Fitch and Parish Trade Shots

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Record 31-9
January 22, 1984

Ex-Celtics Coach Bill Fitch bristled when he read Robert Parish's statement, "Last year it was a dictatorship, this year it's a democracy." Fitch fired back with, "I don't like to get into personalities, but Parish needed somebody to get him up off his butt. Without some discipline to wake them up, the Celtics would have been the same team that lost 53 games two years before." Fitch was steaming again Thursday when Ralph Sampson skipped practice to fly to Chicago for a Puma footwear appearance. "It won't happen again," snapped Big Brother Bill .

MISC

This may hurt, but Elvin Hayes is closing in on John Havlicek's 1270-game record. The Big E should tie the mark in Washington Feb. 7 and break it in Philadelphia the next night . . . The other Big E, Eric Fernsten, is wowing them in New York. He is getting a fair number of minutes and blocked four shots in three games last week . . . He probably would have said no anyway, but it would have been nice if Bill Russell had been asked to participate in the Star Old-Timers' game . . . Kevin McHale claims no bad feelings toward All-Star teammate Kelly Tripucka, even though Tripucka said McHale was "not really an athlete." Said McHale, "We were on a touring team together after college.thing in the paper was no big deal."

The Celtics are 0-2 in Hartford. They've beaten Denver and Indiana at the Civic Center, but neither was a sellout and both victories were tarnished by things that wouldn't have happened if they'd played the games in Boston. As everybody knows, Larry Bird slipped on the Hartford floor in early December and missed two games with strained ligaments in his right knee. The floor was fine for Friday's game with the Pacers, but on the way home, the Celtics' bus broke down in the middle of Rte. 86. They were stranded for an hour before being rescued by a commercial bus driver who was taking 12 passengers from Baltimore to Boston. Most of the players got off at Howard Johnson's near Rte. 128 and arranged rides home. M.L. Carr and Dennis Johnson hooked up with a stranger who was on his way home from HoJo's. No one got home earlier than 2 a.m. (yesterday's practice was at 11 a.m.) and if they'd waited for the backup bus coming from Lynn, they'd have arrived home at around 5 a.m. "There you have it," said Carr. "That's the glamour life of the Boston Celtics." Added Gerald Henderson: "I'm just glad it was a bus that broke down instead of a plane."

It's a big grudge week for the world champion Philadelphia 76ers. On Tuesday, the Sixers return to New York - where they were beaten by 38 points Jan. 9. Then Dr. J & Co. will be at the Garden Wednesday night to see if they can make up for Boston's 105-104 victory in the Spectrum nine days ago. Billy Cunningham is getting great play from his backcourt. After a slow start in the assist department, Maurice Cheeks had 10, 12 and 10 in three games this week . . . World B. Free had this to say about Reggie Theus' plight in Chicago: "The Bulls miss Reggie Theus, especially with a game on the line. I have the experience to make a move on a young player, and so does Reggie. He could do the same thing for the Bulls, and I can't figure out why he's not in there for them." Free must have been even more perplexed the next night when Tom Nissalke benched him after the first two minutes of the second half against Philly. With Free on the pine, the Cavaliers went the final 19:45 without a turnover . . . Speaking of turnovers, Magic Johnson had an embarrassing triple-double against Phoenix Thursday - 14 points, 12 assists and 10 turnovers. Magic has been turning the ball over once every 9.5 minutes, which ranks him among the league's sloppiest point guards, along with Ennis Whatley (1 per 8 minutes), Alan Leavell (1 per 9.6), Ray Williams (1 per 9.8) and Larry Drew (1 per 10.9).

Rev. Jesse Jackson showed up when the Hawks' front office held a going-away party for assistant general manager Steve Funk. Jackson's entourage just happened to be passing through the Omni, but Jackson took time out to press the flesh with Armond Hill and friends. What can Jesse Jackson do about getting the Kings out of Kansas City? KC drew just over 9000 for the Lakers, then attracted only 11,478 for the Celtics Tuesday . . . Going into last night's game in New York, the Hawks were 19-4 at home, 2-16 on the road. Atlanta's Dominique Wilkins is up to 7.5 rebounds per game and scored 30 or more in four of six games recently. He's a bit hurt about not making the All- Star team and is expected to perform dramatic feats at the Slam Dunk contest Saturday. Mark Landsberger, picked up off the wire by the Hawks, is averging 20.4 rebounds per 48 minutes for Atlanta. Ex-Hawk John Drew is averaging 41.4 points per 48 minutes for the Utah Jazz.