February 7, 1980
Bill Fitch was misty.
It was Garbage Time. His basketball team had wrapped up its fifth consecutive victory without Dave Cowens, and now he was doing it up right. Judkins for Bird. Henderson for Archibald. He was saluting his players by allowing them the benefit of the most heartfelt crowd response since John Havlicek Day, and while he sat on the bench, his eyes were watering.
"I was reacting to the effort," he explained. "It's so gratifying to see guys work hard and do some of the things they did out there tonight. These guys did some beautiful things that made me proud as their coach."
They had also made themselves proud, and the fans delirious, by smashing open a game that was tied, 90-90, with 10:06 left with a 16-2 run. It was the fourth straight game in which the Celtics have blitzed an opponent with a dazzling second-half spurt. The Celtics, in fact, scored an astounding 82 points in the second half, which is one reason why the final score - Boston 129, Philadelphia 110 - fails to convey the full impact of this stunning conquest of their Atlantic Division rivals.
The 76ers had hit Boston with their best shot back in the second period when they ripped off 18 fast-break points, shot 64 percent (16 for 25) and went ahead by as many as 14 points while making the Celtics look like the Mass. College of Pharmacy jayvees. It was Philly by 12 (59-47) at the half, and by way of artistic emphasis, Julius Erving (35 points) had dunked the final three Sixer baskets.
Enter Cedric Maxwell. He personally kept his team from falling into the Mystic River with five points on the offensive boards. Before the period was over, he would have 11 points; Tiny Archibald, scoreless in the first half, would have 12; Larry Bird would increase his total by 10; the crowd noise would have disturbed a Tupperware party in Wilbraham; the Celtics would be leading by an 88-85 score (that's 41 points, son), and the 76ers would know that the Celtics had not won 40 previous games by paying off Larry O'Brien.
And even when it was over, when another 41-point blitz had elevated the score to embarassing proportions and when Bird had boosted his point tally to 32, the 76ers would say that the game had been given away back in the third period and that the Celtics had been only too happy to accept it.
"All of a sudden, in the beginning of the second half," pointed out Steve Mix, "we weren't doing the things that had got us a 12-point lead. We stopped checking out on the boards, and we stopped running as a result. There was no way we could maintain our style of play if they were getting second and third shots."
If Maxwell's board aggression ignited the Celtics in Period Three, then surely it was the superb all-around play of Archibald that propelled them. Tiny was the dynamic shooting, penetrating and passing marvel of six years ago and a harassing defensive player. He and Bird teamed for 14 points as the club came from 74-64 down to an 80-78 deficit. The crowd was going absolutely bonkers during this stretch, just as they would in the fourth period when, with Eric Fernsten in the game to give Robey a rest, the Celtics broke open the game.
From 90-90, they exploded to a 106-92 lead with the quintet of Fernsten, Bird, Maxwell, Archibald and Ford on the job. Included in this drive were steals of inbounds passes by Ford (a very valuable unnoticed contributor) and Fernsten. Infact, when Boston's own "Big E" followed up his theft of a pass with an upfake of Caldwell Jones and a lefthanded banked pumper to give Boston a 106-92 lead with 6:47 left, the 76ers had to know the cause was helpless.
Among the other revelations derived from this intriguing game were that Rick Robey (22 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists) is a big boy now and that the 76ers have a serious problem at big guard. Clint Richardson, Jim Spanarkel and Al Skinner played a combined 33 minutes at that position, shooting an aggregate 2 for 6. And their individual turnover count of three does not reflect the damage they did to their team's offense with their uncertainty.
As for Boston . . . Dave Who? Pete Who?
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