No Excuses from Magic or Kareem

1984 NBA Finals

"The best team usually wins, and they were the better team," Abdul-Jabbar said. "We didn't hit our outside shots, we didn't control our defensive boards and we weren't getting any room to work inside."

Magic had a ready-made excuse. "He had to play in pain," Abdul-Jabbar said. "When that happens, there are certain things you can't do. But Magic's not the type to complain."

No, he isn't. "The knee was no excuse," he said softly. "It was money time. I was here. I played. So it was no excuse."

Insult to injury: Kareem was mauled by some jerks as he tried to leave the court.

"Somebody ripped my glasses off and I got punched," he said. "People tried to tear off my uniform. Someone was jumping on my back, so I had to push them off. I had to defend myself. I wasn't scared, but I wasn't going to let them dismember me. It's only a few people with no sense who try things like that. The Garden people are very unprofessional when it comes to crowd control."

Security had been beefed up, but Kareem was right. An hour and a half after the game, there still were hundreds of "fans" roaming Causeway Street outside the arena. The roof of one car was caved in, and one cretin smashed a window on the bus transporting writers back to their hotel.

There weren't nearly enough cops on the scene. The mob was out of control. It was a major bummer after the exhilarating events earlier in the evening.

The Celtics, anticipating trouble, had ridden to the Garden in vans and escaped in them afterward through an exit not even long-time club employees knew existed.

Great Celtic defense to the end.