1988 NBA Playoffs: DJ Saves His Best for Last

5/3/1988

The Celtics have begun the playoffs by beating the Knicks twice at Boston Garden, which is the equivalent of pulling on one warm sock while dressing to climb the Himalayas. The job is really only beginning, but already they can sense championship differences in their team from last June, and even this fall.

The latest improvement is the play of Dennis Johnson, which is a popular topic among Rick Pitino, K.C. Jones, the Knicks, 14,890 Garden fans and every Celtic except Johnson himself, whose only comment yesterday was to decline comment. In these two games, DJ is 10 of 20 with 14 free throws, 6 steals, 18 assists and 7 turnovers, and he is 43 of 67 (.642) in his last eight starts.

"I think DJ in the last month has just been playing fantastic basketball," said Danny Ainge after the Celtics walked through plays for a half-hour yesterday. "I think sometimes he just gets bored. He realized this year he wasn't playing up to Dennis Johnson's standards, but he has a lot of pride. Earlier in the year, he'd be the first to admit he wasn't playing up to par."

Were his teammates worried that DJ at 33 was losing his abilities?

"To be perfectly honest, I thought Dennis didn't have the same desire he had before," Ainge said. "Looking back on it now, the way he played the last month and a half, he carried us to the home-court advantage. He's a fired-up type of leader. He's been getting us fired up to play the way he's playing. When I see him picking guys up fullcourt, that gets me fired up, that wires me up. He's really into it. His enthusiasm has shown in the locker room.

"I honestly think he's made a commitment to get his game back. He's playing as good as he ever has here. Right now, DJ's playing as good basketball as I've ever seen him play with the Celtics."

Jones agreed, saying, "It seems like he's sparking everybody else. I don't know when it started, but I just hope it stays the way it is."

When Jones was playing for Celtic champions, he was excited for every playoff game, "knowing that it was a must-win situation. I was always thinking that, and it's the same with Dennis." But Jones doubted that DJ pushed himself to win another championship with the idea that he was approaching the end of his career.

"You'll have to ask him about that," Jones said. "When I was playing, I was always right here. I didn't think about this being my last year. It's hard to think that way, because it's not your last year until you don't show up for training camp the following year."

If Johnson is to be praised for his timely play, so too is center Robert Parish, 34, who also seemed to improve with the playoffs approaching. The Celtics were 23-4 when he had double-figure rebounds, and 11-1 when he scored 20 or more points.

"It's hard to say," said Ainge in comparing DJ with Parish. "I don't know what's going on inside their heads, but they're playing great right now and they have for the last month. It was like, March came around, it was time to get going and they just played fantastic."

Ainge watched the Green Team play a pickup game as he talked. Five of the six players on the floor were not with Boston last year, and the scrimmage didn't include Jim Paxson. No Celtics team has undergone as much turnover in Jones' five years coaching. Their best new friend in this series has been 6-foot-11-inch Mark Acres, who is quick and aggressive enough to stay with Bill Cartwright and Patrick Ewing.

"I saw a couple of their playoff rounds on TV last year while I was over in Europe," Acres said of the Celtics. "We're a lot healthier than they were last year. Kevin was hobbling, Bill Walton could hardly move and Robert had his ankle all messed up."

"We're a lot more confident in our team this year," Ainge said. "When you're playing well and you're healthy, it's just so much fun to play. When you're injured, it takes out the fun.

"Right now, we're the best team in basketball."

There is still the matter of a team in Los Angeles that has beaten Boston in 8 of their last 10 meetings, but the Celtics can't get to that for another month at least. Tomorrow night in New York, they've got to try to pull on the other sock.