Baby’s no joke

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“To me, the second unit came in and they did the exact opposite,” Rivers said. “They miss a couple shots, the ball starts sticking, and then they start getting back at each other by not passing, and they forgot what we do. They stopped playing defense.”

That doesn’t sit well with Davis. 

He views himself as the “connection” between the first unit and the second unit given the amount of minutes he plays with the starting five. Davis believes that he, Nate Robinson, and Marquis Daniels, are the biggest factors off the bench when the Celtics starters are out of the game. 

And he takes his leadership role very seriously. 

“When I notice things like that, I need to adjust, I need to motivate, I need to do something out there because I’m the guy that makes the second team go,” he said. “I’m a mirror of the first team because I play a lot with the first team. So I’ve got to somehow, some way, get the same momentum from the first team and use it to transfer to the second team.”

CSNNE: Ailing Davis holds himself accountable

It's easy to joke about Glen Davis.  The guy's a clown.  He really gets into Ke$ha karaoke, channels his inner nerd when he gets a chance, and enjoys doing the dougie. 

He's a goofball that is having a lot of fun out there.  But on the court is a different story.  On the court, he's taking on a new role with the C's that, as Jess Camerato wrote, he does take seriously.  He sees himself almost as another captain.

And last night, he took a huge step in that direction.  The guy was playing ball… and hustling his ass off… with a 103 degree fever.  He was guzzling pedialyte just to get through it.  And I'm sure the guys saw that.

Baby can say what he wants about viewing himself as a leader or a bridge between the first and second units… but it's not until pulling something like he pulled last night that guys REALLY buy into it.  I'm sure Baby is respected by the rest of the guys in that locker room for always hustling and playing really hard.  But something about gutting (no pun intended) out a big performance while being as sick as that hammers the point home to the rest of the guys on the second unit.  Glen is their leader (4:45 mark).

Let's face it, Marquis Daniels is too quiet and reserved to be the second unit's leader… and Nate's still too new and he's still learning.  Of all those guys, it's really up to Baby to be that emotional leader out there.  He's the guy that should be leading by example and picking guys up when they slack off.  Last night, by playing instead of sitting… by hustling when he legitimately could have been resting… Baby earned the right to call guys out when they're not doing the same.  

Ballsy game by Glen Davis… and another step forward in his progression.  It might be one of his biggest steps, actually… one that will pay off come playoff time.