AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- It was just two seasons ago that the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons played in the Eastern Conference finals. Things have changed.Boston entered Tuesday's game coming off one of its worst performances in recent memory -- a humiliating home defeat by the hapless Nets -- while the Pistons are headed for their first 50-loss season in a decade. Fittingly, it was a refugee from another devastated NBA franchise that ended up being the difference in an ugly game. Nate Robinson, playing his fourth game with Boston after being acquired from the Knicks, scored 14 points in 15 minutes to help the Celtics win 105-100."That's exactly what we need from Nate," said Boston coach Doc Rivers. "We want to wind him up and let him go. I felt like we had to get him comfortable, so we put in one of the Knicks' plays and ran that for him in the fourth quarter. The other four guys were uncomfortable, but Nate was comfortable and he hit the shots. If you told me a year ago, I'd be rooting for Nate Robinson because he's the only guy on the team with an ounce of energy I would have smacked you in the face and called you Sally. 14 points in 15 minutes? Good lord. That's what we in the blogging biz call getting the juice out of the squeeze. The chances are high that this game goes to his head and he tries to be the primary scoring option off the bench and that's not such a bad thing. I'd rather have him outside chucking up 3's instead of Rasheed's 7 foot frame parked there. The bottom line is the Celts need a shake up on the bench or in the locker room. Somebody needs to step up and give the old guys a jolt of energy. I still think we're going to the NBA finals. And the worst case scenario is we get there only to face off against the Young Fun Thundering Herd of Oklahoma City. Did we just go from discussing Nate Robinson's game last night to a finals prediction? It's gonna be that kind of day.
P.S. Kevin Durant had 39 points and 10 boards last night. Yikes.
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