Nique v. Bird: 4th Quarter Blow-By Blow

5/23/1988

According to Reggie Lewis, "we were sitting on the bench and saying it was like The Shootout At The Old Corral."

Keeping with the western story line, Kevin McHale said, "It was like having two gunfighters. Who was gonna get dropped first?"

The answer was Dominique Wilkins. But before Larry Bird emerged as the king of this particular corral he had to do some pretty fancy shooting to overcome what Wilkins was doing.

Bird scored 20 in the fourth period. Wilkins scored 16. But a few of Wilkins' hoops had that it-shoulda-counted-as-two flair. And there was one stretch when the two were virtually in their own little world.

Here is how it went:

10:03 -- Bird gets pick from Parish. Pops out to foul line for a jumper. 88-86, Boston.

9:26 -- Bird a patented rainbow swisher from 21 out on the right. 90-88, Boston.

8:56 -- Bird perambulates from right to left out of the right corner. The whistle blows, signifying contact. He throws up a lefthanded banker high off the glass, just for the hell of it. The ball goes in and he's got a three-point play. 93-90, Boston.

8:39 -- Wilkins says, "Oh, yeah?" Dominique swishes a flat-footed, Bird-like one-hand set for a three-pointer from the left wing. 93-93.

8:20 -- Bird jumper from the left in and out for his only miss of the period.

8:05 -- Bird completes transition with corner jumper. 95-93.

Move it up to 99-97, Boston.

5:57 -- Wilkins hits deep left corner jumper. 99-99.

5:42 -- Bird sinks lefthanded jumper in the lane. 101-99.

5:25 -- Wilkins puts stutter-step move on McHale and hits jumper from 18. 101-101.

5:06 -- Bird hits 17-footer from the left. 103-101.

4:38 -- Wilkins banks one in high from the right. 103-103.

3:34 -- Bird hits in heavy traffic in the lane. 107-105.

1:43 -- Bird sticks three-pointer into Wilkins face directly in front of Atlanta bench. 112-105.

1:31 -- Wilkins hits turnaround in the lane. 112-107.

0:26 -- Bird goes hard to hoop for lefty 1-on-1 drive. 114-109.

0:20 -- Wilkins tries to dunk over pack, misses, gets own rebound and lays it in. 114-111.

0:01 -- Wilkins makes first of two free throws. Intentionally misses second. 118-116.