1986 Cs Move to 10-2 with Win Over Sixers

McHale Leads Way


Sixers owner Harold Katz sounds like Boss Steinbrenner, Andrew Toney is in a cast, and we're told that Julius Erving and Bobby Jones have reserved a summer place on Golden Pond.

There is no season-long first-place chase, and tickets for Celtics -Sixers games don't command three-digit sums on the street anymore. The Philadelphia 76ers are just another .500 ball club this morning and have a worse record than the Atlanta Hawks.

Let's face it: It's still never easy for the Celts when the Sixers come to town, but some of the thrill is gone. Boston beat Philadelphia, 110-103, last night, but a once-cherished victory over the Sixers is now little different than a win over the Pistons or Bucks.

Kevin McHale (32 points, 11 rebounds), who was taught to respect his elders, said, "Probably people have better talent than them now, because of their age and injuries . . . but they still know how to win."

The good Doctor (21 points) exhibited his usual dignity, saying, "This is not a feeling I am used to or would like to get used to . . . But we'll eventually turn a corner. We are not a laughingstock team. You could see respect in their eyes. They know they have to play hard against us or they're gonna get beat."

Boston beat the Sixers without help from Dennis Johnson (attending his grandmother's funeral), and on a night when Larry Bird could only muster 11 points. Bird (5 for 16 from the floor) was on the bench for almost nine consecutive minutes when the Celts took the lead for keeps.

McHale (32 points) and Robert Parish (20 points, 12 rebounds) made up for the missing persons. McHale took Charles (Refrigerator) Barkley and the rest of Philly's little big men into the torture chamber, while the Chief (seven offensive rebounds) beat Moses Malone on the boards. Meanwhile, whiz kids Rick Carlisle and Sam Vincent gave a pleasant glimpse of Backcourt Future.

There was never a threat of a blowout. The Celts trailed for a good part of the evening, and it was 87-87 with seven minutes left when Boston took control with a 10-0 run.

Danny Ainge (18) started it with a shot-clock-beating backboard rattler from out top. Then McHale stole a Maurice Cheeks pass and Parish hit a pair of free throws. After Cheeks missed a free throw (awarded for an illegal defense on the Celts) and a jumper, Parish rebounded and Ainge hit a bomb at the other end. Doc picked up a rebounding foul after a Sedale Threatt miss, and Bird set up Parish for two more free throws. Jerry Sichting rebounded a Barkley (1 for 7) miss, and Bird scored on a baseline drive to make it 97-87 with 4:43 left. The Sixers called time.

Threatt cut it to six with a pair of jumpers, but McHale turned an offensive rebound into two free throws, and Boston led, 99-91, with 3:16 left.

Cheeks scored six straight for the Sixers, cutting Boston's lead to four (103-99). K.C. Jones called time with 1:20 left.

After the pause, McHale put a Bird miss back in, then blocked a shot by Cheeks. Bird rebounded and threw a touchdown bomb to Ainge to make it 107-99 with 57 seconds left. Ball game.

There was nothing especially clinical about the first 43 minutes. Proving that it's far easier to make layups than 18-foot jumpers, the Celts raced to a 10-2 lead. McHale torched Barkley, while Parish repeatedly went over flatfooted Moses for easy follow-ups. Boston had seven offensive rebounds (five by Parish) in the first five minutes. If the Celts hadn't started out shooting 5 for 16, they could have opened up a huge first-quarter lead.

Then the Celts went cold and the opportunistic Sixers fought back. Malone (21 points) went to the boards and Erving drove to the basket. Ainge missed three jumpers and one layup, Bird couldn't hit the ocean (those two were 0 for 9 in the quarter), and Sichting wiped out a row of photographers with an errant fast-break pass. The Celts seemed lost without DJ, scoring only one non-layup in the quarter. Vincent rescued Ainge with 1:04 left in the first. It was easily Sam's earliest appearance of the season.

Carlisle joined Vincent in the backcourt for the start of the second. They would be on the court again when the Celts turned the corner in the second half.

Cheeks and Malone led the Sixers to a seven-point lead (50-43), and Philadelphia settled for 56-51 at the half. Bird, Sichting and Ainge made three of 18 shots in the first two periods.

Ainge recovered with three buckets to start the third period. The Celts clawed back and regained the lead with a 7-0 drive - capped when Carlisle stole an offensive rebound and fed to Scott Wedman (12 points) for a second- chance jumper. Boston led, 82-78, at the end of three.

Bird and Parish were on the pine at the start of the fourth when Vincent and Carlisle teamed to run Boston's lead to 86-78, forcing a Philadelphia timeout.

After Bird finally reappeared, Philly fought back into it and tied the game on a line-drive jumper by Malone with 7:10 left. Then came the game-breaking Boston run.