From: wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Reply-To: Way Of The Ray <wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Davis Antics Get Slammed
Date: 11 Mar 2004 08:44:32 -0500
ON BASKETBALL
Davis's antics get slammed
By Peter May, Globe Staff, 3/11/2004
He did something similar last Sunday and got roundly booed. But that was on
the road, in Minnesota, and the fans at the Target Center let Ricky Davis
know they didn't appreciate a showboat dunk, a dunk that involved stopping
on the way to the hoop just to make sure no one was around.
He did the same thing last night, but with a different result. He stole the
ball and, again checking that no one was near him, went in for a
between-the-legs windmill jam against the Lakers. Except he missed. The
ball caromed off the glass and back out near the Los Angeles bench, where
Davis, unfazed, retrieved it, went back in, and still had time for a
second, routine windmill dunk.
"Just missed a dunk, that's all," he shrugged, following the Celtics'
117-109 loss to the Lakers last night. "Got it back. Just a missed dunk,
like a dunk guys miss all the time on the fast break. [I] try a trick dunk,
that's what I do. I'm not really worried
about the fans. I'm worried about winning games." Pressed more on the
subject, he said, "I'm off that. Next question."
The missed dunk/retrieval dunk came early in the third quarter. But that
wasn't all. In the fourth quarter, he followed up a miss with a slam dunk,
hung briefly on the rim while spinning, then came back up the floor with a
finger raised to the sky. There were 2 1/2 minutes left and the Celtics
were down by 9 points. A few seconds later, the Celtics were down by 11.
For his play last night, which consisted of 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 2
steals in 39 minutes, Davis was named the Celtics' player of the game. It
was a lot of what makes Davis so enticing. His shot was falling (10 of 17,
including 6 of 6 in the first half) and he was clearly into things. He even
picked up a technical at the end of the first quarter for jawing with Laker
Brian Cook.
But the missed dunk/theatrics underscores the other side of Davis, the side
where his fierce competitiveness sometimes crosses over into something
bordering on boorishness. Colleague Bob Ryan suspected that the over-under
line for liking the play of Antoine Walker was 30 years. I'd say the same
thing probably applies here.
Davis sometimes can be a showman in search of a show and, as he noted, he
really doesn't care if it comes across as anything other than
entertainment. He clearly savors the limelight -- he might even have seen
an owner or two do one of those "we're not worthy" gestures after one of
his jams.
"It comes with the territory," Lakers forward Rick Fox said of Davis. "He's
nothing if not consistent. I don't think he sold anybody a bill of goods
here. You either find teammates who can play with him or get him to play
with the teammates that are there."
Were the Lakers miffed by Davis's antics?
"No, not really," Fox said. "We have too many problems of our own to worry
about Ricky Davis. He would be pretty far down the totem pole on our team."
Kobe Bryant, who, like everyone else, watched Davis go in for the missed
dunk, said, "That shocked everybody. It was like he was having his own
private slam dunk contest. He was just trying to entertain. I don't see
anything wrong."
Bryant, a slam dunk champion once upon a time, was asked if he would
attempt such a move now. He shook his head, noting his age, not his
ability.
Other Lakers weighed in with similar reactions. They know Davis and who he
is and how he plays and, well, no one was surprised or upset by the moves.
"He has the athletic ability and it's all part of his flair and
personality," said Derek Fisher. "His sense of timing might not have been
the best, but I guess he knew he had enough time to get it back [when he
missed]. Look, Ricky plays with a lot of emotion and sometimes we all let
our emotions get the best of us."
Davis's 24 points represented the seventh time this season he has scored 20
or more points since coming to the Celtics in the now famous Dec. 15 deal
with Cleveland. (Think the Cavaliers miss him? They won again last night.)
Of those seven games, the Celtics have lost six, even though Davis is
averaging nearly 24 points while shooting 67 percent.
When Danny Ainge faced the music after making the Davis deal, he called
Davis "a spectacular talent." He also said he was hopeful that Davis's past
(the triple-double fiasco, the inability to get along with coaches and
teammates) was, indeed, behind him. Ainge said he thought that Davis, still
only 24, had grown up.
Based on what we've seen so far, Davis hasn't changed much at all.
) Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.