3/27/15: For the Love of Gigi
Human victory cigar (American pro basketball, noun): The guy at the end of the bench, pressed into service only when the outcome of the game is no longer in doubt.
The Internet suggests 7’5” mustachioed giant Chuck Nevitt, late of the Rockets, Lakers, Pistons, Bulls and Spurs, may have been the inspiration for the phrase. But it sounds like something the legendary Johnny Most would have coined from high above courtside, as Greg Kite or some Boston stiff ambled to the scorer’s table and Red Auerbach readied a stogie somewhere in Pat Riley’s peripheral vision.
And so it went for Luigi “Gigi” Datome, the 2013 Italian League MVP, signed by Joe Dumars to a two-year deal and playing sparingly — seven minutes a game in 34 contests — for a crap Pistons team drowning in a sea of Josh Smith three-point heaves. The “best shooter in Europe” converted a mere 18 percent of his attempts from downtown during his rookie season and rarely saw the court except for garbage time. It continued into 2014–15, as Datome subbed in just three times for Stan Van Gundy.
The night of the 2015 NBA trade deadline, as I painstakingly reviewed the transaction sheet in preparation for a radio shift, my primary concerns with the swap of Tayshaun Prince to the Pistons for two European guys were “how orange will Jonas Jerebko’s spray tan be” and “how much money will the Celtics save when they dump these guys in the offseason?”
Because that’s how the NBA works now. Far too often, we look at players as commodities, not as possessors of singular talent, a beating heart and a wealth of memories for the fans of the team for which they play. That is why we love to see guys like Phil Pressey, Leon Powe, Brian Scalabrine and Walter McCarty do their thing. And years from now, Celtics fans will think about the time Gigi Datome stepped beyond the caricature of a green video game plumber and contributed to an unlikely Boston playoff push.
Gigi wasn’t supposed to shine. Isaiah Thomas was the steal of the deadline. The Green played .600 ball once the 5’9″ menace joined the squad. And yet, after world-class jerk Dwyane Wade decked Thomas and bounced him from the lineup, Boston ran off five of eight, with Datome reaching double figures in three of those games. Wednesday night, during a furious fourth quarter comeback (against Miami with scared/injured Wade sitting out) Boston was +12 with Gigi on the floor. He hit a couple of threes, grabbed some boards, dished out some frontier justice. The numbers don’t jump off the page; he’s only cracked 10 minutes four times for Brad Stevens. But the Celtics are winning.
We’ve been conditioned to think the eighth seed is the worst fate imaginable for a basketball franchise. But this is Boston. We’re fans of basketball, not “assets” and “upside,” and while Sammy Hagar screamed “there’s only one way to rock,” there are plenty of ways to rebuild. The backcourt of the future appears to be in place, and if Gigi Datome goes ham while we wait for the next Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, or Robert Parish to walk through that door, so be it.
Bask in the glow of Gigi’s sharpshooting (10–22 from deep since joining the Celtics). Let the euphoria wash over you like the comatose feeling you get after plowing through a huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Do this:
Sure, we’re playing around with stereotypes during the Gigi Datome Era here in Boston. But after the worst winter in the history of North American civilization, can’t basketball fans have a little fun?
This post was originally published to TheDropStep.com on March 27, 2015.
