After the very first second of Nate Robinson‘s performance on Thursday night in Miami, it looked like we were in for more of the same. Another disappointing night in what’s so far been a disappointing season for the 26-year-old guard in Celtic green.
Robinson entered the game for the Celtics with 3:09 left in the first quarter, giving Rajon Rondo his first quick breather of the night.
With 3:08 left, he was fouling Heat guard Eddie House in the act of shooting. Seconds later, he was disputing the call and quickly getting whistled for a technical. House went to the line for three shots and swished them all.
House, who had been traded for Robinson nine months earlier at the trading deadline last season, had six points in the game’s first nine minutes. All Robinson had was an exasperated sigh from Doc Rivers on the sidelines.
The inauspicious start was only the tip of the iceberg. For many, many reasons, Robinson was due for the breakout performance that he finally gave the Celtics on Thursday night.
Robinson went off for 12 points, six of them in the fourth quarter, stepping up in a big way to help the Celtics finish off the Heat for an impressive road win. It was his best performance of the season, and it really wasn’t even close.
The numbers on Robinson through the Celtics’ first eight games were really damning. He was averaging just 4.6 points per game, a career low. His three-point shooting (4-for-18, or 22.2 percent) was putting him on pace for the worst season of his life. His overall shooting (13-for-44, 29.5 percent) looked like pretty much the worst season of anyone’s life. The numbers on Robinson were startlingly bad, with no sign of changing.
It wasn’t just numbers. His habits on the court didn’t look too good either — he was dribbling around without court vision, he was chucking up questionable shots, he was taking possessions off on the defensive end. He was looking like the guy that Rivers benched back in March.
Then he emerged as the guy that saved the Celtics in May.
Don’t forget — we’ve seen Robinson step up in big games before. The spring of 2010 was his first postseason, and he came out of nowhere in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals to drop 13 points on the Orlando Magic and punch Boston’s ticket to the big show.
He came up big again in the Finals, exploding for 12 points in 17 minutes to help the Celtics win Game 4 on their home floor.
This wasn’t a game of that magnitude, obviously. But in the midst of a troubling November, Robinson chose the biggest possible November game to bust out of his slump.
With a chance to silence all the hype surrounding the Miami Heat, with a national television audience watching, with pride and Eastern Conference bragging rights on the line, Robinson decided to step up when it mattered.
