82-Point 2nd Half Propels C's to Win over Doc Erving and the Sixers

February 7, 1980

Pressure" is a cliche describing most full court defenses in the NBA. But it has special meaning at the Garden when it is used the way it was last night by the Celtics before their legion of 15,320.

The pressure grew as the Celtics put together an 82-point second half to overtake the Philadelphia 76ers last night, 129-110, to put a little daylight (two games in the loss column) between the top two clubs in the Atlantic Division.

It is the pressure of a relentless defense that asks no quarter and gives none. It is the pressure of the roar of the fans, who probably won't yell that loud again until the playoffs, or the next time the 76ers come to town.

"We were able to put defensive pressure on them," said veteran guard Chirs Ford. "We were able to force them into some turnovers and some things they don't normally like to do. The crowd is a part of it. They get us going and we seem to play so much better."

This is not a championship team, yet. But the 1979-80 Celtics do have that knack of knowing how and when to pick each other up, lately with some third- quarter defensive play and a fast-breaking offense that leaves the opposition gasping for its collective breath.

You would expect this against the Pistons, Bulls and other NBA lowlife. But not against the Sixers, who are a team that never should blow a 14-point lead, even on the road. But somehow, the Sixers crumbled.

"I think this was the first time all year that we let a pressure defense bother us," said 76ers coach Billy Cunningham. "It was like we were in first gear and the Celtics were in fifth gear. Tiny (Archibald) and (Larry) Bird played exceptionally well in the second half.

"Sure, we miss not having a guy like (Doug) Collins. But the difference wasn't in ball handling. We had the two best in Maurice Cheeks and Henry Bibby. The difference was that he'd hit the wide open shots that we missed. And everytime we missed, Boston was off and running," said Cunningham.

Lately, that has been happening a lot, particularly when the Celtics have been behind at halftime, just like they were last night (59-47). Instead of playing tentative with only nine men available (Dave Cowens out for five more games and Pete Maravich able to work out but not play), the Celtics have charged their opponents.

They win on defense, and also with superior conditioning, ball handling and execution of the transition game. Make a mistake or miss a shot, and the Celtics fly at you.

A 14-point lead by the 76ers was whittled away with stout defense, and a 72-60 lead vanished in a 22-10 run by Celtics who seldom have played as well as a unit. In fact, things were going so well that Bill Fitch decided against making a substitution until two minutes into the fourth quarter, (90-90) when he took out Rick Robey for Eric Fernsten. When he made his next substitution (M.L. Carr for Ford) with 4:56 left, Boston had a 108-94 lead and the chants of "We're No. 1" had started.

"What you saw was the finest effort by this team in any situation at anytime this season," said Fitch. "We knew we were down and had to come after them. But the idea was to press not panic. This is a good team with good heads on it, and we regrouped in the 15 minutes at halftime. The only thing I wish now is that we can regroup in a 90-second timeout. We played a horrible second period."

To understand the third quarter, it helps to understand the first two. In the first quarter, it was a duel between The Doctah, Julius Erving and The Rookie, Larry Bird. It was a continuation of the show that fans paid $17.50 to see at the All-Star game on Sunday. Bird's only handicap was the flu, which hit him overnight and left him weak.

"We wanted to go inside and did," said Fitch. "Both teams were hot. I'd like to have been a Las Vegas gambler on the way the ball was going in. But things came a little too easy and we were ahead on our perimeter game. When they did something different on defense and we started to miss, they ran away from us."

Not so in the third quarter. The MVP awards went to Tiny Archibald (18 points) and Cedric Maxwell (19) because things like that didn't happen in the second half. Archibald did the job at both ends, running the offense and scoring all of his 12 points in the second half. More importantly, he shut down Maurice Cheeks, whose ability to penetrate was a big part of the 76ers' first-half explosion. If Maxwell's long arms weren't harassing the 76ers every time they tried to put the ball in, he was rebounding (13) or setting picks down low for Robey (22 points). Bird flourished in the fast break, hitting 22 of his 36 points in the second half.

"I knew what I had to do," said Archibald. "Cheeks plays a lot like me. He was penetrating and a lot of their transition game in the second half came because he got inside or was able to dump on to somebody. I made up my mind to concentrate on defense, put on the pressure and take away the transition baskets. We got a lot of turnovers out of the pressure and that always seems to give us confidence."

In the big picture, the Celtics' two-game lead could evaporate while they are on the West Coast since the 76ers will be at home the next few weeks. But the Celtics showed they can win without Cowens (the fifth win in a row). And if the play of Eric Fernsten improves and Jeff Judkins keeps hitting three- pointers, Fitch will spend many nights worrying about trimming his roster.

"The best thing about this victory," said Archibald, "is that neither team has an edge. We're 2-2 on the season with two more to play. Momentum is an important part of basketball, and if they'd been up 3-1 we would have known we couldn't beat them. We both have good teams. It should be very interesting down the stretch."