Losing Streaks More Common than Earlier in Bird Era

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Sixers 92, Celtics 91
Record: 9-4
11/21/1983

A Celtic losing streak used to be genuine, stop-the-presses news. In 344 regular season and playoff games between October '79 and March '83, the Celtics lost as many as three straight only once. Those days are over. Celtic losing streaks aren't a Halley's Comet rarity anymore. In 42 games since March 9, the Celtics have endured two four-game losing streaks and are in the midst of a three-gamer which could get out of hand if they don't beat the Knicks in New York tomorrow night.

Obviously, there was nothing disgraceful about Boston's 92-91 defeat in Philadelphia Saturday night. The Celtics rebounded from a 16-point third quarter deficit, outscoring Philly, 24-6, in a 13-minute stretch to take an 82-80 lead late in the fourth quarter. However, Boston shouldn't take too much consolation from its second-half surge. As they did in Utah and again Friday night against the Knicks in the Garden, the Celtics dug a huge hole and couldn't climb out.

"It says a lot about our defense that we were able to come back the way we did," noted center Robert Parish. "But we've got to have that for four quarters instead of two." "When you get down 16, it's too tough to come back," added Larry Bird, whose shooting slump coincides with the Celtics' slide (19 for 57, 33 percent in the three losses). "You have to struggle so hard to get back, and it's tough to maintain that."

"A game has to be evaluated on a 48 minute basis," observed Julius Erving. "When you start talking about how well you played for a certain amount of minutes, you're searching." The Celtics are searching. After winning nine in a row, they've gone into a shooting slump (119-266, .447 percent in three games) that has created huge deficits. It'll be tough to snap out of it on the road against the Knicks. Hubie Brown's hustlers have beaten Boston four times in the last six meetings.

"I wasn't pressing as much tonight," Bird said after hitting 7 of 18 against the Sixers. "I had shots and I had to shoot 'em. I'm not worried about my shooting right now." . . . The Sixers didn't have Bobby Jones (pinched nerve in leg) . . . The Celtics outrebounded Philly, 48-43 . . . Quinn Buckner and Dennis Johnson played superb defense in the second half, but DJ hurt the cause with a wild drive to the hoop in the final minute. The Celtics trailed by one with 47 seconds left when Moses Malone rebounded Johnson's heave. Andrew Toney then buried a jumper ("That was a real Macadamia buster"- Jones), and the game was over.

MISC

Danny Ainge, rapidly becoming the invisible man, played only eight minutes and did not take a shot. It was Ainge's second shutout in three games . . . The Sixers had only three turnovers in the fist half and 10 on the night. Malone had six of Philadelphia's giveaways . . . Philly shot 12-38 (32 percent) in the second half, scoring only 32 points after intermission . . . DJ has hit 52 of 54 free throws. Meanwhile, Scott Wedman hasn't gone to the line in 13 games . . . Boston's nine-game winning streak seemed impressive at the time, but keep these thoughts in mind: Only two of the nine wins came against teams who made the playoffs last year, and after 13 games last year, the Celtics were 11-2, two games better than they are today.