Cornbread Outduels Worthy

1984 NBA Finals

About 100 years ago, after his team had humiliated and embarrassed the Boston Celtics with a 33-point thrashing in Game 3 and appeared to be en route to an easy championship (or so we so-called experts said), Los Angeles General Manager Jerry West gave an early vote to James Worthy for series MVP.

Bad move. That ticked off Celtic forward Cedric Maxwell, who was MVP of the '81 series.

"It took me six games to win my MVP," sniffed Cedric.

It was the start of a Maxwell-Worthy war, ultimately won by the man they call Cornbread but perhaps should call Conehead. There are times Maxwell does not appear to be of this solar system.

Maxwell fired the first gun when Worthy missed a crucial foul shot in the waning seconds of the Lakers' overtime giveaway of Game 4. Mad Max strolled across the lane clutching his throat a la Jack Nicholson as Worthy prepared to shoot again.

Now this did not sit well with Sweet Baby James, so he showed his irritation with a vigorous, vicious push from behind in Game 6 as Maxwell flew by on his way to a layup.

But Cornbread got the sweet last licks in Tuesday night's finale. He did a double number on Worthy, outplaying him and out-talking him. If he hadn't succeeded at the former, he would have seemed an awful fool for the latter. His jive talk -- "You can't guard me" -- would have been idiotic. Instead, it proved prophetic.

Never in doubt, insisted Maxwell.

"I was on a mission from God tonight," he said after the game in the champions' insane locker room.

A-ha. Proof of what we've long suspected. God roots for the Celtics.

Maxwell outscored Worthy, 24-21, outrebounded him, 8-4, and had eight assists to Worthy's two. Worthy had been a Celtic killer the entire series, but Maxwell neutralized him and then some. Larry Bird was the series MVP, but all the Celtics agreed that Maxwell was their main man in the seventh game. As he often has in the past, he elevated his game when it when it was most needed.

He promised he would before the game, telling his teammates "to climb aboard my back." Again, he would have embarrassed himself had he played poorly, but as they used to say about Ali, it ain't bragging if you can do it.

Maxwell kept Worthy well informed of what the evening held in store.

"I kept telling him he couldn't guard me. I said, 'James, this isn't the 2A league. This is the big time, and you have to guard me.' It kind of teed me off the

other day when he fouled me like that, but this time I figured I'd get back by being a spoiler at the other end. I just felt I could do anything I wanted to out there."

It's hard to say if Worthy was rattled, but he did shoot an air ball from the foul line. Hey, I can do that.

When it was all over, Maxwell paid tribute to Worthy and the Lakers and, in the process, lauded the Celtics.

"They may have more talent than us," Maxwell said. "They're a tremendous team and James Worthy is one of the rising superstars in the league. But we have perseverance, courage, character, poise and heart. We all got big hearts, as big as this room. How big is my heart? If I let it out of my chest right now, it'd squish everybody here."

Mad Max, 28, is a free agent and says he doesn't know if he'll remain a Celtic, although he would like to. Sounds like some heavy negotiating coming up. The Celts would be mad to let him go. They would lose board strength, a fine defender, an opportunistic scorer, and a lot of laughs.

Maxwell provided the few light moments in the otherwise taut, tense battle of the NBA giants. He did a hilarious imitation of Kurt Rambis in the shootaround Tuesday afternoon, donning horn-rimmed glasses, staggering around as if blind, then firing up a brick that missed the rim by 30 or so feet.

Maxwell guarded Magic Johnson briefly but effectively at a crucial point in a Celtic overtime victory, then insisted he would not accept that assignment again with a stirring but incomprehensible declaration: "I'm like Paul Revere. No taxation without representation. "

And 54-40 or fight. Also Lafayette, we are here.

Flaky? Sure. But Conehead Maxwell is also a winner with a heart that would squish everybody if he let it out of his chest.

What of the Lakers and their two superstars? Up and down in the finale, both of them.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 29 points, but had only six rebounds, two on the offensive boards, as opposed to 16 (eight offensive) by Robert Parish. The Celtic center emerged as a quiet but potent force after a slow start in the series. Kareem is a marvelous athlete, but he is a finesse player, and the Lakers desperately needed muscle up front to offset Parish, Maxwell, Bird and Kevin McHale.

Magic Johnson, who had to expend much energy and time getting the ball upcourt against the harassment of Dennis Johnson, also was fighting tendinitis in his knee. He had 15 assists but suffered through a sub-par shooting and rebounding night (five for 14 from the field, five rebounds), and made a critical turnover late in the game to badly damage the Lakers' bid to pull it out.