The high intensity Boston bench came through for the Celtics in game four of the NBA finals. Led by Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Nate Robinson, the C’s bench scored an impressive twenty-one fourth quarter points. Davis decided that being a couple of inches shorter than the Lakers front line didn’t matter in the least, as long as he played with the biggest heart. Davis referred to himself as a ‘Beast’ on the glass in the post-game press conference. “Big Baby” sparked the fourth quarter run to give the Celtics the lead that they would not give back.
Never mind that in the most crucial minutes of a pivotal game, the back-up players for Boston were staying poised and doing damage against L.A.’s starters. Everyone, including Doc Rivers, thought the inevitable bench run would be short and sweet, but then it kept going as Robinson or Davis or Wallace would ignite and blow up to keep the motor running. This was evidenced as the starters were sent to the scores table multiple times to check back into the game, but then something amazing would happen and they were pulled back to the bench.
The Boston bench players flaunted their great heroics as they danced, yelled, cheered, and even drooled on the court. In between the game time action of the final quarter, the Celtics were celebrating as if they were having their locker room party during the game. They better be able to back-up that performance with a similar one in game five because you can bet that Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol didn’t enjoy being embarrassed that way. Kobe always seems to take it personal and use it for motivation when the opposition doesn’t respect his team.
High emotion is expected from guys like Nate Robinson, Rasheed Wallace, and Glen Davis as this has always been their M.O. Their game play tonight was welcomed because the “Big Three” have not all been on the same page during the same game. Most of the time we expect the stars to make the big plays and finish the game when the championship is on the line. However, this series is different because the Celtics may need their bench to come up big again during crunch time if they are going to have a chance to win this series.
Although it wasn’t pretty, all of the Celtics organization is hoping that Big Baby continues to live up to his nickname with more passion filled moments of ‘baby drool’ like this one from last night:
Ned is the Co-founder of http://spoonhoops.com/ and a regular columnist and contributor to TheHoopDoctors.com.
