Tough times here in Hoosierland. The Pacers have lost seven straight, own the NBA's worst record, and were even blasted by the maniacal yet revered Bob Knight when they cut Quinn Buckner Wednesday.
A victory over the Celtics was just what the baby-faced Pacers needed to turn things around, but the Celts would have no part of it. Let's face it: Larry Bird doesn't like losing here in the Holy Land and Boston has already dropped its quota of games (one) to the Pacers this year.
The Celts never trailed en route to a methodical 123-105 victory at Market Square Arena last night. Playing without Herb Williams (Herb was not dining at Burger King; he has a deep muscle bruise), Indiana had no answers for the inside game of Kevin McHale (28 points) or the perimeter bombing of Bird (21, including a hat trick of three-pointers). It was Boston's eighth victory in nine games since the Knicks stole Christmas on national television.
Rookie Wayman Tisdale, Steve Stipanovich and Bill Garnett took turns looking up at the long arms of McHale, but none could stop Boston's scoring machine. Despite a painful Achilles tendon condition, McHale hit 9 of 16 from the floor and 10 of 10 from the line. The 16,904 had to be asking, "Where's Herb?"
Boston's strategy was obvious. "They have enough trouble stopping McHale when Herb is in there," noted Bird. "You don't just go in there. Tonight every play, we tried to get the ball down low. We knew before the game, and you've got to take advantage of those situations. We had to go to him just about every time."
Robert Parish took the shots that McHale and Bird eschewed. The Chief hit 8 of 13 for a tidy 20 points in 30 minutes. Backup Bill Walton had 12 points (5 for 6 from the floor) in 17 minutes. It was pretty easy.
"We had a tremendous mismatch problem in not having Williams," admitted coach-under-siege George Irvine.
Pacer fans sensed it was going to be a rough night when the Indiana team won the opening tap - then raced to the wrong end of the floor. The Pacers were tagged with a backcourt violation, and the Celts were on their way.
Bird worked over Ron Anderson (subbing for Herb) in one corner, and McHale tortured rookie Tisdale underneath.
Walton, who was superb at both ends all night, led a 9-2 drive at the close of the first with a tap, a line-drive jumper off the break and a pretty feed to Dennis Johnson for a layup. The Celts led, 32-22, after one.
Clark Kellogg, playing his second game since arthroscopic knee surgery (he recovered much faster than Cedric Maxwell, folks) hit six of six shots in the second period, and it was 46-46 with 5:27 left in the half.
Then the Celts struck. K.C. Jones had his rested starters back on the floor, and McHale scored six in a 16-4 run which pushed Boston to a 62-50 lead. The Celts settled for 64-54 at intermission, but the message was clear.
It was status quo early in the third. Irvine didn't want to tire Kellogg, so he went back to Anderson. McHale (17 at halftime) continued to torch Tisdale, and the Celts led by 13.
Trailing, 80-68, Irvine went back to Kellogg. Indy cut it to 10, but Bird drilled his third three-pointer of the night. The Celts led, 96-82, at the end of three.
It got worse in the fourth. When the Celtics stretched their lead to 115-99, Jones replaced Bird with David Thirdkill, and garbage time was officially under way.
Jones was especially happy with the work of his second unit, the famed Green Team. "They've been doing the job," said Jones. "They kept us even, and then were could push the lead to 20."
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