Celtics Resume Season Against Bulls

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Record 34-9
January 31, 1984
CHICAGO

The All-Star cease-fire is history and the Celtics resume their championship quest with what promises to be a mundane game against the Chicago Bulls tonight. The Celtics have won five in a row and are 25-4 since Nov. 22. They are 10-1 in January and their 34-9 slate gives them a five-game lead over the Philadelphia 76ers. "We just want to maintain now," says coach K. C. Jones, who improved his All-Star record to 2-0 Sunday. "We still haven't had our West Coast trip and that worries me. We can't afford any kind of a letdown."

Jones, coaches Jimmy Rodgers and Chris Ford, All-Stars Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, and player reps Quinn Buckner and M.L. Carr all flew from Denver to Chicago early yesterday. They joined the rest of the team for an afternoon practice at Angel Guardian Academy. The Celtics are 2-0 against Chicago this season. The Bulls have lost two in a row (four straight at home), and are 4-10 since they won seven straight in December. Chicago's 16-24 record ranks ninth in the conference. Eight will make the playoffs.

MISC

The Celtics defeated Chicago, 116-101, on Nov. 19, and 118-105 on Dec. 6. Both games were in Chicago Stadium. The Bulls won't make their long-awaited 1983-84 debut in Boston Garden until April 8 (Chicago plays in Hartford March 2.).

Old-timer Johnny Kerr on Red Auerbach's post-game tirade Saturday: "It was inane. I wouldn't think they'd invite him back after that." . . . Beware of a Celtic letdown. Reader Mike Dynon of Warwick, R.I., has discovered that the Celtics are 6-6 after regular season victories against Philadelphia since the start of the 1979-80 season . . . The Celtics are 18-2 against the Central Division. The losses were opening night in Detroit and the Sunday afternoon CBS massacre in Milwaukee . . . Parish has been Boston's leading rebounder in 30 of 43 games. The Celtics own a 50-rebound advantage in their last five games . . . Dennis Johnson has hit only 35 percent of his shots (17-49) in his last four games . . . Danny Ainge has played 76 consecutive minutes without committing a turnover . . . Scott Wedman hasn't played in two of the last three games . . . The Celtics have three straight home games after tonight. The Kings will be in town tomorrow night, followed by Indiana Friday and Detroit Sunday afternoon.