1988 NBA Playoffs: 11-Minute-Run Propels C's to Victory

April 30, 1988

This isn't piecework. You get paid off in W's only when you complete the job.

In other words, the New York Knicks accomplished nothing last night. They may have learned something, but they didn't accomplish anything other than to remind the world that the Boston Celtics have not eliminated the word "explosive" from their team vocabulary.

With 3:32 remaining in the third period of last night's playoff opener, a Bill Cartwright corner turnaround gave his team a 74-71 lead. Had the game been stopped there, the Knicks would have been ahead in every category, starting with hustle. A scant 11 minutes 20 seconds later, Rick Pitino and his coaching staff were picking through the rubble of the collapsed building. His team was down by 20 (103-83), and that's the margin it would lose by. It was Boston 112, New York 92, in the opener of this best-of-five series, and yes, folks, Rick Pitino says he's seen it all before.

"What it teaches us is that the Boston Celtics must be played for 48 minutes," said the Knicks coach. "Even at the half, when we were hanging in there (a 53-51 Boston lead), I told our team what to expect. I've seen it so many times when I was here (at Boston University). Teams play them well for three quarters and then get blown out."

There was unanimous agreement in both head coaching minds that the key man had been Dennis Johnson. DJ had his playoff face firmly affixed, coming up with 16 points, 9 assists and 4 steals. He seemed to be involved in everything as the Celtics ripped off a crowd-pleasing 32-9 spurt which changed that 3-point New York lead into the comfy 103-83 Boston advantage.

"The difference in the game," contended Pitino, "was DJ. He had two spurts which killed us. We lived in his pants for the entire game, and for him to do that in the fourth quarter was remarkable."

Seconding the motion was K.C. Jones. "Dennis ignited it for us," he said. "That turned Larry (Bird) loose. Kevin (McHale) started blocking shots, and Robert (Parish) took over the boards. The whole thing came together."

For the first 32 minutes and change, the Celtics were off balance at both ends. New York just wouldn't go away. The Knicks led by 7 (23-16) early during a first quarter in which they threw in three three-pointers. They were down by only the solitary bucket at the half, and then only because they had been too careless with the basketball (12 first-half turnovers for 16 points) against a team which exerts minimal defensive pressure. They hadn't panicked when the Celtics made a few halfhearted flurries in the third quarter (i.e., a little spurt of 8-2 which gave Boston a 68-63 lead).

It was at this juncture that New York really started to worry the smug patrons as the Knicks strung together a run of 11-3 which was capped by the Cartwright basket.

DJ started his team on the road to recovery with a get-back score off the aforementioned Cartwright bucket. He next took it to the hoop, his miss leading to a McHale tip-in, to which was attached a loose ball foul on Cartwright that sent DJ back to the line (weird, but true). That three-point play was the final go-ahead hoop, and it was followed by a 17-footer by Bird, his first routine open basket of a huff-and-puff 29-point night.

It was 82-75 after three, and the Knicks were incapable of a comeback, in large measure because of a cessation of decent shot selection. Mix in poor entry passes and the simple inability of some people to catch the basketball, and the situation quickly got out of control. Only a Johnny Newman free throw (78-75) and a Mark Jackson post-up flip (84-77) prevented a shutout over the next 7 1/2 minutes.

By far Boston's most pleasing development was the frisky play of McHale, who blocked five shots and acted more like his old defensive self than he has all season. The downside was that he was poked in the eye and had to seek the services of an optometrist following the game. Stay tuned.

When the teams peruse the game tape, they will note that the game belonged to New York for more than 2 1/2 periods, and that it was Boston which was desperately figuring out how to react to the Knicks, not vice versa. Patrick Ewing (16 points, 11 rebounds) established an immediate inside game with a strong hook on his first possession, and when the Celtics went to double up inside, New York made Boston pay with three-pointers, three of them submitted by Sedric Toney. Conversely, Boston was held to one failed three-point attempt by Danny Ainge. Speaking of which, the value of Jim Paxson was amply demonstrated when he came through with 12 points on a night when Ainge (1 for 4 and in early foul trouble) shoulda stood in bed.

The press, you say? It was in storage. Pitino never showed it until the score was 92-79, whereupon the Celtics ripped through it for a layup.

This wasn't great theater. It wasn't great basketball. It wasn't great anything. It's just a 1-0 Boston series lead, and according to Pitino, losing by 20 was better than losing by 2.

"This will help them understand what Boston is all about," he smiled.

He has only two more chances for the lesson to sink in.