Nets Beat Celtics

1983-84 Boston Celtics
Nets 101, Celtics 97
Record 52-18
March 24, 1984

It began quietly as the Celtics and their sold-out Boston Garden crowd were coming back into the game. Darryl Dawkins open baseliners. Dawkins two- hand jam. Dawkins fallaway jumpers. "Nothing but net," said Celtic center Kevin McHale. Nothing could stop Dawkins. Certainly not Robert Parish, who missed Boston's 101-97 loss last night because of the ankle he sprained stepping on Bill Cartwright Thursday. "We'd push (Dawkins) in the middle and he would hit that little sky hook," said McHale, who had 21 points and 10 rebounds. "We'd push him outside, and he would hit that fallaway."

"Fallaway jumpers, you like to see him shoot those," said Celtics coach K.C. Jones. "And they went in." And Dawkins (13 of 17, 33 points) scored New Jersey's final 15 in the last 7:03. And the Celtics lost the eighth of nine games in which they've scored fewer than 100. But, the point was, they could have won in the second quarter. The Celtics had built a 40-37 lead into 54-41 with 4:01 left in the half. Dennis Johnson (20) scored six straight to begin the rally. The Celtics killed it with turnovers and only four points the rest of the half, which ended 58-48.

"We had a 10-point lead, and we should have been up by a minimum of 17 points," Jones said. "We didn't convert fast breaks." They didn't deal with it in the third quarter, which New Jersey opened with six straight points. Gerald Henderson hit a quick layup from an inbound pass underneath, and DJ nailed a 20-footer that Michael Ray Richardson begged him to take, but the Nets were now matching the Celtics bucket for bucket. And when Buck Williams turned a 2- on-1 break into a 2-on-2, diving-from-behind stuff of a Larry Bird lay-in, the Nets were ready to take control.

Kelvin Ransey hit three straight to help New Jersey to a 13-2 run and its first lead, 75-67. The fun began five minutes into the final quarter. Net forward Albert King was cruising downcourt, turning the corner past the chasing Bird and McHale, driving for the layup to add to New Jersey's 84-77 lead. Whoops - waiting underneath was guard Scott Wedman, who slapped the chippie away. No matter. Otis Birdsong recovered, drove - and was blocked by DJ. This time Johnson recovered. Bird joined him downcourt for a 2-on-1 that ended with DJ's lay-in. Nets coach Stan Albeck then ended the crowd's cheers with a time out.

They were back on their feet after King turned it over on New Jersey's next possession. Here was Greg Kite, offensive rebounding as he was coming down, setting, and hooking over Dawkins. The lefthander hit glass and net, nothing more, and the Celtics trailed, 84-81, at 8:23. But the magic number was 7:03. Dawkins alone on the baseline. Swish. DJ knocked in an 8-footer while he was coming down and added a free throw. The Celtics sandwiched misses around Ransey and Richardson travels. Dawkins ended 1:55 of non-scoring with a two-handed, all-alone slam. A half-minute later, he nailed a fallaway 13-footer, and it was 92-86 at 3:56.

Bird (33 points, 13 rebounds), the league's No. 1 foul shooter (.886 coming in), was 7 of 10 from the line for all of Boston's points until the final minute. Meanwhile, Dawkins was throwing in fallaway 13- and 18-footers (the latter a 3-point play when McHale fouled him), and it was still 99-93 at 1:01. Instead, Henderson, who had left the game in the third quarter with a turned right ankle, banked from 6 feet to make it 99-95. After Henderson and Bird (who came in late) forced Ransey to travel with 40 seconds left, Bird drove baseline for a lay-in at :23 to make it 99-97. Unfortunately for Boston, it was seconds too late, because New Jersey could run out the clock without having to shoot.