No, I don’t mean the Celtics need Eddie House tonight.  They need the type of hustle that allowed Eddie to somehow track this ball down, the same type of hustle that somehow allowed James Posey to be in the right place to retrieve the ball once House saved it. Game Five is huge, and the Celtics need to show some serious heart.

And, yeah, the Celtics could probably still use Eddie House. He couldn’t possibly give them less than Nate Robinson has.

Don't you wish Nate was still wearing blue and orange? Something tells me Eddie House could help the C's.

Nate Robinson’s agent is considering filing a grievance against the Boston Celtics for benching Nate down the stretch and keeping him from earning a $1 million bonus. (Boston Globe)

Representatives of Nate Robinson are monitoring whether the Celtics impeded the guard’s chances of earning a $1 million bonus and are considering filing a grievance, according to NBA sources.

Robinson played in 56 games this season and when the Celtics acquired him from the Knicks Feb. 18, he needed to play in Boston’s remaining 28 games to earn the bonus. Robinson played in 21 straight games before being benched April 4 against Cleveland. He then missed the April 7 game against Toronto, and played a combined 55 minutes in Boston’s final four games.

Robinson’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, facilitated the deal with the Celtics in hopes of getting his client that additional $1 million. Now his representatives are attempting to determine whether the $1 million the Celtics saved prevented them from exceeding the NBA luxury tax, which would cost the team $2 million for surpassing $71 million in player salaries.

Nate and Aaron Goodwin, I’ve got to give it to you guys straight: I’d be more than surprised if Nate’s benching had anything to do with his contract. He was simply bad for the Celtics. He stopped being aggressive and, when a midget whose only purpose in the NBA is to fill the air with buckets starts throwing up doughnuts in the points column, it’s time for said midget to stop receiving playing time.

If this report is true and Goodwin is trying to determine whether the $1 million the Celtics saved prevented them from exceeding the luxury tax, I’d be very surprised. If the luxury tax is at $71 million, the Celtics should be WAY over it. According to HoopsWorld, the Celtics have more than $84,000,000 on the books for this season. That equates to $13 million more than the luxury tax barrier, which equates to $13 extra million they have to pay the league office, which means the Celtics’ owners will be spending $97 million on player contracts this season.

Robinson’s $1 million bonus wouldn’t have put the Celtics over the tax, but they would have had to pay an extra $1 million in tax on top of it, brnging the total of his bonus — from the Celtics’ point of view — to $2 million. Nate would still have only gotten $1 million of that, and the league office would be the recipient of the other $1 million.

Of course, none of the semantics should matter. I’d bet my left lung that Robinson’s benching was due to his play and nothing else. If it wasn’t, then he’d at least be playing in the playoffs, right? Now that the bonus has already been missed, the Celtics would be free to play him in the postseason. But they still aren’t playing him, because he never earned the playing time. So save your time and energy, Aaron Goodwin, and let this one be. Nate’s bummy play is why he’s getting all those splinters now, and there is no other reason.

The only grievance that should be filed is by the Celtics, for getting swindled into giving up both Eddie House and Bill Walker for Robinson.

Rondo does some things every night that surprise even himself. (Photo by Brian Babineau/Getty Images)

When Rajon Rondo is on top of his game, everything comes down to yo-yo’s.

The game’s like a yo-yo in his hands. The ball’s like a yo-yo in his fingertips. He can walk the dog, put it around the world, even rock the baby. When Rondo’s yo-yo’ing around, the game is his. Everyone else is too slow. No opponent can keep up. It’s like he’s a grown man on a playground with little kids, only the little kids are all taller and stronger than he. But they aren’t faster, they don’t have better court vision, and they aren’t in control. They don’t have the game at their fingertips. Not like Rondo does.

“I would just take Rondo,” Doc Rivers said when asked who he’d choose if he had his choice of one point guard. “I wouldn’t even look at another point guard. There are some great point guards in the league, we’ve seen a couple of them the last two games, in Deron Williams and Chauncey Billups. But we have Rondo and he’s my guy.”

It hasn’t always been that way. Three seasons ago, he backed up Sebastian Telfair as Boston stumbled to a 24-58 season. Even two seasons ago, Rondo was the weak link in the Celtics’ starting five. Sam Cassell was signed midway through the season as a backup point guard, and the hope was that Cassell would play well enough to supplant Rondo as an end-of-game option. It didn’t work out. Cassell flopped, launching brick after brick, losing Doc’s confidence along the way. But that didn’t mean Rondo’s job of closing out games was safe. When push came to shove, and the Celtics needed to close out playoff wins, Eddie House often heard his number called.

Last season was different. Rondo emerged as one of the league’s up-and-coming stars with a breakout postseason. Paired against Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose and then a hungry Orlando defense, Rondo alerted the world what he’s always believed, in that self-confident heart of his: Number Nine will eat you alive. He dropped 16.9 points, 9.8 assists, and 9.7 rebounds per game, as he wrestled control of the Celtics from the two Big Three members standing. It wasn’t so much that there was a struggle for power, so much that Rondo seized it with little resistance. The conch was his, and he earned it the right way: By outplaying whatever opponent stood in front of him.

But there were rumbles of discontent. Rondo was fined for being late to a playoff game. He was labeled a troublemaker in the locker room, a disruptive force. “We need him to be more of a leader,” said Danny Ainge at the time. “He’s got to grow up in some cases.” Bob Ryan wrote, “He’s not some awful person, but let’s just say he has his ways, and he sometimes grates on teammates, coaching staff, and management.” Part of the solution on the floor, Rondo was deemed a problem off it.

Ainge looked into trading the young star in the offseason. His name was involved in rumors with the Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies, among other teams. Less than two months after being a nightly triple-double, Rondo was unsure if he’d ever play another game as a Celtic.

Not that it affected his preparation. After draft night passed and Ainge hadn’t pulled the trigger on any trades, it became clear that Rondo would stay with the only NBA organization he’d ever played for. Did he harbor grudges? Not on the surface, at least. Instead of pouting during the offseason, Rondo put on 11 pounds of muscle. Rather than fire back at Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers verbally, Rondo kept his mouth shut and returned to camp a different player. Scratch that, a different teammate. Where others might have rebelled at the criticisms, Rondo took them to heart. He changed his ways. He remodeled himself to be better for his team.

And it showed on the court. From day one this season, Rondo has been the Celtics’ leader. With his play, with his words, everything. “It’s weird,” Nate Robinson said of Rondo’s role on the team. “You’ve got Rondo running the show, you’ve got KG, and he’s a vet. It’s like you got a guy out here, young guy, running the show, and the vets and everybody are just listening and just try to play together.” The team that tried to get rid of him, now listening to his orders. The locker room he once disrupted, heeding his advice.

Boston rewarded his new attitude and improved play with a 5-year, $55 million contract extension. The NBA recognized him as an All-Star. He just broke Rick Fox’s Celtics single-season record for steals, and will soon erase Bob Cousy’s Celtics single-season assists record. With those two records, Rondo’s evolving maturity, and elite rebounding rarely seen from a point guard, Rondo’s season is one of the best a point guard has compiled in the Celtics’ storied history. Right there with Cousy’s prime years.

“[Rondo has] grown up before everybody’s eyes,” said Garnett, who has always contended that Rondo could become one of the league’s top point guards. “You want your point guard setting the tone every night. You want your point guard leading [you]. It’s great to watch because I’ve seen him when he was quiet, hiding in the corner, didn’t say two words. Sometimes we sort of miss that.”

Garnett’s only kidding about missing the old Rajon Rondo, the one who used to hide in the corner, come late to games, and scrape only the surface of his vast potential. That Rondo isn’t coming back. A maturation process has left a new Rondo, a better Rondo, a Rondo prepared to carry his team into tomorrow, and lead them today.

The wild thing about his evolution, the scary part for the rest of the NBA, is that Rondo will only get better. He’s improved by leaps and bounds every year, in every aspect. Each night, the team falls a little more into his control, as he continues the process of receiving the torch from the Big Three. The Boston Celtics aren’t yet completely his, but they will be.

And when they are, the Celtics will be in good hands.

Just like the yo-yo attached to his fingertips.

Eddie House and Wilson Chandler will both miss tonight’s game, according to Newsday’s Alan Hahn. (Twitter)

House is bothered by his achilles tendon, meaning there will likely be no further video tribute tonight.

The two injuries likely mean we will see a lot of Bill Walker, who has been the most productive player involved in the Nate Robinson trade. If he has a good game, I expect to see a lot of whining about why the Celtics should have kept him, or Doc should have played him.

I think it’s time to finally let go of Billy Boy. He’s a Knick now. And Nate Robinson has helped a re-energized bench.

(h/t Celtics Hub)

First, you sit up.  Soon after that, you start crawling.  Then you stand up for the first time, and Mommy and Daddy snap photographs.  A few tiny steps are next, and pretty soon — one foot in front of the other — you’ll be walking around the house with a pacifier in your mouth. Read more »

Marcus Landry is a player you can really root for.

If you saw the Eddie House tribute video during last night’s game against New York, as well as Nate Robinson’s standing ovation, you could have thought they were the only two players involved in the trade. But — spoiler alert! — there were actually three others traded.

Marcus Landry has been the most overlooked of the three. The brother of Carl Landry — one of the Sacramento Kings’ newest members — Marcus seems to be a player you really want to root for. Seriously, check out this story from ESPN, back when Landry was still in colllege at the University of Wisconsin. (Via ESPNBoston)

He became a father in college. Not just of one child, either: He and wife Efueko Osaga-Landry had three. He had to keep food on his family’s table, despite earning no income while trying to balance the rigors of big-time Division One Basketball and a normal class schedule. Landry somehow found the time — between cooking dinner (he’s apparently a great cook), cleaning diapers, and earning his degree — to improve himself from a 5.9-ppg scorer as a sophomore into an NBA talent as a senior.

His college coach, Bo Ryan, said having kids and starting a family helped Landry in every aspect of life. (same ESPN link)

“I don’t like to be pie in the sky, but I do believe it’s not coincidental that when [Landry] got married, things changed,” Ryan said. “He’s gotten more mature in every aspect of his life.”

Read the rest of the story. It’s really impressive to see the maturity level Landry had even in college. I don’t know if he’ll ever play a minute as a Celtic, but I know I’ll be rooting for him to make it in the NBA.

Landry wasn’t the only “other player” in the deal.

One of the others was Bill Walker. Despite a lack of playing time, Walker was sad to leave the Celtics. But he knows he’ll have an opportunity to play with the Knicks, and he’s ready for that after riding the pine for a couple years in Boston. (Boston Herald)

“It definitely is,” Walker said [when asked if playing for the Celtics was a double-edged sword]. “You want to get out there. That’s the only way you’ll really learn the game. You go out there and you’re allowed to make mistakes and learn from the mistakes. But at the same time you always want to play on a good team and have a chance of winning an NBA championship. That’s what we all play for.

“You’ve got a group in the other locker room that has goals in mind, trying to win a championship this year. They don’t have room for mistakes, and that’s why it’s hard to get in the game over there. Over here right now, (we) might not make the playoffs – really just trying out guys.”

Walker has already started to make the most of his “tryout,” with two dunks and overall solid play in yesterday’s loss to Boston. J.R. Giddens didn’t play, but he too is excited for the chance to earn a spot in the rotation… even though he seems to wish he could have had a better opportunity in Boston.

“I came up here and I worked hard. You know, I don’t feel like I got too many opportunities to play. I’m not trying to have any bad blood, because you know I enjoyed everybody in the organization. I’m still cool with everybody now. It’s just I don’t feel like I got a chance to get out there and get any really good minutes and show what I could do.

“Hopefully I can get a chance to show what I can do in New York, because any ballplayer just wants to get out there and play. When you’re working hard and not playing, it’s a very mentally challenging thing to go through for almost two years.”

I was actually pretty upset the Celtics had to lose Walker and Giddens in the deal. Walker, especially, showed signs of promise and it is still clear that he has the talent to be a valuable player in the NBA.

But I understand you’ve got to give up some talent to get some in return, and Nate Robinson is an upgrade from House.

The other guy the Celtics got, Landry? I don’t know how good a player he is, or could become, but I do know I’ll be cheering for him.

And not just because he’s on my favorite team.