Lanier Leads Bucks Over Celts

Green Fall to 27-9
1981-82 Boston Celtics

His ancient knees give out from time to time, and Bob Lanier is no longer the awesome offensive force he was for many years with the Detroit Pistons. But if you want a simple explanation of why the Celtics ' four-game winning streak went down the drain last night, he is the man with whom you start.

In the third quarter Lanier rose from a season of less-than-spectacular play, and suddenly a battle of NBA division leaders turned into a rout. The Milwaukee Bucks, shooting 74 percent in the period and riding the shoulders of their veteran center, shot to a 19-point lead and held on to knock off the Celtics , 122-118, before a sellout crowd of 11,052 at the Mecca.

Don't let the final score or the fact that Milwaukee had six players in double figures fool you. This was The Bob Lanier Show, particularly in the third quarter, when he hit seven of eight shots and scored 16 of his 26 points.

Lanier is currently averaging about 13 points a game, which is a far cry from his days with Detroit.

But he reached back, into the past as it were, and once again threw around his 6-foot-10, 265-pound frame; nobody could stop him. His 26 points were a season high and three short of his Milwaukee career high.

"We've asked Bob to do a lot of different things in Milwaukee, different than he's done in Detroit," said Bucks coach Don Nelson. "He's not scoring as many points as he used to, and is more involved in the passing and running of the offense. But he's still a great player. He may be only 60 percent of what he used to be on offense, but once he gets it going you have to change your defense.

"He's had nights when his knees were sore and he couldn't play much. But just his presence on the floor is impressive. Teams have to respect him."

The Celtics gave Lanier respect last night, maybe too much respect. But then it's hard to stop an incredible hulk of a man who can throw power hooks and his body around the way Lanier does.

"It's easy to look at Robert Parish on a night like this," said coach Bill Fitch, "and say he didn't do his job. But the fact is that Lanier shot well and our defense overall was a little soft. We let him get the ball where he wants to, and weren't helping out Robert enough."

One bad stretch was all it took to sink the Celtics last night, following as it did a so-so first half in which Boston trailed by eight points, 60-52. Milwaukee went on a 17-11 tear to open the quarter and soon built the lead to 19 points at 83-64.

Lanier took complete control in the period, and said the reason that he was so active was that he noticed that Boston was letting him get to his spot in the first half.

"It didn't seem as if the Celtics were giving Parish a lot of help," said Lanier, "and I can cause a lot of damage when they are doing that."

This was no night to make excuses for the Celtics. They were outhustled at the starting gate, blew a second-quarter lead, and were beaten.

The Bucks showed they like to run as much as Boston, gambling by releasing the guards on almost every shot, and got away with it.

"You can stop that controlling the backboards," said Larry Bird, who led the Celtics with 29 points. "But we didn't do that, and their guards released down the floor and got going before we could set up our defense. Lanier made the difference in the third quarter. We let him get the ball where he wanted it, and he put it in the basket."

Boston's fourth quarter was a good one: the Celtics cut a 19-point lead to four points. They made a game of it with around 9 minutes left, running off nine straight points and trailed, 95-85.

But Milwaukee did everything right in the next few minutes, and by the time Boston got the deficit to under 10 points at 117-108, there was only 1:21 left.