BOSTON — Baron Davis was already ready, already fired up, already jazzed about suiting up against the Celtics, at the TD Garden, on national television, on a Sunday afternoon. He wasn’t alone.
“Guys are sweating in here 20 minutes before the game even started,” the Knicks backup point guard said, waving his hands around the visiting locker room. “They were amped and ready to play like it was a playoff game, and for me this was already going to be a great test of where I am, playing against those players in this building.”
He was already surprisingly nervous.
And then a funny thing happened: Jeremy Lin picked up his first foul 92 seconds into the game. He picked up his third foul exactly three minutes into the game.
“Baron!” coach Mike D’Antoni called out. And into the game Davis went, his earliest check-in as a Knick, no second-team ensemble act for him this time. He had to run the show.
“Were you ready for that?” he was asked.
“Did I have a choice?” he asked.
He knocked down his first shot, a 3. He kept Rondo mostly in front of him. He handed out four quick assists, solidified his growing knack for finding Steve Novak open especially.
And Davis had a hell of a good time. He played 20 minutes and 35 seconds, made three of his five shots, scored eight points and handed out seven assists. And, like Lin, committed six turnovers. Which is a dangerous way for him — for any point guard — to live.
Still, his back felt fine afterward, after this tough 115-111 overtime loss to the Celtics. He has embraced his role off he bench, mostly because he is still feeling his way when the lights are on for real. He has played basketball his whole life, played at UCLA where there’s never been a more focused basketball spotlight and has spent time walking among the league’s top 10 or 15 players.
It sounds odd hearing Baron Davis talk like a rookie.
But sometimes he feels this way.
“A game like this, it allows me to get my senses back,” Davis said. “You play as long as I have and you expect things to be second nature and to stay that way for your whole career. And sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. Every day it’s something new for me. Today it was playing in a high-intensity game. [Tomorrow] is Dallas. I’ll be ready for that. And for whatever new challenge is waiting for me there.”