Under the NBA’s after-care program, Vin Baker submits to testing three times a week. That will be his biggest challenge.
So far, the basketball part is coming too easy. But Baker will make his Garden debut as a Knick when they host the Wizards tonight and the pressure will be ratcheted up a few notches.
Perhaps that’s the reason Lenny Wilkens won’t start Baker at center tonight, though it’s only a matter of time before he zooms ahead of the incumbent, Nazr Mohammed. Baker logged an astounding 34 minutes in Sunday’s miraculous victory in Milwaukee in his second game back from a two-month layoff.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some butterflies,” said Baker, a recovering alcoholic. “I’ve had a lot of success on the road. But now with the home team, it’s going to be different. I’ve got to be aggressive. It’s a great place to play basketball. Everyone wishes they can play there. I have the chance so I have to take advantage of it.”
The Garden usually roots for the underdog. His success in giving the Knicks their first legit low-post offensive presence since Patrick Ewing, should earn the Hartford native a warm welcome.
Baker’s three kids will be in attendance. So will his father, James, a Baptist minister, and his mother, Jean, and a host of relatives and friends and teammates from the University of Hartford.
“I’m not sure, hopefully it will be a good one,” Baker said. “I’ll have a lot of people from home there. I’ll have a little cheering section.”
Baker scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards on Sunday. But it wasn’t just the stats, it was how he did it, getting the ball on the block and making bold post moves to the bucket. He could have scored more, but missed a couple of easy ones around the hole because his timing is still off.
“He made strong moves.” Wilkens said. “I’m impressed how he’s played considering how long he was out. It’s what we were hoping to create – a low-post position.”
“I’m here to be a post presence and Coach Wilkens has put me right into the fire,” Baker said. “My teammates, Isiah [Thomas], coaches have helped me so much from a confidence standpoint, saying go on the floor and do what you do. That’s basically posting up. That’s not a hard adjustment. I’ve done it my whole career. It will get better. I’m just scratching the surface.”
Baker used to bust up the Knicks at the Garden when he was a young Buck in the mid-1990’s. “Those were great games,” Baker recalled. “At the time, it was Knicks-Bulls. Myself, Glenn Robinson and the Bucks, we were in obscurity. To come to the Garden and be from Connecticut was always a huge game for me.”
Said Allan Houston, a former Olympic teammate of Baker’s: “I think everyone remembers how good he was. The way he’s looking now, I don’t think he’s that far. You can see how much a lift he’s going to provide for us.”
