Win Moves Green to 29-9
1981-82 Boston Celtics
Coach Bill Fitch hasn't changed one bit. Two and one half years and an NBA championship later, he is still such a perfectionist that he demands nothing less from his Celtics . He still bemoans that their education in the art of winning basketball is far from over.
"We have to come up with a new play," said Fitch last night after Boston had barely escaped with a 111-107 victory over the New York Knicks. "We'll call it the shovel play. It will be the one we use to bury teams when we're 16 points ahead.
"It's called the killer instinct and many times we haven't had it. Our games wind up close and we've beaten teams by 10 points that we probably should have beaten by 20, said Fitch. And last night's game was a prime example.
"But we're learning. I think we learned something tonight. And we did what we had to do when it counted and got the win. That's what counts," added Fitch.
To the 17,810 fans who assembled at Madison Square Garden, what happened must have been a revelation. The Celtics are not invincible. But they do win a lot. They saw the Celtics Jekyl-and-Hyde personality, just like their beloved Knicks. But the Celtics do not self-destruct. They win.
Yes, Boston did put on a clinic in the first half and turned Larry Bird loose in another one of his amazing displays of all-around floor generalship. Bird scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 39, hitting 18 of 24 from the field. He also had 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. He wasn't the only Celtic with a hot hand. Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Tiny Archibald were on target.
In the second half, however, Bird and Co. treated the Knick followers to an ordinary effort coupled with poor execution. It happens when this team jumps to an early big lead. The victory can only be attributed to the fact that the Celtics, ordinary or otherwise, don't panic in the clutch.
"Our team has always played with confidence," said Fitch. "How many times have you seen games decided in the last two minutes. That's where the confidence comes in. It comes from being in this situation many times before. It also comes from working on it in practice. What the Knicks did shouldn't surprise anybody. The NBA is built around teams who can come back from 22- point deficits. But it's the way you play at then end that counts. We had only one objective at the end - win the game."
No one seriously doubted that Boston would hold on and beat the Knicks last night. History is on Boston's side. There have been many last quarter muggings in Madison Square Garden. Defense and execution on offense in the final two minutes is what won it for Boston. It is a tried and tested formula.
With 3:40 remaining, the crowd broke into the magic words, "Boston (You- Know-What),", the Celtic six-point lead seemed slim. But the Celtics held off the Knicks and won with poise and style.
Give credit to the Knicks. They survived 71 percent shooting in the first half and came back to push Boston to the brink. Michael Ray Richardson (28 points) and Bill Cartwright (22) led the Knicks back, and with 1:56 left, they trailed by only two points, 105-103.
"Defense definitely brought us back into the game," said Knick forward Maurice Lucas. "We stopped letting them have so many easy shots. We stopped everybody but Bird. He had a great game and when a guy is hot like that, he's unstoppable."
Give credit to the Celtics for regrouping. While the Knicks played well in the second half, it is a bad omen to face Boston and not be perfect in the two-minute drill. For that is the time Boston in general and Larry Bird in particular love to show their championship-winning ways.
After Robert Parish pulled down a rebound with 1:13 left, Bird came down the floor and calmly sank a 17-footer, taking the starch right out of the Knicks.
With the score 107-104, Cartwright missed a free throw and Parish (19 points, 11 rebounds) picked it off the boards and just about sealed the victory.
After that, all the Knicks could do to stay alive was foul. A pair of free throws by Tiny Archibald and Bird closed the door right for good.
"We didn't want to let them back into the game," said Bird. "But it just worked out that way. I was out for a blowout.' But when I came back, I didn't feel right at first. I didn't have a good feel for the ball. That's when I missed three shots in a row. But I hit the one that I had to hit.
"What happened in the final period is that we weren't hitting. It's that simple. The shots were there. We took what the Knicks were giving us, but the ball didn't go down. But we hung together and did what had to do. It was a fortunate thing that I hit that shot at the end."
It was a fortunate thing. For Fitch's tone was a lot softer than it would have been had the Celtics lost last night.
"Tonight was a good lesson for us," he said. "We played great for three quarters. Then we got away from the things we had done that had gotten us the lead. We went to the outside shot too much. We did some other things that were uncharacteristic of this ball club. We talked about it after the game, and we'll take about it tomorrow. When we called a timeout and went to a play, we executed the way we were supposed to do. But until the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, we weren't doing that."
Alas, all is well that ends well in Celticland.
"I parked the car in the garage and forgot to lock the garage door," said Fitch. "New York came in, took the hubcaps, the hood and the fenders. But all they came out with was a jalopy."
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