Nate Robinson rose from his seat on the Celtics bench, looked at Mike D’Antoni and began clapping.

Lil’ Him wasn’t honoring his former coach Wednesday night as much as he was taunting him. With Boston building a 27-point third-quarter lead over the Knicks, Robinson twice made it a point to show that he was enjoying D’Antoni’s misery.

First of all, I hate the nickname Lil’ Him or L’il Him or, really, Lil’ anything. Second, I’m not totally anti-Nate here. In general, it drives me crazy when fringe NBA players carry on about meaningless accomplishments, and scoring 8 points in a blowout win against a horrible team fits the definition of “meaningless.”

But Mike D’Antoni, a fantastic coach and a nice guy, has for two years now yanked players in and out of his rotation on what sometimes seems to be his personal whim. He banished Stephon Marbury only to ask him to play—and perhaps even start—when injuries decimated New York’s back court in November 2008. Marbury said no. He benched Nate Robinson for 14 games, then gave him playing time again, then talked about starting him and then benched him again. Now he’s on the Celtics. Chris Duhon went from starting and playing 30 minutes a game to being out of the rotation to being back in the rotation whenever D’Antoni tires of watching Sergio Rodriguez play “defense.”

This is not all on D’Antoni. Marbury’s a loon and had become a $20 million no-defense distraction. Robinson acted the buffoon, drew attention to himself at the expense of the team and played recklessly at times. Duhon, I’m sorry to say, stinks.

Still: It’s not hard to understand why Robinson would hold a grudge against D’Antoni.

Was this really the appropriate circumstance in which to express that grudge?

Here comes the toughest prolonged stretch of the schedule this season:

3/19: @ Houston (35-31)

3/20: @ Dallas  (46-22)

3/22: @ Utah (44-24)

3/24: vs Denver (46-22)

3/26: vs Sacramento (23-45)

3/28: vs San Antonio (40-26)

3/31: vs Oklahoma City (41-25)

4/2: vs Houston (35-31)

4/4: vs Cleveland (54-15)

Yikes. That’s nine games against teams with a combined 364-241 (.601) record. Sure, six of those games are at home, but a) these are really good teams; and b) we all know what Boston has done at home this season.

So what’s the verdict: Does this stretch constitute a referendum on how good this team is right now? Are you looking for proof they can hang with the good teams? Or is this just another string of irrelevant regular-season games before the post-season starts?

But C’s fans feel a great deal of affection for Perk, and anecdotes like this one (from Doc Rivers regarding Paul Pierce’s explosion last night) explain a lot of that affection (via ESPNBoston.com).

“There was a play right before they came out [of the game] where we should’ve thrown it to [Kendrick Perkins], and Perk said, ‘No, I told Paul to just keep being aggressive, we’ve got to get him back aggressive.’ So it’s great when everybody recognizes that.”

Team first.

Pace: 95 possessions (above average)

Offensive Efficiency: 114.7 points/100 possessions (league best)

Defensive Efficiency: 102.1 points allowed/100 possessions (league best)

Thumbnail: This was a real basketball game for about 27 minutes. After that, it evolved into a nightmare amalgam of every bad Knick game from the last two seasons—bundles of turnovers, threes jacked with little thought and guys moving around on defense and yet guarding no one. The Celtics scored 68 points in the first half to basically put the game away. Only 8 of those points came on two-point jump shots from outside the paint. Kevin Garnett looked as if he were playing against midgets and Paul Pierce scored 29 in (approximately) five minutes of playing time.

Recap: On Monday, the Lakers turned the ball over 24 times and generally looked awful in squeaking past a Warriors team stacked with D-Leaguers. Kobe Bryant said afterward (I’m paraphrasing) that the Warriors played a style so out of line with the rest of the league—and are so bereft of real NBA talent—that there was really nothing the Lakers could take from the game going forward. The game didn’t matter. 

In related news, the Knicks put out this line-up early in the 2nd quarter: Bill Walker, J.R. Giddens, Sergio Rodriguez, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington.

To recap: We’ve got two point guards who can’t shoot, two wing players that couldn’t get off Boston’s bench and Al Harrington playing center. Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier burst out laughing when they realized this line-up was on the floor. I am not making that up. They laughed. 

With Wilson Chandler out, the Knicks started Bill Walker at power forward and had him take the Jared Jeffries/Kobe role on defense guarding Rajon Rondo. As Jeffries did before him, Walker hung out at the foul line and gave Rondo plenty of space. It’s a nice idea and it’s worked before. But it’s not going to work when all the C’s have to do to counter it is give the ball to the tall guys in green, because they are three inches taller and much stronger than the tall guys with “New York” across their chests. That’s really it. 

Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Rasheed Wallace combined for 32 points on 13-of-16 shooting in the first half. All but two of those shots—both KG jumpers—came from 12 feet and in, according to the play-by-play. Of the C’s 68 first-half points, 34 came in the paint, 15 came on threes and 11 on free throws. That’s 60 points in a half without a two-point hoop from outside the paint. Tough to lose games that way. 

Bullets:

• J.R. Giddens made his first shot of the game, a tough floater from the left baseline (9:03, 2nd Q) with Paul Pierce draped all over him. Giddens woofed at Pierce all the way down the court, and this was aggressive trash talk, not the smiley “hey, remember we did that in practice, man?” trash talk. 

Giddens made his second shot at the 7:23 mark of the 2nd quarter—a 22-foot jumper. 

In about 9:00 of playing time over the rest of the game, J.R. Giddens scored zero points and pulled down one rebound. 

Paul Pierce scored 29 points on 17 shots in 24 minutes of playing time. Paul Pierce will definitely be in the NBA next year.

• Bill Walker didn’t exactly light the world on fire in 24 minutes of play. To hear some Boston fans talk about the Nate Robinson trade, it’s as if the C’s gave up an absolute sure thing to rent Nate Robinson. Let’s take it easy. Walker has scored 20 points four times in 12 games with the Knicks, but did you see this game tonight? This is what every other Knick game looks like. Anyone can score 20 points a few times in disjointed train wrecks like these. Do you think the Knicks actually care if Bill Walker is on their team next season?

Walker’s a nice player, and there is definitely a place for him in the league. He’s a level above Giddens. He’s a dynamite athlete, his jumper has potential and Mike D’Antoni said tonight that he is surprised at Walker’s solid “feel for the game.”

But let’s be reasonable. In any case, a quiet 8-point, 1-rebound night for Walker, who barely had time to say hi to Paul Pierce before he picked up three fouls. 

• The play that epitomized this game for me came with about 35 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. Rondo brings the ball up in delayed transition, and KG sets a screen to Rajon’s right just inside the top of the three-point arc. The screen nails Rondo’s guy (Toney Douglas, looking decent), so KG’s man (Lee) switches onto Rondo and Douglas sticks with KG. 

Rondo turns the corner on Lee and throws what appears to be almost a blind lob in the direction of the rim. I’m not even sure if Rajon knew Al Harrington was diving down on the left wing to help Douglas on KG in the paint. Rondo just figured, “Hey, the Knicks have no tall guys, so I’ll just throw the ball up in the air and KG will probably catch it and lay it in.” KG caught it and laid it in. 

• When you play the Knicks, you know some guys are going to beat you off the dribble. They play small, they run a decent screen/roll with Lee and they spread the floor with shooters. You’re going to be doing a lot of aggressive closing out, and the shooters (especially Gallinari and Harrington) are going to see those close-outs and put the ball on the floor. What happens next is the key. 

And I thought the Celtics did that next thing very well tonight. In the first half, KG rushed out to crowd Gallo at the three-point line, and when Gallo drove, KG stayed on Gallo’s hip and shaded him toward the baseline. Gallo could drive to the hoop (and into more help) or launch a floater while leaning away from the hoop. He was 0-of-4 in the first half. 

When help duty fell to Perk, he managed to contest shots without fouling by giving the driver a path to one side of the hoop and staying between that player and the basket. Sure, Al Harrington got slight inside position a few times, but Perk’s long reach forced Al to aim his shots a few inches higher than normal. Harrington did some damage from deep but not from in the lane. 

Good stuff, at least when the game was in the balance. I think David Lee dunked the ball about 10 times in the 4th quarter.

• If you want to see what I mean about Rondo trying for the spectacular when the easy play will do, watch the back-to-back Boston possessions starting at the 4:40 mark of the 2nd quarter. On the first, Rondo and KG find themselves on a 2-on-2 fast break with McGrady (on KG) and Harrington (back-pedaling near Rondo). The two Celtics are maybe three feet apart and almost exactly parallel (i.e. not in good position to do anything) when Rondo tries a lefty behind the back pass to a well-guarded KG at the foul line.

KG fumbles the ball, recovers it on the left block and tries to thread a soft pass to Rondo, who is about two feet away under the hoop. The Knicks knock it way. Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are standing on either side of the three-point arc, wide open.

On the next possession (another fast break), Rondo tries to a lob to Ray Allen for a contested alley-oop. It fails. The simple play: Hitting the trailer (Paul Pierce) for a pull-up three. 

Two totally unnecessary turnovers. In Rajon’s defense, the game was beginning to devolve by this point into a run-and-gun highlight reel of transition ball and pull-up threes. But the fact remains: Rajon should take the simple play more often than he does.

• With about 8:00 to go in the 2nd quarter, T-Mac got the ball behind the top of the arc with KG guarding him one-on-one. This would have been amazing in 2003.

• As a fan of a Knicks opponent, no shot makes me happier than a McGrady three. Does Tracy know he’s a 34 percent career three-point shooter?

• Actually, there is something that makes me happier: When Mike Breen prefaces a Knick shot by saying,  ”And here’s an open look for Duhon!”

• Rasheed Wallace’s first four shots were either lay-ups or short jumpers from the post. He made three of them. His next two were long jump shots, including a three-pointer. They were air balls.

• One thing that bugs me about (some) Knick fans and David Lee: They’ll call him a center when it’s convenient for them but otherwise remind you he’s playing out of position at center. When you point out to this sort of Knick fan that David Lee’s defense ain’t exactly the bees knees, they’ll say, “Yeah, we’ll, he’s a power forward forced to guard centers! What’s he supposed to do?” 

And then tonight, we got a long narrative from Mike Breen (a good announcer!) listing David Lee’s very high rankings among centers in various categories. He’s leads all centers in points and assists per game and he’s 2nd to Dwight Howard in rebounds per game! Wow!

But where would he rank in those categories among power forwards? 

That’s it for me. I’ve already given this game more attention than it deserves. A nice win, sure, but now the games get tough.

HTV: The East is very tough this year with talented teams like the Cavs and Magic front runners for a trip to the Finals. The Celtics have kind of been left out of conversation regarding who may make the NBA Finals this year. What are your thoughts on that subject?

RONDO: Nothing. (It means) we beat ourselves if we don’t win it. I don’t think anybody can beat us. Atlanta swept us already, Cleveland is up two to one (now 3 to 1), Orlando is up two to one, but at the end of the day I think that we can beat any of those teams (in a playoff series).

The best part about this is how Rondo lists—accurately!—Boston’s horrid record against the East’s other three elite teams and then says, basically, Who cares?

What would Rajon say if he were on the Nets?

In any case, that’s a downer. I’d have liked to have seen Eddie play. Chandler is obviously a bigger cog in New York’s offense and has served as Mike D’Antoni’s preferred power forward for long stretches. The C’s enjoyed posting up KG in that match-up. What do the Knicks do now? The obvious move would be to slide Al Harrington into Chandler’s spot in the starting line-up. Harrington has hurt the C’s this season.

Still: This marks a second straight came against a bad team even further depleted by injuries. Good thing—the schedule is about to get brutal.

No matter how complicated the math behind them might be, the best advanced stats are rooted in common sense. They represent attempts to test out hypotheses smart people already think about before the stat exists or before they are aware of a stat’s existence. In the pre-Internet mid-1990s, I had a sense (as did many of you, I suspect) that walks were a very good thing for a baseball player to get, and I wondered why more announcers didn’t seem to care about them. Then I went to college, logged onto the Internet and found a dude named Rob Neyer writing at ESPNnet.sportzone.com and realized a whole discussion had been going for years about walks, slugging percentage and other stats I’d never heard about.

The math can be complex, but the conclusions they try to get at are easy to grasp.

Case in point: Haberstroh’s piece on assists. There’s all sorts of nasty-looking math in there (though it’s actually not that hard), with parentheses and capital letters next to lowercase letters in symbols like wAPG.

But it’s a fairly simple concept: Assists aren’t all equally valuable, and if you want to know who the world’s best passer is, you should find the guy who racks up the most valuable assists, right?

And that’s what Haberstroh is trying to do. Steve Nash dribbling into the paint, drawing the defense and dishing to Amare Stoudemire for a dunk is a different thing than Paul Pierce handing the ball off to KG for an open 20-foot jumper. The first one is a tougher pass that leads to a shot with a much greater chance of going in.

So Haberstroh created a new version of assists that gives players extra statistical credit for passes that lead to a) lay-ups/dunks; and b) three-pointers. The reason is simple: Lay-ups and dunks usually go in, and three-pointers are worth three points. If your passes are leading to those sorts of baskets, you’re doing great work.

Under Haberstroh’s system, the following players get the biggest boost in their assist totals, with wAPG representing how they do with the extra credit for high-efficiency assists:

Notice who’s missing? Rajon Rondo. I wondered how Rondo would fare here. Based on passing stats already available at Hoopdata, I figured he would fare pretty well. Good news for us: In his post at HP, Tom links to a spreadsheet showing the weighted assist numbers for (basically) every player in the league.

And where does Rajon rank? That would be 4th, the same place he ranks in regular assists. Here are the top four:

Steve Nash: 11.2 assists/g, 11.7 weighted assists/g = difference of +4.4 percent

Chris Paul: 11.2 assists/g, 11.4 weighted assists/g = difference of +2.3 percent

Deron Williams: 10.3 assists/g, 10.7 weighted assists/g =  difference of + 4.2 percent

Rajon Rondo: 9.8 assists/g, 10.2 weighted assists/g = difference of +4.2 percent

Rajon does really well here. It’s obviously harder for a guy who already averages a ton of dimes to get a huge boost—percentage-wise—from Haberstroh’s method. And still: There’s Rondo, right with Nash and D-Will.

Some other tidbits: Of Rajon’s 599 assists at the time this piece appeared last week, 65.6 percent  led to baskets at the rim or three-pointers. That’s not quite as high as LeBron’s percentage here (an off the charts 75 percent), but it edges out the marks of Nash, Williams and Paul.

Only two players (Nash and Williams) have assisted on more baskets at the rim. And only two (LeBron James and Nash again) have assisted on more three-pointers. (Note: Paul would almost certainly have more assists leading to threes than Rajon were it not for his knee injury, and that’s only sort of because the Hornets scorekeepers may be inflating assist stats).

Sure, this stuff is dependent (to a degree) on personnel. Any good point guard playing heavy minutes with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Eddie House and (yes, even him) Rasheed Wallace should assist on a decent number of threes. The at-the-rim numbers are more impressive, considering the C’s don’t have an interior finisher as talented as Stoudemire or Carlos Boozer.

The bottom line: Rondo has developed into the best kind of passer for this team. The next step will be adjusting to new personnel, but we don’t have to worry about that yet….right?