Larry v. Magic: Game 12 (part 14)

1984 NBA Finals Game 5

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

CELTICS' TURNABOUT TOOK BETTER THAN FAIR PLAY

The 1984 NBA championship series has been completely turned around. Whether that change isunalterable is now up to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Remember what this entire exercise is. It's a seven-game series for the bragging rights to the entire basketball world - Soviet Union, Italy, Yugoslavia and People's Republic of China included. There is a distinct connotation to the word "series." It has to do with the ongoing flow of events, and the adaptation of the principals to those events. The reason the Celtics are leading this series, three games to two, is that they have made their adjustments and the Lakers have not. There is also the fact that Larry Bird can only wear one uniform at a time, but we'll get to that in a moment.

Remember the Lakers' fast break? The Celtics do. They respect it so much they were determined to find ways to stop it. In Sunday's Game 3, the Lakers ran the Celtics for a whopping 58 fast-break points, successfully completing 28 of 32 fast-break attempts. The final score was 137-104, LA, and the Celtics were deeply embarrassed.

In the past two games, the Lakers have run for 43 fast-break points. But 25 of those were in the first half of Game 4. In fact, 17 were in the first quarter. Thus, the Lakers have scored but 26 fast-break points in the last 77 minutes of play, after scoring 75 in the preceding 72. This cannot be an accident, nor does it signal a change in the Los Angeles offensive philosophy.

It means the Celtics have found the keys to neutralizing Los Angeles' preferred method of attack.

The first improvement has been Boston's own offense. In Games 1 through 3, the Lakers were burning the Celtics with fast breaks out of Boston misses far more than from forcing turnovers. LA was not extending its defense; rather, it was packing five men inside the foul lane, daring the Celtics to force the ball inside to the likes of Robert Parish, Larry Bird or Kevin McHale into the teeth of the defense, or challenging the guards to take available outside shots.

In the beginning, the Celtics were continually indecisive. Starting on Wednesday, however, they began to see things more clearly. Perhaps they viewed the tape of Scott Wedman's winning overtime basket in Game 2 and realized that it had emanated from crisp, around-the-horn passing. Bird looked at a shot on the right wing, faked and passed to Gerald Henderson at the top of the key. He, in turn, looked for a shot, faked and passed to Wedman on the left baseline. Wedman knew exactly what to do. He drilled a 13-footer.

In Game 4, the Celtics emulated this approach. They made the extra pass and sometimes the extra pass after that. The Lakers found that instead of chasing one man they were chasing two, or even three. Dennis Johnson and Henderson shot with confidence, especially in the second half. Of equal importance was the fact that the men inside knew what was going on. They were more alert to offensive rebounds, since they had a clear idea of the time and location of their guards' shots. The Boston total of 27 offensive rebounds was due more to anticipation and hustle on the part of Bird, Parish and McHale than to any alleged thug tactics; you can take that to any financial institution you choose.

On Friday night, the Celtics broadened their game. First Quinn Buckner and then Johnson faked passes inside to posting-up big men, faked jumpers and drove down spacious boulevards for baskets. This gave the Lakers a new worry.

A lot was made of Boston winning Game 4 despite shooting 43 percent from the floor. The 27 offensive rebounds, good for 32 points on second shots, made up for the poor percentage. In Game 5, the Celtics didn't need as many offensive rebounds. With Bird shooting 15 for 20 (an act of nature nobody can take credit for) and with the Celtics again demonstrating excellent shot selection, they shot 52 percent from the floor.

By putting the ball in the basket, by having better defensive floor balance as a result of their more intelligent offensive approach and by simply making a point of getting back better on defense, the Celtics have prevented the Lakers from fast breaking.

And what has been the Lakers' response to this newly diversified Boston offensive approach?

Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

Score one for K.C. Jones and his coaching staff, and score one for the inherent basketball savvy of the Celtics, who realized that when engaged in a seven-game series, it helps to be flexible mentally as well as physically.

"We're adjusting more to their offense, and also to their defense," claims Cedric Maxwell, who has emerged as the Celtic with the most bravado in this series. "It took us time to get used to their rhythm of playing, because we didn't have to play a team with that style in over two months."

It's a simple case of a smart team learning what it would take to defeat a physically gifted team that depends inordinately on one facet of the game. The Lakers are capable of playing halfcourt basketball, but their self-image is that of a Ferrari, not a two-door sedan. They don't like having to play halfcourt basketball all the time.

The next Lakers' problem in this series is their entire mental state. They must believe the series should have been over in four games. There but for the Henderson steal of James Worthy's pass goes Game 2. There but for Parish's great three-point play, Magic Johnson's bad pass and two missed free throws and Worthy's missed foul shot goes Game 4. The Lakers arrived in Boston upset with themselves about the very fact there was a Game 5.

"Our close-game highlights have been positive," suggests Maxwell, "while theirs have been negative. They're in a position where they have to think What's happening?' I was listening to the radio in LA the morning after the third game and a guy was saying that The Fat Lady isn't singing yet, but she's warming up.' Well, she'd better be resting her vocal cords."

The shattered Lakers' psyche was surely not prepared for the conditions under which the fifth game was played. They arrived late Thursday afternoon at Logan Airport to play the game they believed should not even have been necessary, and what did they find? They found stifling heat (temperatures like Phoenix, with accompanying humidity). They found traffic equivalent to Thanksgiving weekend. It was like a scene from "The Year of Living Dangerously."

The Lakers found police preventing their bus from parking in front of the terminal. They piled into cabs instead, and it's fair to speculate that the seeds for 37-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 7-for-25 effort in Game 5 were planted when he stuffed his 87 inches into the back seat of a Boston cab. They couldn't have found more hostile conditions if they had landed in the middle of a Moscow heat wave.

Then came Friday night, and for that you are referred to Leigh Montville's Saturday column. It's all there.

We are also being told by the Celtics that they have banded together to answer the critics, specifically the members of the press who, they feel, had vilified them earlier in the series. Well, that's fine, if that's the crutch they needed.

The record only shows that Parish, Target A, and Dennis Johnson, Target B, have each played superb games in their last two outings. Robert has battled Kareem gamely, and he was never more noble in a Celtics' uniform than he was on Friday night, when he withstood the heat and debilitating leg cramps to outplay Kareem in that crucial game.

As for DJ, who was really only slapped on the wrist following his 14- minute washout in Game 3, his play in the past two games, wherein he has been a two-way player of the first magnitude, adds luster to his reputation as a noted money player. Bostonians were assured that the best of DJ would surface in the playoffs. Unlike Rick Blaine, who went to Casablanca "for the waters," Bostonians were not misinformed.

Finally, there is the omnipresence of one Larry Bird. Is he better than Magic? Who really cares? He is, unarguably, a treasure. What he did in the Cairo-like swelter of the Boston Garden on Friday night may not be fully appreciated until the series is over. Then, in the sober afterthought of postseries analysis, people may realize that Bird's was a triumph of will and heart over the forces of nature, just as much as it was a tribute to the thousands of hours spent in a lonely Indiana gym honing his skills.

The job is not yet complete. But the Celtics have already made their point. They have challenged the flashy Lakers to a complete battle of mind and muscle. In so doing they have guaranteed that the 1984 NBA champion, whatever its identity, will have a prize truly worth savoring, which is not always (or even normally) the case.

We all wanted a memorable championship series. Can anyone doubt we're getting it?