the score tied, 64-64, early in the fourth quarter, the Celtics scored the next 6 points and never trailed again as their coach, Doc Rivers, rode a wave of emotional and at times unbalanced reserves in what Robinson correctly characterized as a Shrek and Donkey show.

So while the World Cup begins in South Africa, big-time college sports reels from the apparent end of the major conference world as we’ve known it, Tiger Woods warms up for the United States Open, Stephen Strasburg prepares for another start, and the N.B.A. assesses cause and effect in the Cleveland-related cases of Tom Izzo and LeBron James, a pivotal Game 5 will be played at the TD Garden on Sunday night.

Robinson, the little ex-Knick, promises to be in the middle of it. When weird happens, he usually is.

In the aftermath of his 12-point, 2-assist contribution, which included all but the last 2 minutes 51 seconds of the fourth quarter, a horde of news media people converged on the corner of the Celtics’ locker room where Robinson was dressing next to Glen Davis, whose neighbor on the other side was Rasheed Wallace.

Big Baby (Davis), Crybaby (Wallace) and the occasionally puerile Robinson were whooping it up, preparing to address the army of inquisitors when a league employee informed Robinson and Davis that their presence was required in the interview room.

“I have to?” Robinson said, obviously unfamiliar with the traditions and trappings of the June extravaganza, having spent the totality of his first four playoff springs at home in Seattle.

“Hanging with family and friends, playing street ball,” he said. “This is real basketball.”

In Robinson’s case, it’s as real as a fantasy can be.

“I dreamed of playing in the finals, but I never thought I’d actually make it,” he said on Wednesday in a much quieter setting. This sounded perfectly understandable; in New York, the Knicks were and remain a long way from making the first round, unless James has a surprise in store for them on July 1.

Robinson was asked if he took any satisfaction from knowing that several former Knicks, assailed as losers in New York, had proved themselves to be capable of contributing in more positive environments.

“Like who?” he said.

“Jamal Crawford,” he was told. “Channing Frye. You.”

“David Lee?” he volunteered.

Told that Lee is technically still in New York, Robinson smirked.

“Well, soon, maybe.”

He was, as usual, getting ahead of himself, but watching Robinson on Thursday night reinforced the notion that his energy and athleticism always potentially made him more asset than liability provided he was surrounded by people unencumbered by failure and despair.

When Robinson left for the postgame interview room, Rondo appeared to say the Celtics had welcomed him and told him to be himself. Well, not always. Rivers chafed when Robinson bounced up after a fourth-quarter collision with Lamar Odom and earned a technical foul with a close and too-chatty encounter.

There is substance in Robinson but always without subtlety and occasionally common sense. Good teams have a knack of mining the good and mitigating the bad. When Robinson wasn’t playing much after joining the Celtics, Rondo — seeing him as a talent and not as a threat — taught him how winning teams work.

“I told him, ‘Stay positive, you’re going to win a couple of games for us,’ ” Rondo said.

Robinson had much help in Game 4 from Davis, whose combination of bulk and lightness afoot punished the Lakers once Andrew Bynum’s damaged knee took him out of the game. Davis scored 18 points and could be a decisive player if Bynum’s shot-blocking is removed from the Lakers’ defensive equation.

As for Robinson, who knows what to expect? But he said he is having the time of his life as he nears unrestricted free agency.

“This is a great stage and a chance for me to be seen,” he said.

And heard, always heard. Even when the sports buzz is reverberating from here to South Africa.