"You're going to see more of that from Todd," the father said. "You've been very good for him. You're showing confidence in him, and that's what he's needed. You'll see more of this."
Carr's smile widened.
"Can I call you up and bring you back here if we don't?" Carr said. "We'll make every day Father's Day."
When Todd walked back into the room from the shower, his father - his high school coach back in Memphis - said approvingly, "Good job, son."
Great job is more to the point. The Celtics sneaked out a 114-113 victory that would have been laughably impossible had not Day pulled off his long-range bombing run. On a night when Dana Barros set the NBA record with his 80th consecutive game with at least one 3-pointer, Day made his way into the Celtic record book.
His 24-point second quarter tied the club record for most points in a period with a guy named Larry Joe Bird, who had the double-dozen against Indiana on March 30, 1983. Great job, indeed.
"You can't put Todd Day in the same sentence with Larry Bird," Todd Day said. "It's something you just don't do at this point."
The last three words of that sentence bespeak the change in Day after three uneasy seasons in Milwaukee. The fact he believes you don't mention him with Bird at this point is because there may be a time when he thinks you'll be able to.
"Confidence," Day said. "You can't play in this league without confidence. That's been the biggest change for me here.
"I know M.L. has confidence in me, and I'm not the only one. It's the same with a lot of guys on the team. Rick Fox has come into his own this year, and it's because M.L. has given him the freedom.
"I know I can play, and the team had confidence in me in Milwaukee. But the coaches there never did. Even in the first game of the year here at the FleetCenter (when he was still a Buck), I was playing really well and I basically had to argue to get back into the game."
Day had 22 for Milwaukee in a 101-100 win. Twenty-two days later, he and Alton Lister have come to the C's for Sherman Douglas, and Day is feeling very much at home at the FleetCenter.
"I'm really getting to like the way the gym is laid out," he said. "I'm getting comfortable with the background."
And his comfort level was increased by his parents' first visit to Boston.
"I wasn't nervous or anything playing in front of my dad," he said. "I played for him all through high school, so I'm used to it. It helps me, because he can pick up something I'm doing wrong before anyone else.
"And all night, I was just thinking about him on the sidelines telling me to stay down on defense."
The elder Day acknowledged the advice. "I was talking to him on the phone and I told him, 'People don't think you play defense, so you bend your damn knees and show them,' " Ted said.
Typical coach. His kid makes 5-of-8 from 3-point territory and goes for 41, and defense is what he talks about. Carr really smiled on that one.
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