"If Doc Rivers tells you what numbers to play in the lottery, just play them.

If he tells you hit on 18 at the blackjack table, take the hit.

If he says hold a pair of twos and raise the ante, keep the cards and throw the chips in the pot.

Why would you have such confidence in the guy? Well, when the playoffs began Rivers told Nate Robinson that, despite the fact he was playing about as many minutes as Michael Finley, he would win the Celtics a playoff game. Last night, in the most desperate of circumstances, he did.

Not all by himself, because that's seldom the way the Celtics win, but by stepping in for a hurting Rajon Rondo in the second quarter of last night's 96-84 close-out victory over the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals and playing offense the way a point guard should and defense like a guy who stood 6-foot-9, not 5-9.

In eight explosive minutes and 46 seconds, Robinson poured in 13 points and hounded Magic point guard Jameer Nelson into all but disappearing from the game, a circumstance that had much to do with his team disappearing from the playoffs."