Pinckney Provides a Lift for Celtics

On game nights, Celtics forward Ed Pinckney arrives at Boston Garden at least an hour before he’s supposed to be there. He puts on a dark sweat suit, picks up a Spalding NBA basketball, lopes onto the parquet and shoots.

And shoots.

And shoots.

Then he goes back to the locker room, puts on his game uniform, goes through the regular pregame drills, stands for the national anthem, then sits.

And sits.

And sits.

At least that’s the way it was used to be. When the Celtics host the New York Knicks Wednesday, Coach Chris Ford will probably have Pinckney up and actually playing -- maybe even in the first quarter. This is a new trend.

And Pinckney is embracing it. He has averaged 10.5 points, five rebounds and nearly 16 minutes in the past four games. Although each of those was a blowout with plenty of mop-up time for reserves, Pinckney also has played important early minutes in that span, and played well.

“I’ve been through a lot of different kinds of situations in my career,” Pinckney said. “This team, this year, has been the most fun because we’ve been winning. In any case, part of being a pro is handling those different situations. I figured eventually I’d get an opportunity, and when I did, I’d better be good, or else I’d be 6 feet under.”

Most fans remember Pinckney as the hero of Villanova’s 1985 NCAA championship team. Pinckney, 6-foot-9, long-armed and strong, is the possessor of a classic basketball body and appeared to have a bright future. But as a pro, Pinckney, known as “E-Z” for his sweet demeanor, developed into D-N-P, as in “did not play,” probably because of his sweet demeanor.

A first-round pick (10th overall) in 1985, Pinckney was traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Sacramento Kings (for Eddie Johnson), then wound up in Boston (with Joe Kleine) in the 1989 Danny Ainge deal. In his first full season with the Celtics, Pinckney started 50 games (averaging only 14 minutes) before he was relegated to hard pine time.

He was still sitting as the 1990-91 season got under way, but kept working, running, shooting, waiting for another chance. Then something tickled his ear.

The Celtics are one player away, Larry Bird said last month. Bird was not trying to be controversial. He was not unhappy. He prefaced his statement by saying he was having a lot of fun with this team.

“We’re not good enough to win a world championship right now,” Bird said. One forward away, Bird said. Some in the Boston media echoed Bird’s sentiments.

“It bothered me a little to hear people say we’re a player away,” Pinckney said. “There really are only six or seven in the rotation and five other guys are sitting around doing nothing, pretty much. But it’s hard to take offense to that statement if you haven’t played.”

In other words, Pinckney said, “If I haven’t played, I can’t say ‘Play me, play me.’ If I get a chance and I do well, and we’re still supposedly a player away, then I’ve got to do a lot of worrying.”

Right now, Pinckney isn’t worrying. He is one of the most well-liked Celtics, the consummate teammate, a nice guy. Lately, he has shown some ferociousness on the way to the hoop, and that bodes well.

“Sometimes, you can get upset. But you just have to keep open lines with the coaches,” Pinckney said. “Sometimes it’s easy to take a negative stance. But you can’t because that doesn’t help anybody. Everyone pulls for everyone else on this team. This is called professional sports, and it requires acting like a pro. I believe in that.”