Blue-Collar Basketball Prevails

1984 NBA Finals

It was a victory for blue-collar basketball. Nothing secret or pretty about the Celtics' 111-102 victory over the Lakers in the seventh and deciding game of the NBA championship series Tuesday night in hot, rocking Boston Garden. The Clydesdales trampled the thoroughbreds.

The Celtics did it the only way they could. They kept banging the boards, getting second shots, getting fouled, making their foul shots, slowing the pace to a half-court game in which their superior beef up front could wear down the slimmer, sleeker Lakers.

Muscle over finesse, superior teamwork over a team with greater individual talent. Compared to the Lakers, the Celtics are relatively faceless except for Larry Bird. So what? Playing their game, forcing the Lakers to play their game, they are superior.

And so the Celtics rule the NBA again, for the 15th time. All's right with the world. Red Auerbach, the retiring patriarch of the most successful franchise (on a percentage basis) in professional sports, got to light his last, and one of his sweetest, victory cigars.

Another green-and-white flag will hang from those archaic rafters. The tradition and mystique continues. Celtic pride. It's a cliche, but damn it, it's special. It's special because the organization believes in it. Like the old dynastic Yankees, a player immediately gets better when he puts on the uniform.

And Boston is going crazy. At Fenway Park Monday night, as the Red Sox were rallying for a ninth-inning victory over the Yankees, a chant went up in the stands -- "Beat L.A.!"

At a Red Sox-Yankee game, the crowd is screaming for basketball? It boggles the mind, if you know this town. Today, Boston is all kelly green.

The crowd in Boston Garden Tuesday night was mad, insane. "The crowd wouldn't let us down," Celtic forward Kevin McHale said. "They will be partying in the streets tonight. In fact, I've got to go party now."

Give the Lakers crakers credit. They trailed almost all the game, and fell behind by 13 at the end of the third quarter after the Celtics had gone on an 18-6 tear. Playing in a snakepit, they easily could have folded, but they climbed back within three with possession and a minute to play.

But then Magic Johnson made his second consecutive turnover (a great defensive play by teammate Michael Cooper saved him on the first one), and Celtic Dennis Johnson took it the other way and made two crucial free throws.

It's going to be a long off-season for Magic. Critical mistakes at the end of regulation cost the Lakers a chance at victory in two games the Celtics went on to win in overtime. Now this. And he was well checked by D.J. over the last 2 1/2 games. In the finale, Magic made only five of 14 shots.

But he hardly cost L.A. the game. The game was lost on the boards and the foul line. The Celtics outrebounded the Lakers, 52-33 -- 20-9 on the offensive board. In their effort to go up with the jolly green giants, the Lakers fouled . . . and fouled . . . and fouled. The Lakers made 18 of 28 from the line, the Celtics 43 of 51. That's -- ouch -- a 25-point spread. That's the ballgame.

Celtic forward Cedric Maxwell made 14 of 17 foul shots en route to a team-high 24 points.

"We got a great game from Max," McHale said. "He said, 'Hop on my back and I'll lead you.' "

Some more astounding numbers. The Celtics were shooting only 44.9 percent to the Lakers' 51.9 coming into the finale. The Celtics shot an anemic 39.5 Tuesday to the Lakers' 48.8 -- and won by nine.

But enough numbers. Let's talk about the flesh and blood and heat and noise of the biggest pro basketball game in a lot of years. It was fitting it was played in the NBA's mecca, antiquated and overheated as it was. Old arenas, like old ball parks, have character. There's history in those musty corners, rickety girders. They're built straight up and down, not out, so everyone hangs over the court. The noise isn't diffused, but it rattles and reverberates and echoes until the eardrums ache.

It's hard to say how much the building and crowd meant to the Celtics. But they finished 12-1 at home in the playoffs against 3-7 on the road.

Larry Bird, unanimous series MVP, said, "It hasn't sunk in yet, but this is a great feeling. We lucked out in the first two games we won (the two overtimes). It's very tough to win on the other team's court. Gerald's steal in Game Two definitely was the big play of the series. If he didn't make it, we would have been down, 2-0, and it would have been very tough to come back on their court.

"We knew we had an advantage on the offensive boards. That's one place where I have the edge on Cooper, and Robert (Parish) is a little quicker than Kareem. We really worked hard on both boards, and it showed."

Hard work. The two words that sum up perfectly how and why the Celtics won this series. Hard, dirty, sweaty work. Hit the boards. Bang. Hit and bang some more.

K.C. Jones, a winner in his first season as Celtic coach, spoke of the togetherness that marked -- has always marked -- the shamrocks.

"These guys, from Larry on down to Carlos (Clark, the 12th man), have the ability to stick together and play hard. Larry is the leader; Robert is the backbone; DJ and Gerald (Henderson) are a great backcourt. The trade to get Dennis was one helluva trade. M.L. Carr off the bench is the guy who inspires the rest of the team, whether he plays two minutes or 20. Everyone contributes."

Laker Coach Pat Riley was all class in defeat.

"It wasn't meant to be," he said, tears glistening in his eyes. "Their strength is size and power inside. That was the difference. They are a great rebounding team, and it's not by chance. They pursue every ball. It's the American free-enterprise system on the boards, and that's their strength."

Riley had dreamed of being the first team to beat the Celtics in a seventh game. He dreamed of denying the ghosts, of defying the tradition, of deflating the mystique.

He failed.

"We just didn't get it done," he said. "But it was a classic series, one I'll always remember."