Maybe it Won't Get Worse before it Gets Better

Green, in a Free Fall Since 1986, Try to Stop the Bleeding
1990-91 Boston Celtics

This is not a Celtic team worthy of the Bill Russell era. It is not as good as John Havlicek's 1974-76 Green Teams, nor is it as strong as the 1985-86 Bill Walton edition.

It is not your father's Oldsmobile, but nor is it the depleted, distracted and disorganized team that flopped last spring. Perhaps it is a new generation of Olds.

The old guys joined with the young guys last night to overcome a 19-point first-half deficit for a 106-103 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. As November NBA victories go, this is as good as it gets. We've been around long enough to know that there are 80 more games before the REAL season starts, but Celtics fans have every right to be buoyed by what they've seen so far.

Larry Bird (21 points, 12 rebounds in 45 minutes) was the first to admit, "We could have got beat by 20 if we had the same attitude we did last year, but we kept playing hard and got things going our way."

So this is a different team from the 1989-90 model?

"You don't have to be Einstein to figure that out," said the senior Celtic. "Last year was really a bad year. I can sense a big difference. We're able to do the things we were doing in training camp. We're running a little. I enjoy playing a little more this year. We feel we're a better basketball club."

What about fandom? This correspondent sensed that the Green Legions put too much stock in Friday's Opening Night victory over the Cavs. Fans in the streets, taverns and at Logan Airport Saturday seemed to riding that Cleveland victory all the way to June. In the wake of the Red Sox' playoff disaster, the Patriots' ongoing fiasco, and the Bruins' awful trek west, Boston fans are thirsty for good news, and Friday night's Celtic win was enlarged to fulfill the fantasy of New England's fans.

"Our fans are supposed to expect us to win," said Bird. "It's no different than it was in the '80s. We're the Boston Celtics and I still expect us to win every game."

Clearly, 2-0 means little more than 1-1 when we look at the Big Picture, but even a cynic would have trouble diluting the sweetness of this Saturday Night Special in New York.

First of all, the Celtics beat the team that knocked them from the playoffs last spring. Everybody likes a little revenge. Second, the Celtics overcame a humiliating, 29-10 first-quarter deficit. During this early stretch, the geniuses on press row were nodding sagely and agreeing that Friday night's victory was just another event at the Mirage, and this Gotham mugging was hard evidence that the C's were indeed too old to run with the young bucks on the road.

Wrong again, Nick Weatherspoon Breath. The Celtics in 1989-90 didn't have Brian Shaw or Dee Brown. The Celtics in 1989-90 --Bird in particular -- wouldn't admit that Reggie Lewis was The Man down the stretch. And so these kinds of comebacks rarely happened.

It happened last night and Bird was the floor leader, just like in the old days.

"I didn't start off good," he said. "I felt I got us in a hole. But we just took our time and kept working the ball and made things happen. We sort of put the panic in 'em."

The Celtic brass was ecstatic after the victory. General manager Jan Volk, breathing like a man who'd just had an anvil taken off the top of his head, called it "a character builder." Dave Gavitt, who is new to this NBA haul, said, "It's like they say in golf. There's no such thing as a bad 3."

Bird was philosophic and realistic: "You have your day in the sun, then somebody else comes along and puts you in the background. I think we will accomplish the goals we set out. We're going one game at a time. And we can't lose 11 home games again. If the Celtics lose more than five games at home, it's a bad year. It will be tough on the road, but we have to play hard and win the division and keep on improving."

Are they good enough to win the championship right now?

"No," said Bird. "But we plan on getting a lot better."

For those of us who thought it was going to get worse before it got better this is good news. And after watching what happened last night, it's also believable.