Celtics Improve to 43-15
1981-82 Boston Celtics
Aw, you're never gonna believe this, but . . .
What if someone told you that the Celtics won their third straight non-Bird game on the road; that in winning by a 100-98 score over the Houston Rockets they had done it despite being down by four without the ball and 1:42 left on the clock? You'd be impressed, huh?
Well, what if someone also told you that the go-ahead three-point play with 35 seconds remaining had been contributed by Eric Fernsten; that the Celtics had not only won without Larry Bird and Tiny Archibald but they also had also done it despite losing both Robert Parish and Rick Robey on fouls? Wouldn't you be impressed? You'd better be, because it happened. The Celtics swept Texas without Larry and Tiny, and they did it by using everyone on the roster during the three games.
As if playing on the road against a hot ball club without the services of Bird and Archibald wasn't a big enough handicap, the Celtics quickly found out how cruel basketball life can be when Earl Strom and Jim Capers whistled three members of their frontcourt to the bench for long portions of a half that ended with the teams deadlocked at 50 apiece.
By halftime, Parish had four personals, while both Kevin McHale and Robey, McHale's replacement, had three. And there was reason to doubt that either Parish or McHale deserved his fate, especially since Malone, a notorious inside ox, was, as usual, in no difficulty at all.
The Celtics again enjoyed some fine Life Without Larry moments, most of them coming in the first quarter, when they went ahead by as many as six points (31-25) before being forced to settle for a 31-27 one-quarter edge when pesky Allan Leavell hit a corner jumper with three seconds to play.
The Celts had displayed some excellent teamwork in the first period, most notably on one spectacular fast break that featured three consecutive slap passes. Gerry Henderson avoided a Leavell steal attempt at midcourt with Slap I to Carr, who sent Slap II on the right to Maxwell, who redirected Slap III to Parish for an authoritative stuff.
Houston had ridden the early outside sniping of Malone (17 in the half) to an early 10-6 lead, but Boston stayed calm and finally took the lead at 23-22 on a Henderson stop-and-popper from the lane wih 3:26 remaining. Boston kept playing well in the next two and a half minutes, taking the six-point lead on a Parish follow-up basket with 1:03 left.
The second period was essentially a holding action against the inevitable. McHale, who had started out with a quick-and-easy nine points against Elvin Hayes, was already siting down, having picked up three fouls in the span of 1:14 from 5:01 to 3:47. Robey got his third, a dubious offensive foul called by Strom, at the 8:51 mark (38-31, Boston, a high-water mark), while Parish's fourth, at 5:56, was simply a mistake Capers would be embarrassed to watch on the replay. Malone turned and banged into a stationary Parish before falling back for a jumper that went in the basket. Capers gave him the hoop, and the foul sent Parish to the bench with the Boston lead down to one at 39-38.
The Celtics sputtered badly offensively in period two. Danny Ainge went 0- for-4 (all makeable open jumpers), and there was nowhere to turn with Parish also out and McHale playing tentatively.
A fast-break drive by Mike Dunleavy gave the Rockets their first second- period lead with 11 seconds to go, but Carr picked up a foul on a drive with five seconds to play, and by hitting one of two he tied the score.
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