Sixers-Celtics: It's Why You Purchase the Season Ticket

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Sixers 121-Celtics 114 (OT)
Record: 13-6
12/6/1983

The Celtics vs. the 76ers: It's why you purchase the season ticket. It is, as Oscar Hammerstein told us in "All the Things You Are," the promised kiss of springtime that makes the lonely winter seem long.The Celtics vs. the 76ers is unquestionably professional basketball's best showcase. Whatever else Sunday night's Boston-Philadelphia confrontation was not, it most assuredly was not dull. Many of the participants do not understand that the event is bigger than they are, that their intensity during the course of the evening is the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The prophets?

The fans and the media, of course, although more the fans than the media. It is perhaps a telling commentary on the league that people in Boston and Philadelphia do place so much emphasis on these particular confrontations. What takes place when these two meet is so far removed in spirit from the average NBA encounter as to defy comparison. Players inherently sense the expectation level of the fans and react to it. The home team dares not relax; to do so would be almost unethical. That's the general picture. The specifics of Sunday's 121-114 76er overtime triumph were the food for a year's worth of thought. This was a very painful loss

Now, only the uninitiated would worry about the Celtics' losing a 15-point second-quarter lead. That's life in the NBA. It's all in the how, not the why. The 76ers were able to chip away with the likes of Franklin Edwards, Sedale Threatt, Clemons Johnson and Sam Williams on the floor. That's a bad sign for Boston. The 76ers were able to win despite shooting 42 percent from the floor in the first half. And they were able to win despite receiving average offensive performances from Moses Malone (29, but a quiet 29, I'm tellin' ya'), Julius Erving and the evil, nefarious, insidious but endlessly fascinating Andrew (the "Boston Strangler") Toney.

Speaking of Toney, the primary question on the lips of all astute Celtics' backers following that game was, "Where was Dennis Johnson with the game on the line?" K. C. Jones substituted Danny Ainge for DJ with 5:47 left in the third period (63-63), and the mentor chose to leave Johnson on the bench for the remainder of regulation time. When Philadelphia called time out with 26 seconds left in regulation (98-95, Boston), the situation cried for Johnson to replace somebody in order to guard Toney, the 76ers' prime we've-gotta-have-a-basket threat, three-point or otherwise.

This is not second-guessing. This is logic, and the only conceivable excuse not to play DJ was injury. Since K. C. then put Johnson on the floor to start the overtime, we can rule out that possibility. The normally affable K. C. did not react too gracefully to the quite tentative postgame inquiries made on the subject. He spoke of the good job being done by Gerry Henderson and Ainge at the time, and he clearly discouraged further discussion on the matter. I have no idea what this all means, but I do know that if a coach whose middle name as a player was Defense selects Danny Ainge to guard Andrew Toney during the biggest possession of the game, then the world is even a more curious place than I had previously believed.

But the Celtics didn't lose the game solely because Andrew Toney threw in a big three-pointer, or even because The Doctor made a fabulous jump shot in the clutch. The Celtics lost - or should I say the 76ers won - because the defending champions were a far more tenacious team defensively in the second half, as well as during the overtime. The Sixers displayed superior mental toughness, acting as if they somehow knew they would win if they just kept applying defensive pressure. The 76ers should consider Sunday's victory as a vindication of their status. And Celtics' fans should be concerned (as opposed to panic stricken) because, if their heroes don't play the Sixers with a little more spunk in their own building, the rivalry as we know it will begin to diminish.

There is little enough to sustain the true fan; losing the magic of a 76ers game would be devastating.