1984 Was a Little Sweeter than 1983

What a difference a year made for the Boston Celtics.

In 1983 the Celtics were overshadowed by the archrival Philadelphia 76ers and humbled in four playoff games by the Milwaukee Bucks. A year later, Boston is the National Basketball Association champion for the 15th time, with a 111-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last night. Boston now owns seven more titles than any other franchise.

"You know the sweetest thing to winning the title?" asked center Robert Parish. "It's all next year, hearing them announce, O'Here come the world

champion Celtics.'

"That's like having someone say O'mister' every time he mentions your name. It's a sign of respect."

That respect last came for the Celtics in 1981, the second year of what ultimately will be known as the Larry Bird Era for pro basketball's most successful team.

Bird, an all-NBA first-team performer in each of his five years in Boston, again led the way as the Celtics roared to a 62-20 regular-season record, best in the league.

He was in the NBA's top 10 in both scoring (24.2 points per game) and rebounds (10.1) and led the league's forwards in assists.

And perhaps most important, Bird was an inspiration to his teammates, diving for loose balls, rebounding, passing, scoring, running hard. What else could they do but work hard when they saw him playing like someone struggling to save his job.

Despite the Celtics' fine record, 1983-84 was a season of adjustments, including a new coach in K.C. Jones and a new starting guard in Dennis Johnson.

In addition, potential trouble with contracts was avoided.

"These players operated under trying conditions," said Jones, who replaced Bill Fitch before the season started. "They were coming off a bad playoff last year. But they set goals -making me the all-star coach, having the best record, reaching the finals -and they accomplished them all.

"There were some ups and downs but everyone stuck together."

Johnson, a former All-Star at Seattle and Phoenix who had a reputation for giving gray hair to coaches, was acquired from the Suns for backup center Rick Robey. His statistics were modest -- 13.2 points and 4.2 assists per game -- but he played tough defense and solidified a relatively weak backcourt.

"D.J. was a very important addition to the team," Jones said. "He gave us a strong personality defensively, gave us some offense and rebounding from the guard position and most of all gave us direction in the backcourt."

Also before the season, the Celtics signed Bird to a seven-year, $15 million contract and then won a battle with the New York Knicks for free agent Kevin McHale, who went on to be voted the NBA's best sixth man.

Finally, Parish, who sat out four pre-season games while sulking over the salaries of Bird and McHale, was brought into the fold.

So with the loose ends connected, even a change in team ownership did not cause any problems.