Tag Archives: Nate Robinson

February 25, 2011 · 6:55 AM

Oh Danny Boy!

I posted it up on Facebook last night and have to believe it that they’re handing out testosterone in buckets over at the TD Garden. After all we saw Chiarelli make those deals last week I wondered aloud all this week if Danny would be able to make a move. Then Danny goes and makes some of the ballsiest moves of the day in the whole NBA.

In 2007 the Celtics acquired Ray Allen from the then Supersonics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and the rights to the 2007 #5 pick Jeff Green. The C’s also got the rights to the Sonics’ 35th pick, Big Baby.

Four years later the Celtics still have Big Baby and Ray. They brought back West through free agency this past off-season and on Thursday Danny Ainge went out and got Jeff Green back. The cost? Kendrick Perkins. The C’s also sent Nate Robinson to the Sonics Thunder and got back seven footer Nenad Krstic.

Now the initial reaction from most of my friends was shock and awe. They were pissed to see Perkins gone and questioned the Celtics want to win a championship this year. To those friends I say this, it’s not about winning the next few games, it’s about winning down the stretch and of course a championship. Losing Kendrick right now while you’re thin in the front court hurts, but if a healthy Shaq and Jermaine (not holding my breath) O’Neal return they look better.

And of course the team still has Semih…or not.

See the Celtics moved Semih and Luke Harangody to Cleveland for a second round draft pick (likely to be the top in the second round). Oh and they traded Marquis Daniels to Sacramento for a conditional draft pick. Really the Cleveland and Sacramento deals were made for one thing; to clear roster spots.

Why?

Because Danny’s not done.

See the C’s made two big moves down the stretch in 2008 when they brought in alien head Sam Cassell and PJ Brown. Both those guys were bought our of their contracts and were able to contribute for the C’s down the stretch.

On the radar still:

Samuel Dalembert may be available to help fill the void at center.

Troy Murphy may still be bought out and could help at center or the PF spot. He would also help Danny Ainge make the team even more white.

Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince to a lesser extent could also be bought out.

Anthony Parker, James Posey and Jason Kapono (who?) are all apparently on the buy out radar as well.

The bottom line is Kendrick was offered a contract extension and declined. Meaning he was likely walking at the end of this season. So why not get young wing help that’s averaging 15 a game in Green before Kendrick walks.

So needless to say the dealings aren’t done but I applaud Danny’s boldness and still have complete confidence that the Celtics are going to still go very far in the playoffs. A few buyout guys and that confidence will be pushed to banner 18.

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February 24, 2011 · 7:21 AM

Today’s The Deadline

Today’s the NBA trade deadline. Today at 3PM to be specific and while the Celtics don’t appear to be huge players they are still attempting to make a move for some help.

Last year at this time the above Nate Robinson was the man coveted by the Celtics. They dealt Eddie House, J.R. Giddens, and Bill Walker to the the Knicks for Robinson and Marcus Landry. Now this year it’s looking like Robinson is the chip that the C’s are trying to use in a deal.

One rumor that was out there last night was that the C’s would deal Robinson to the Golden State Warriors for the recently traded Troy Murphy. Murphy was traded from the Nets on Wednesday as part of a day that saw the Nets acquire Deron Williams. The C’s tried to get him in a trade but now it appears the Warriors will buy out Murphy and the Celtics will have to get in line with the likes of the Magic, Heat, Knicks and possibly additional teams looking to add for the postseason.

The Herald reported that three sources confirmed the Celtics to the Suns about three different players; former Boston College star Jared Dudley, Grant Hill and Mickael Pietrus. Apparently those talked amounted to Jack Squat.

The Celtics were also in on newly added Knick Corey Brewer brought in by the Knicks as part of the Carmello Anthony dealings. The Celtics were trying to trade Nate Robinson as well as their first round pick to make it happen but apparently those talks also fell apart.

Which brings us back to the Tony Parker trade I talked about earlier this week. It appears to make the deal happen the Celtics are going to have to move Semih Erden. With both Big Baby and Perkins on free agent years it seems unlikely the Celtics would part with a young big to make the move.

So the deal deadline is a little under eight hours from when I’m writing this column. Let’s hope – as we did on Monday – that Danny makes it happen. We’ll know very soon.

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June 11, 2010 · 5:40 AM

Tied Again

So I’m pretty sure I predicted Celtics in six when the NBA Finals started. Going back and reading my posts, I most certainly did. In fact I predicted a split in Los Angeles and that it would be followed up by the Lakers taking one in Boston. I didn’t think it would be the first one, but now the series tied, my predictions could be coming back into fruition.

On a night when none of the starters were able to nail a three pointer, you’d think that the Celtics would be on the losing end of the game. After all, Ray Allen went lights out in game two nailing almost every shot he took before going ice cold in game three. Well, he was o-4 from behind the line on Thursday night and it didn’t seem to matter.

Why?

How about the bench? Again, had I told you that Nate Robinson and Big Baby would be the difference makers in the game you would’ve thought me to be crazy. But there they were in the fourth quarter just pushing LA. In fact Big Baby ended the night with 18 points in just 22 minutes of work. Most of which came in the fourth quarter.

And Nate? He actually was the only guy on the team to hit more than one three pointer connecting on two from beyond the arc. So a guy buried in New York who saw limited playing time when he cam to Boston has now become a viable option off the bench to back up Rondo. He seems to be a real spark plug defensively when he comes into the game and the fact that he can hit from downtown (as well as float shots in from the lane) makes him a great asset off the bench.

With the extra day off in between games heading into Sunday’s match-up I’m thinking more and more that my prediction will be correct. After all with an extra day of rest out in LA, Ray Allen went off. Let’s see if he can pull a similar feat on Sunday night at home.

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June 3, 2010 · 5:33 AM

Beat L.A. (Again)

Tonight they tip off at nine o’clock. Of course that means I’ll see the first half of the game and will be sound asleep as the game wraps up. Somehow the alarm goes off at 5:30 regardless of the end time of a sporting event. Be it a west coast Sox game, west coast Bruins game or even the NBA Finals, the alarm clock doesn’t care.

But what can we expect as Celtics fans?

The way I’m looking at this series as a whole is that the Lakers haven’t played against a team with super defense like the Celtics. They played run and gun with the Suns where there’s no defense involved. In fact the Lakers have held an opponent under 100 points just four times in 16 games this playoffs. Two were against Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City, twice against the Jazz in their sweep and zero times against the Celtics.

In the off-season the Celtics went out and convinced ‘Sheed to come to Boston. He was supposed to be their sixth man off the bench that would stretch the floor against opponents with his ability to hit from outside and play the post. Well the regular season came and went without the fan base seeing much of that post presence or defense. But come playoff time it’s been night and day. He’s been a huge difference maker defensively.

On the west coast, the Lakers traded for Ron Artest. Artest is a great defender but isn’t the scorer he was earlier in his career. He had a better regular season that Rasheed Wallace, but in the post season he hasn’t been the difference maker that Wallace has been. He’s been overshadowed by the great play of Kobe and Aids Face Gasol.

The “X” factor for the Celtics I think will be Kendrick Perkins ability to stay in the games. He’s one technical away from being suspended from a game. I don’t think with Perk on the sidelines it helps the Celtics chances when the Lakers can put three 6′ 11″ guys out there at the same time.

I guess the good news for the Celtics in that match-up is that they went small a few times in 2008 with Posey on the floor and it seemed that the Lakers didn’t have an answer for it. Let’s hope with the emergence of Nate Robinson in the last series, if the team tries to go small, they can repeat the 2008 success.

I called the Celtics in six in my previous column this week and I’m sticking by my guns. I say a split in LA to start and then the Lakers steal one in Boston (possibly on the aforementioned possible Perkins suspension) but the Celtics head out west and win game six.

Back tomorrow with a recap.

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June 1, 2010 · 5:45 AM

Finals Ticket Punched

As the Big Three turned into the Big Four, you had to really love the way Rondo became more confident. As his confidence grew your hopes for the Celtics making the Finals had to grow as well. Then a hard foul and an awkward landing had the entire Celtics fan base holding their collective breath.

In steps Nate Robinson.

An outcast in New York he was not even dressing for the Knicks games. The Celtics dealt fan favorite Eddie House in a multi-player deal that brought Robinson to Boston and he didn’t really have an impact with the Celtics. In fact as the season was wrapping up, he was a forgotten man only seeing playing time in garbage time or in games that had no impact on the team’s playoff seeding.

Even earlier in the playoffs his playing time was scarce. I mean, Rondo was close to averaging 48 minutes a game, playing out of his mind, why would you put Robinson in?

Well with Rondo out Robinson was forced into the fire and played meaningful basketball, what many would argue, for the first time in his career. He helped ignite the offense and really stretch the lead taking the Magic right out of the game.

By the end of the third quarter, the Celtics were up 20 points and cruising for the victory. It was just an entertaining game, similar to the Celtics drubbing of the Lakers two years ago in game six of the NBA Finals.

But as of Saturday morning the Celtics didn’t know who they’d face in the Finals. The Lakers had a three games to two lead over Phoenix but they were heading to Phoenix for the sixth game. Well, the Lakers pulled out the win and set up a rematch of the 2008 Finals, with home court advantage switched around.

History is on the Celtics side and I think that the Celtics defense is going to blow away the Lakers who’ve been playing cupcake defenses.

My prediction is Celtics in six. Nine o’clock Thursday night they’ll tip off to see if I’m right.

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