Hubie Brown Not Fazed by Loss or Boston Fans

Celtics 110, Knicks 92
Game 1 1984 Eastern Conference Semifinals


When the first game of this second-round playoff series began yesterday afternoon at the Garden, King scored eight of New York's first 12, and the Knicks went on an 8-2 run for a 12-10 lead. The Celtics began double-teaming King. Bird double-pumped for two and Kevin McHale drove and was fouled by Cartwright for three. McHale scored off the break. Dennis Johnson hit from 14 feet. Parish laid one in, spun around from 14 for another and oop-slammed an alley lob. It was 27-14 in the first quarter.

It was 64-44 at halftime.

It was 110-92 at the final buzzer.

Brown stood outside his locker room. Fans in the hallway taunted him while he answered questions. "How great are you now, Hubie? The Celtics in four or five, Hubie?" There were two ways to react. "Could we get the guards to clear these people out of here?" he asked. He was asked if the Knicks were tired. "There was no fatigue," Brown said. "We can't use that as an excuse." The problem was simple, he said: "In the three games we beat them (in the regular season), they shot 45 percent or less. In the three they won, they shot 54 percent or more."

And yesterday the Celtics shot 54.4; the Knicks shot 40.4. Simple.

"During the six games we played with them, they (scored) against the press 40 percent," Brown said, noting that the Celtics scored on six of the first eight plays the Knicks pressed. "And in the games we won, Parish was in foul trouble," Brown said. Parish scored 19 points and had 12 rebounds yesterday. "We have to establish (ourselves) at our offensive end of the floor," Brown said. "If we do that, Parish becomes more fatigued, and he can get into foul trouble. If we have no offensive production (Cartwright and Webster combined to make 4 of 14), Parish has no fatigue or foul trouble to worry about, and if they are on a roll, he plays well."

Even his players talk like that.

"We have to make our double-team before they make their move," explained Knicks guard Rory Sparrow. "If we don't get a guard to take a shot a foot or 2 feet from his spot, then he's either going to make the shot or get fouled. We can't let them post up to their spot." Everything is logical in New York. The radical of the sidelines becomes Mr. Spock in the locker room. But the feeling here is that if the Knicks are blown out of Game 2 Wednesday night the way they were yesterday, the coach is going to start acting like it's mating time on the planet Vulcan, and he will begin reacting to problems in the first way, the worst way. "What we have here is that we had a bad game and they played well," Brown said. "So you give them credit."