First of all, with the Celtics right now, I think people are
really coming at them. It showed in some of the games in the past few weeks. In
the Lakers game, Kevin Garnett got the elbow – he got the hit on the head. Then
Lamar Odom gave Ray Allen that hit. You know they were testing them, and we need to be tested. It
ain’t gonna be easy winning no NBA championship. So whatever battle you could
get in and come out with a “W” – especially against a team like the Lakers – it’s
all to the good.
Speaking of the Lakers, what about those shorts? I think we
went past that era, so there must be somebody that they all really respect and
love to convince them to play the first half in those shorts. I’m curious to know
who that person was…
But I think Boston
came ready. There is so much history and tradition with that battle; you can’t
be anything but serious when you go to L.A. You got the celebrities sitting
right there, everybody has been waiting to see how they play on the West Coast,
so they just wanted to deliver. I think Paul Pierce was in his hood, and he
wanted to let everyone know, “The Lakers are from L.A., but I’m from Inglewood.”
He had an Inglewood
swagger – I think he took over in that game.
And how about Tony Allen? Last year when the Celtics were
holding on, I told my man Chiz, “I love the kid Tony Allen, he got game like
the cat from the neighborhood. But he got himself hurt. The day I interviewed
the Big Three, I stuck my head in the training room, and he was on the table
getting taped up and I told him, “Tony I just wanted to tell you something. I
thought last year you was the man. I just want you to get confidence in your
knee. Because when you are flying in the air, you are giving the Celtics a
whole ‘nother athletic look.”
It was funny, that announcer on TV was like, “This is a
coming out party for Tony Allen.” No that ain’t a coming out party, he’s always
been there the whole time. It frustrates me that I can’t be on TV sometimes,
countering what someone else is saying. I wanted to be like, “Money, how are you
gonna just realize he’s got game? Come on man, where’ve you been? What style of
ball do you watch?” You know the NBA is young and Hip-Hop. That kid got Hip-Hop
game – he’s the only kid on our team that flies like that.
The win against the Pistons was also big. What team out of
the East since the ‘90s didn’t have to see Detroit. Detroit helped create Michael Jordan. That
put Mike and Scottie in the gym because they kept getting’ knocked on their
a#### all the time. So if we got to go see the Pistons to get where we got to
go, then it’s the best thing for them.
I liked seeing Big Baby do his thing. He is a big favorite
in Boston and I
am happy that Doc is letting Big Baby play because he’s there for a reason –
the kid got game. If he’s sitting on the bench, you can’t appreciate his game,
and he ain’t scared.
Hopefully he, Tony Allen and the rest of the Celtics will
keep it going against the Blazers next week. That’s a young boy’s game. It goes
back to last week’s column, where I talked about the resurgence of Portland, L.A. and Boston. It just feels good to know that Roy is coming into town
and Aldridge and they still don’t got the big boy Oden, who is hurt. It just
says a lot about where they are. But I think it starts with the coach, man. You
know, I think Nate McMillan has brought all of that together, and it shouldn’t
go unnoticed.
Check out Michael Bivins on TNT’s Overtime at www.nba.com
