1990-91 Celts Playing Better at Home than in 1985-86

1990-91 Boston Celtics

Step into the slaughterhouse, boys.

Tonight it's the Dallas Mavericks' turn. They are hurting (no Roy Tarpley, Fat Lever or Herb Williams), they are 4-12 on the road and they are confronting one of the hottest home teams in the league.

Dallas has never won in Boston. Don't expect that to change tonight. The way things are going these days, if the Mavs can keep it within 20, it'll be something to tell their grandchildren.

The 1990-91 Celtics are zealously guarding their home court, once again turning Boston Garden into sacrosanct turf where visitors are routinely garroted and left for dead. The Celtics have won 15 straight at home since their only lapse, a 120-100 slipup against Chicago on Nov. 9.

Their 16-1 home mark is among the best in the league and it isn't just the victories themselves that are impressive. It's the lopsided nature of them which has turned this year's club into one of the most dominating home teams of the Larry Bird era.

Bird himself isn't about to compare this year's team to the vaunted 1985-86 unit, which went an unthinkable 40-1 at home.

"You'll never see a team like that," he said. "We never even had to play the fourth quarter. All we'd do is come out after halftime and finish them off and that would be it."

That may be true. But this year's team, in only 17 home games, has a greater winning margin. It also has yet to be severely tested at home. The 1985-86 team, for instance, had seven games in which the winning margin was 5 points or fewer, including three of the first five. This year's team has none.