Eastern Conference Semifinals
1981-82 Boston Celtics
What Frank Johnson did was simply supply the exclamation point that would guarantee Celtics' nightmares, that would change the basic tossin' and turnin' following a tough loss into a pace-the-floor routine. The truth is that even had Johnson's 28-foot, 29-foot, who-knows-how-long three-pointer with three seconds left not swished, and the Celtics had survived, they had already played a losing-type game.
And so while the 15,320 in attendance at the Garden will long remember Johnson's bazooka that gave the Bullets a 103-102 surprise triumph over the Celtics last night, what Bill Fitch will remember even longer was the third quarter. The third quarter was a true Celtics' disgrace.
The third quarter is when the Bullets, who started the second half trailing by a 51-44 score (this after zooming to a 10-0 start), emerged with a 77-74 lead despite shooting 40 percent (13 for 32).
The Bullets moved ahead because they had fought, scrapped and occasionally even lucked into 12 offensive rebounds, which they turned into an astounding 20 points on second shots. Digest that, if you please. The Bullets missed 19 shots in 12 minutes and outscored the Celtics by 10 points.
"I could rip a board apart right now," said Bill Fitch. "No one can tell me you've got your head in the ballgame if you let people rebound like that."
Robert Parish went right to the heart of the matter. "They wanted it more," said the Celtics center. "They outhustled us. They played with more authority. They did to us what we usually do to other people."
All right, but the Celtics still had an excellent chance to pull out this game, however undeserving they were. They led by as many as six (90-84) in the fourth quarter (5:16 left), as an M. L. Carr banker capped a run of eight straight points, the highlight being a Tiny Archibald South Bronx-On-A-Windy Day pump banker in the lane to make it 88-84.
But the Bullets, who failed to score a field goal from a Johnson 20-footer at 4:26 (91-90) until the game-winner with three seconds to play, survived because referees Jack Madden and Ed Middleton were insistent that the vistors get to the foul line. The Bullets scored 10 points on free throws, including an extra one granted Spencer Haywood when Madden spied a lane infraction on a Celtic.
Calls were crucial down the stretch. Neither coach seemed to like anything whistled or - in the case of an apparent loose ball foul committed by Larry Bird on a missed Parish free throw with 33 seconds left - not whistled. Parish, fouled in the act of shooting, made his first attempt, but missed the second. Bird went over Jeff Ruland, and the ball went out of bounds and was awarded to Boston by Middleton.
Now it was Madden's turn, and when Bird missed a jumper (he finished 0 for 5 after starting off 12 for 15), Parish was called by Madden for a concurrent offensive foul while setting a pick, thus returning the ball to the Bullets, trailing, 102-100.
The question was whether to go for three or two. There was no question who would get the ball, for Johnson, the quick Wake Forest rookie with enormous chutzpah, had already scored 10 fourth-period points on shots of all descriptions. Gene Shue wanted three, if possible.
"Our team played great," said Shue. "We haven't beaten the Celtics all year. We had a chance to win it in their place, and we had to take it. We can't keep saying to our players, We can do it,' and not do it."
Fitch, meanwhile, inserted Danny Ainge, who hadn't played all game, to guard Johnson. The ball went into Johnson. "I was supposed to force him left," recalled Ainge. Up stepped Ruland, and that was the end of Ainge.
As Johnson advanced to his right toward the circle, Ricky Mahorn came up to pick a helping-out Parish. Now Johnson was clear and his high arc beauty sailed through the cords. "If he didn't have the three," said Shue, "then he was supposed to go for two."
Johnson didn't need an option. Carr's bid to alter the outcome hit the back rim as the buzzer sounded.
"It was badly executed defense," said Ainge, "starting with my failure to force him left." But it was still a 28-foot jump shot, remember. Johnson threw in a tremendous shot.
For the Bullets, who had ridden off a first-half Boston storm, and who trailed by 10 (60-50) in that bizarre third quarter, it was a well-earned triumph.
For the Celtics, well, it was a humbling. If the name Allen Leavell means anything to you, then you know they've been here before. But let's just say that the Celtics will not soon forget Frank Johnson. Or, presumably, all those horrible offensive rebounds. Oh, yes, justice was served at the Garden last night.
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