The Los Angeles Clippers had two chances to win at the Garden last night: Get Serious, and Yeah, Right.
And then they walked in and took the old gaspipe. The Celtics jumped on them for early leads of 7-0 and 20-10, and this baby was over, even though decorum dictated the clubs stay out there long enough to give customers their money's worth. The final was Boston 124, Clippers 108.
It's not often an NBA coach stands in his locker room and talks about his team being nervous, but that's what LA mentor Don Chaney did when this mismatch was over. "It can be devastating to come in here from the outside, look up at the flags and focus on the parquet floor," said The Duck. "There is no question we were a little bit tight."
Given that four of the LA starters total 28 years of NBA experience, the finger must point to rookie center Benoit Benjamin as the jittery one. The kid had a brutal first half, with two points, one rebound and three personal fouls in 11 minutes of play before settling down to demonstrate some inside skills as the game wore on.
The competition having been dismissed early, the attention focused on the various stat lines. Four Celtics finished with 20 or more points as the club sliced through the abysmal Clipper defense to shoot 59 percent from the floor. And one Celtic had double figures in points (20), rebounds (13) and assists (12) to register what is now known as a "Triple Double." Would you care guess which Celtic it was? (Hint: He's the current cover boy on Sports Illustrated).
Referring to the first half of this game as "boring" would be very charitable. There were occasional moments of grandeur (such as when Dennis Johnson blocked a Kurt Nimphius shot into the hands of a fallen Larry Bird, who then threw an outlet pass while lying on his back), but the A-B-C of this game was that whatever the Celtics wished to accomplish on offense, they accomplished. Parish (26) and Bird provided the early offensive thrust, The Chief showed young Benjamin what inside post play is all about, while Bird opened up with a downtown three-pointer, a conventiinal three-pointer and an off-balance mid-length jumper as Boston cruised to the 20-10 lead before the game was 5 1/2 minutes old.
Before the half was over, Johnson (21) and Kevin McHale (Can you believe 26 his third night back? And 10 for 11 from the floor? He's ridiculous) had propelled the Celtics into a 19-point lead at 58-39.
But with a chance to ice the game and ensure some solid P.T. (playing time) for Greg kite, Rick Carlisle and Sam Vincent, the Celtics became very, very careless with the basketball, turning it over continually as LA ran off a 12-2 string which reduced Boston's advantage to nine at 60-51 before the smokin' Mr. Johnson sank a jumper to send Boston into the locker room ahead by 11.
The lead would have been more substantial but for the heroic efforts of Marques Johnson, who labored nobly to score 18 of his team-high 24 points. This explosive, graceful Marques Johnson was the same man who led Milwaukee past Boston in the play-offs two seasons ago, and he certainly looked out of place in the company of the other blue-shirted misfits who comprise the Clippers' roster.
Maxwell? Well, Max was the recipient of a 45-second standing ovation during the intros, and he said this tribute unnerved him. He had a rocky start (0 for 3 with an offensive foul while having problems with Bird in the first five minutes), and he never really became productive. "It was like getting your championship ring and then having to go out and play," Max explained, as only he could.
There are names on the Clippers -- Johnson, Maxwell, Nixon, Bridgeman, etc. -- but there is a singular lack of purpose in contrast to the Celtics, whose interdependence and fluidity is now the talk of basketball. "Other teams have one or two guys you can concentrate on," lamented Chaney, "but the Celtics have five. Double down and they'll kill you outside. Play them straight and they'll kill you inside. Overplay, and someone makes a back cut knowing he'll get the ball."
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