One of the more peculiar aspects of the Boston Celtics’ “Big 3″ is that the team has essentially had not three, but four elite players on the roster since Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were acquired in the summer of 2007. Fans and media naturally included forward Paul Pierce in the triumvirate, but omitted Rajon Rondo, who has now been among the top point guards in basketball for at least the last three seasons, if not four.

Every team has its own unique set of circumstances, but it wouldn’t be a tremendous leap to presume the presence of Garnett, Pierce and Allen may have expedited Rondo’s development. If Boston’s young playmaker sees three All-Stars behaving and working in a particular manner, then he too picks up the proper habits. One thing leads to another, and eventually other teams spend as much time preparing for Rondo as they do the “Big 3,” who, after all, should be referred to as the “Big 4.”

Knicks president Donnie Walsh did his best to hire three extraordinary players—Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups—but he’s also growing a fourth on the side. New York’s opposition has been focused on stopping the Knicks’ “Big 3″ since the trade deadline (or “Big 2″ as Billups has been dealing with injuries), which has given backup combo guard Toney Douglas the opportunity to play spoiler. Much like Rondo did in his second season under Celtics coach Doc Rivers, Douglas is flourishing in his sophomore campaign now that he’s flanked by three elite players.

“This is my second year here under Mike D’Antoni,” Douglas told HOOPSWORLD. “He’s a great coach and I feel like I know the system and what he looks for in his offense and his defense.”

Douglas made a lot of subtle improvements while playing behind the departed Raymond Felton at the beginning of the season. But when Felton was moved to Denver along with Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov, Douglas really started to understand just how dangerous he can be.

“It makes it easier because we have two—really three with Chauncey—great players who can score the ball and draw the defense to collapse,” Douglas said. “I feel like it makes it easier on our teammates. All we got to do is hit a lot of open jump shots because they get a lot of double teams.”

The early returns have been phenomenal for Douglas. After struggling immediately after the trade, Douglas has averaged 14.2 PPG in March while making 46.9% of his 3-point attempts and an astounding 55% of his shots from the field.

He’s also finding ways to contribute beyond simply scoring points.

Douglas—the former ACC Defensive Player of the Year—has never had problems defending the point guard position. However, he’s never flourished as a distributor until Anthony arrived. The Knicks have been without Billups for most of this month, but surprisingly Douglas has filled his role, averaging 5.7 APG as the team has won four of seven.

“Toney’s playing well,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s played well a lot this year. He took a little step back when we made the trade because we had new guys and he was deferring a little bit, but now he’s playing his game and he’s doing a real good job."

Douglas credits Felton for some of his development as a point guard, and predicts he can continue to improve with Billups around.

“I picked up a lot of stuff from Raymond,” he said. “He was a veteran guard—sixth year in the league. Every time I was in practice or on the bench, I always studied him—or even when I was playing with him. And same thing for Chauncey—him just being a veteran, just being here, talking to him, [I'm] picking his brain. It’s making me a smarter player and a better player. I’m looking forward to learning a lot from him.”

Douglas isn’t the Knicks’ savior this season. He’ll probably lose his starting gig when Billups returns, and he isn’t under any delusion about who the floor general of this team is.

“He’s going to be good for us,” Douglas said of Billups. “Knowing that he’s been there plenty of times, won a championship, he knows what it takes. He’s a player, but he’s also a coach. He talks a lot in the huddle, tells people what to do and we all listen.

“I feel like [Billups, Stoudemire and Anthony] can make us better as well,” he continued. “We can make them better. We have to produce and perform well.”

Douglas’ offensive development is verging on sensational, but if he’s going to make a difference this season, he’s most likely to do it on the defensive end.

“Our offense is going to be fine,” he said. “I feel like we just got to stay focused every game on defense because every game we won is because of the defensive end and we’re going to need that come playoff time.”

Is It Lopez Time?

Brook Lopez has picked up a double-double in three of his last four games, which wouldn’t be big news for a starting center, except for the fact that he had only three such previous outings this season.

Tonight Lopez matches up against the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, who is having a disappointing rebounding season–for him.

Jordan’s current rebounding rate (15.8) is his career low. Of course, that matches Lopez’s career high, which he accomplished in 2008-2009–his rookie season. This season Lopez’s rebounding rate has plummeted to 10.8, which is why he’s had so few double-doubles.

{AUTHOR_BOX}Check Out: No. 19 UConn vs. No. 11 Syracuse

Sorry to preview two Orange games in such a short amount of time, but I think we all remember the six overtime slugfest that Syracuse and Connecticut engaged in the last time they met in the Big East Tournament.

Jonny Flynn and Hasheem Thabeet aren’t around anymore, but check out the battle at point guard where the Huskies’ Kemba Walker matches up against the Organge’s Brandon Triche and Scoop Jardine.

And don’t forget about disappointing Syracuse freshman Fab Melo. The 7-foot native of Brazil dropped in a career-high 12 points yesterday against St. John’s and may finally be turning the corner after a frustrating first few months in the Big East.

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NBA Chats: Susan Bible will host her weekly NBA Chat tomorrow at 11am, if you want to get an early start. You can always find the next chat here: Upcoming NBA Chats.