Dee Brown Jump Starts Celts

The Green Crush Washington
Improve to 12-2
12/1/1990
Remembering the 29-5 Start

All returned to normal last night. The floor stayed dry. Larry Bird joined some select company. And the Celtics continued to stomp what passed for opposition.

Bird hit the 20,000-point mark en route to a 21-point performance which, rekindling the Larry of Yore, featured three 3-pointers. And the Celtics made it eight straight with a hold-your-nose-and-swallow 123-95 victory over the wretched Washington Bullets. Bird paced eight Celtics in double figures. Dee Brown (8 for 9) checked in with a season-high 18 as the Celtics recovered from a glacial start and scored 105 points in the final three quarters.

Other than that, however, there were few redeeming features about this one. And even though it's after Thanksgiving, be grateful you do not have to watch the Bullets every night. Even their one certified star, Bernard King, was out of it and finished with 22, well below his league-leading average of 29.8. He was 1 for 9 in the first half.

But by far the most anticipated moment of the evening was Bird's homing in on 20,000 points. He needed 12 (although in reality, he only needed 6 because the 6 he scored Wednesday in the slip-out against Atlanta are in hoop lay-away and will automatically kick in on Dec. 23).

The blessed event came with 8:19 remaining in the third quarter. It was a bit anticlimactic, almost like Michael Dukakis waiting for the Hawaii returns before conceding. Even Bird admitted, "If it hadn't happened last night, it would happen tonight."

Bird had 8 at the half and then made his second 3-pointer of the season. He missed on another trey before finally connecting from the foul line. The crowd went wild, the ball went to Springfield and the game went on. "It isn't really that big of a deal," Bird said. "You want to get it out of the way and go on with it. Hey, if they paid us by the point, I'd have 50,000 by now."

Bird became the 15th player to reach 20,000 points. Earlier this season, he became the 15th player to register 5,000 assists. Only four others are on both lists: Jerry West, John Havlicek, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The basket, foul-line jumper, gave the Celtics a 63-52 lead. It temporarily got the crowd into things as well, but the resilient Bullets -- they do not quit -- were soon back to within 76-71.

Enter Brown. The rookie got orders to jump-start the lead-footed, lethargic Celtics and he complied. The Celtics closed the quarter with a 10-4 run and Brown figured in all 10 points, scoring 6 and assisting on two Brian Shaw hoops. That got the Boston lead back to 11 entering the fourth. "Dee really gave us a lift," said coach Chris Ford.

It was still a 12-point game with eight minutes left when the Celtics really put it into overdrive and finished things off. Bird nailed his third 3-pointer -- he had as many as the team had had in the first 13 games -- to trigger a 13-0 run.

The Bullets, who alternated between awful and abysmal all night (41 percent shooting), were co-conspirators in their undoing, committing three turnovers in the run. The Celtics' heretofore dormant running game erupted, with four straight dunks or layups. Kevin Gamble (16) had 6 in the spurt.

By the time Washington scored again, the Celtics led by 25, Stojko Vrankovic and Dave Popson were on the floor, and the Celtics were looking forward to tonight's battle with Philly. The Celtics outscored Washington, 37-20, in the fourth quarter.

"We had breakdowns," said Bullets coach Wes Unseld. "And we didn't get anything from our bench."

Said Kevin McHale (18 points), "We got an 8 1/4-game winning streak. That's the first time we've had one of them. But what does it mean? Not much right now."

Fans probably wondered if it would ever get to eight after the first quarter. The Celtics had no life from the start, but managed to stay close because Washington dragged them into the slime and wouldn't let go. Consider this nugget: Three minutes into the game, the Bullets led, 2-0, and the teams were a combined 1 for 12. Enthralling, huh? Soccer has more scoring.

After one, it was 22-18 and fans might have been praying for condensation to surface on the parquet. The Celtics were luggish and stagnant, much to the dismay of Chris Ford. His continuous appeals for movement generally went unheeded, the running game never really materialized and the trench warfare mentality took hold.

But McHale (8 for 13) came out strong in the second quarter and the Bullets looked a lot like the gang from Gary's in Cheers" on defense. McHale had a jump hook, a dunk and drive and soon the Celtics had their first lead of the game, 25-24. Before the half was through, fans endured a stretch of nine straight pointless possessions. Bird and King were a combined 4 for 19.

The Celtics got the lead to 9 at the half and soon had it to 13 before the Bullets made a run led by Harvey Grant (21 points). But that was their only live moment in an otherwise dead evening.