Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category

You decide (via the NY Daily News, who put the story of my beloved Sandra Bullock’s cheating husband on the front page this morning. I told you, Sandra! If it weren’t for the restraining order, you’d realize that what we both has been right in front of us all along!):

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.”

» More: Nate Robinson: Boorish Clown or Righteously Angry?

If you believe in regular season tests and the importance of getting into a nice groove before the playoffs, you should probably start watching the Celtics now.

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?

He turns the ball over a lot. He can’t really shoot foul shots. He’s grouchy, ranks 3rd in the league in technicals and slumped through much of January and February.

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.

AP

Nate Robinson is slowly starting to make a noticeable impact on the Celtics while his numbers say the Celtics are better off with him than Eddie House.  There is no doubt that Nate brings a lot of athleticism, typified by that impressive alley-oop dunk on Monday night.  I explore the deal a little further in a piece I wrote for today’s Daily Dime.  Check it out here.