It was the grossest, awesomest, I-can’t-look (. . . but-how-can-I- not?) moment of the NBA Finals.
Boston bench player Glen Davis, basketball’s Pillsbury Doughboy, euphorically cheered an “and-one” with a primal scream, and out of his mouth, agape, escaped a thick strand of saliva, which hung from his lower lip like a dunker on a rim.
It was perfect for the moment, an uncontrollable out-of-body celebration, literally and figuratively.
I’m excited about tonight’s Game 5, yes, and a clinching Game 6 or 7 will be the game everyone remembers, but as a basketball aficionado, I’ll always remember Game 4 as the encapsulation of everything that’s good about sports, notably the childlike celebration from the aptly nicknamed “Big Baby.”
Beyond the emotion of Davis, who scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, there was the epitome of good coaching and great teamwork.
Doc Rivers, who was credited with “outcoaching” the Lakers’ Phil Jackson in the 2008 Finals, did some of his best strategizing in the fourth quarter. He started the quarter with his bench, and his starters remained benched, even when most coaches would have put their money on the big-money players. Boston trailed 62-60 at one point, but the Celtics outscored the Lakers 36-27 in the fourth quarter, winning the ballgame because Rivers believed in his team, not just his Big 4 (Rajon Rondo is in the club now, for sure).
Nate Robinson hit timely 3s. Rasheed Wallace and Tony Allen played inspired and gritty defense. And Big Baby, who went all Jabba The Hutt on us during that one celebration, kept the team afloat with his passionate attacks to the basket. The bench was fun to watch.
But what was even more fun to watch was Boston’s bench (literally). All-stars and future Hall of Famers alike were seen rooting on their teammates as if they were in the first row of the stands. It was the biggest quarter of the biggest game of the season, and they truly didn’t care that they were on the bench. Kevin Garnett was seen on his knees, pounding the hardwood after key baskets. What an image.
“I don’t think guys really care, and that’s why we’re here, it really is,” Rivers said. “Rondo and the rest of them, they were begging me to keep guys in. ‘Don’t take them out! Don’t take them out!’ It was great. That’s the loudest I’ve seen our bench, and it was the starters cheering from the bench.”
That win also showed the importance of a bench during a long series, something that hurt the Nuggets this postseason — but helped them during the Western Conference finals a season ago. There are nights when a sub has got to be the stud. And while Lamar Odom would start for most teams, beyond him the Lakers’ bench is suspect. Boston’s bench, at its best, is a viable commodity, just like the 2008 Boston bench, when Leon Powe, P.J. Brown and Eddie House played key minutes during key stretches. In Game 4, Boston’s bench outscored the Lakers’ bench 36-18.
Right before Big Baby’s drooling, the little guard Robinson leapt on his back, another indelible image from the series-saving game.
After the game, Robinson gave Big Baby a new nickname, saying the two of them are like “Shrek and Donkey. You can’t separate us.”
Hopefully for Boston, the two will be together on the court, playing Game 5 like they did in Game 4.
Golfing for good.
Nuggets guard Coby Karl — a cancer survivor and, of course, the son of a cancer survivor — will be on hand Monday to raise money for cancer research at the Hope Invitational golf tournament. The American Cancer Society put together this event at The Club at Pradera in Parker.
“This event has become so much more than just another golf tournament,” said Jane Barnes, whose title is the distinguished event director for the American Cancer Society.
June 14-20 is National Men’s Health Week, in which the American Cancer Society encourages men to evaluate their health and make it a priority.
Coby Karl, who will be on Denver’s summer league team, is a thyroid cancer survivor. His dad, Nuggets coach George Karl, is slowly getting back to work this summer after his emotional battle with throat and neck cancer during the spring.
