Will the Celtics take the Chicago Bulls seriously? You wouldn't ask if you had seen the long practices and the grim faces. You'd think the Lakers, the Soviets and the Martians were coming here on the same plane.
The Cleveland first-round experience last year made a deep impression on the Celtics . And as much as Cleveland was on a roll, the Cavaliers had no force remotely comparable to Michael Jordan. Boston has seen enough of Mr. Jordan to know that any team he plays on is a legitimate basketball team; you can assume, therefore, that the Bulls will not be meeting a complacent opponent.
So it all gets under way tonight (8, SportsChannel). If the preponderance of expert opinion is correct, it will all end sometime in early June with the Celtics winning their 16th NBA championship. Before that event becomes a reality, however, there will be some serious obstacles, starting with a Chicago team whose 30-52 record is meaningless, given that in 64 of those 82 games, Jordan was not in uniform.
"They've got a lot of talent," says Danny Ainge. "That team is scary. You look at that team and you see a lot of great basketball players."
The normal season comparisons applied at this time of the season are irrelevant. Jordan played in one game against Boston, and that was soon after his return to action. He cranked up 20 shots in 16 minutes of playing time, and he was rusty in every department. At that point, he was much more of a hindrance than a help to the team. Now he is an asset once again.
He has quality accomplices such as Orlando Woolridge (in Jordan's absence the team's leading scorer), rookie Charles Oakley and even the ancient Iceman, George Gervin. Coach Stan Albeck has some big bodies to throw at the Celtics in the best-of-five series, and the Bulls have played with great confidence against Boston the past two years.
But all logic dictates that it's the Bulls who should be worried about Boston, not the other way around. Boston has the game's premier player in Larry Bird and its premier frontcourt rotation in Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Bill Walton and Scott Wedman. Boston has the best 1-2 center punch in the league. Boston has the nonpareil big-game backcourt performer in Dennis Johnson. Boston has the best team defense in the league. And Boston has the confidence bred of a 37-1 record in Boston Garden, where the Celtics established the best home-court record in league history.
What the Celtics must do is let the fans and press worry about the Lakers while they keep their minds on the daily task in front of them. They say this will be no problem.
"If we stick to things on a day-to-day basis, the way we have all year, we'll be fine," says Johnson. "That's the reason we've been winning. We haven't gone a day or two ahead of ourselves. We just keep playing for now."
While people on the outside were worrying about the Cleveland-Chicago battle, the Celtics remained essentially uninterested. Even Johnson, who is now stuck with the task of guarding the mercurial Jordan, says it doesn't really matter. "Whatever other people may think, I really don't care if there is a focus on my man," DJ insists. "No matter how much a man can handle the ball, he's not going to beat someone by himself, and that goes for Larry (Bird) too. Neither Michael nor Larry is going to go out and score 90 points, at least I don't think so. I'm well aware of what Michael can do, but we will win or lose this thing teamwise. That's the thing to keep in focus. We've played team ball all year, and that's how we won all those games."
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