Bird a Question Mark for Game 1

NBA Eastern Conference Semis
May 1984

Larry Bird didn't participate in any of the Celtics' full-court drills yesterday, but he ran lightly on his sprained right ankle for the first time since suffering the injury in Washington Tuesday night. He hopes to play in Game 1 against the Knicks at the Garden this afternoon, but the Celtics say they won't decide until game time.

"There's almost no swelling, but his range of motion is still limited," said trainer Ray Melchiorre.

"It's significant that he was able to run," said Dr. Thomas Silva, team physician.

"We'll take another look at it tomorrow," said coach K.C. Jones. "He says it's better today."

If Bird is not able to go full speed, the Celtics might sit him out today. The second game of the series isn't until Wednesday, which would give Bird seven full days of rest. Also, the Knicks are bound to be weary today, and Boston beat New York once without Bird this year.

Less boastful than Carr and Maxwell, coach K.C. Jones said, "There are about 12 ways you can try to stop him, but then you end up looking for a 13th way. He can always pour in 10 in a row on you and then you've got to try a different approach. We'll try to double down on him to help Max when we can, but if there's a real solution to stopping him, no team has found it yet." Hubie Brown's pressure defense poses an additional problems for the Celtics. The Knicks forced the Celtics to commit 20.6 turnovers per game when the teams met this year. That was the main reason Boston lost three of four to New York in the first half of the season.

"It was difficult for us at the beginning of the year," admitted Gerald Henderson. "But I feel like we made some adjustments and worked on it, and didn't have any major problems with it in the second half of the season. If we go in and execute like we did in Washington (only 11 turnovers per game) and get our fast break going, we will win." Jones added, "We're more prepared. In the last two ballgames, I thought we did very well against (the Knicks' press)." The Celtics finished 15 games ahead of New York during the regular season, but split six games with the Knicks. How close was it? The six-game point differential was 626-625, Boston. The Celtics are a better rebounding team than the Knicks. In six regular- season games against New York, the Celtics averaged 42.7 rebounds to the Knicks' 37.7.