Celtics Down Cavs on the Road

C's Improve to 32-11
1981-82 Boston Celtics

No surprises, for either side. The Boston Celtics and Larry Bird simply asserted themselves, and that was that - a routine 116-104 Celtics ' dispatch of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Boston was in control from the middle of the second quarter on, but it was necessary to stage one great stretch of basketball to put the game away. That came in the third quarter when the Cavaliers closed to within three points at 64-61 with 10:02 remaining.

Bird began the big push with a tough fadeaway from the left, one of five straight (and seven of eight) outside shots he would can in the next 11 minutes en route to a 33-point, 14-for-22 evening. The team would be off to a 29-14 run in the next nine minutes, boosting the lead to 93-75 with 1:02 left on a driving three-point play by Eric Fernsten, one of four centers employed by Bill Fitch. It was 95-77 after three periods, and the entire fourth quarter would be played for the stat man, with Cleveland guard Geoff Huston carting home the Golden Trashcan for garbage-time excellence.

The Celtics led by 20 points three times, the final occasion at 101-81 with 9:58 left on a Gerry Henderson drive.

Bird's 33-point effort closed out a brilliant month of January in which he went over 30 points six times, including five times in his final seven games. What he has looked like from the outside has been a 1974 Bob McAdoo. Think about that.

Playing with the type of self-assurance that supposedly typifies a championship team, the Celtics exerted only the requisite energy, and no more, as they cruised to a 63-53 halftime lead.

Cleveland, whose ballhandling problems grew to embarrassing proportions at times, had battled the Celtics through the 5 1/2 -minute mark of the second quarter, coming from nine down (35-26) in the first quarter to assume a short- lived 44-43 lead with 6:24 remaining in the half on a layup by Reggie Johnson. The lead lasted 24 seconds, however, or as long as it took Bill Laimbeer to knock a Kevin McHale turnaround off the rim for an offensive goaltend.

Boston then took command of the game, stretching the lead to 10 points on a pair of Bird free throws with 28 seconds left in the quarter.

The Cavs were their own public enemy No. 1 in the opening quarter, when the Celtics converted no fewer than five Cleveland turnovers into fast-break baskets. Cleveland's passing, and pass reception, for that matter, was extremely sloppy, and the Celtics continually made the Cavaliers pay for their transgressions, the result being a 35-28 one-period Boston advantage.

Boston exhibited exemplary scoring balance in the half. Bird had 11, while Robert Parish had 10, McHale had 10 and Tiny Archibald and Cedric Maxwell had 8 apiece. The Celtics shot 66 percent (16 for 24) in the first period, mainly due to easy fast-break shots.

The Cavs had gotten off to a nice start, seizing a quick 6-0 lead on a second-chance jumper by Johnson and a pair of Kenny Carr hoops. But once Boston began to exert some defensive pressure, the game complexion chaged drastically, and soon the Celtics were playing at their preferred tempo. A Parish-induced turnover led to a Maxwell sneakaway dunk and the first Boston lead at 16-15. The teams went through a few lead swaps before a fast-break layup by Bird (off a turnover, naturally) made it 20-19, Boston, and the Celtics pushed it to go up by nine late in the quarter.

With Keith Herron scoring six early points, the Cavs crept back, until the Johnson basket, following an M.L. Carr fumble, gave the Cavs their only second-quarter lead. That seemed only to make the visitors angry, and the final six minutes belonged to the Green and White.

Maxwell, displaying more of the aggressiveness that had kayoed the Knicks on Wednesday, propelled the club with successive hooks (one righty and one lefty from a nice spinning move) that boosted a 55-51 lead to a more comfortable 59-51 margin.