Ford Propels C's to W

4/12/1980

You know the fans are either sophisticated or bored when they bestow such hearty applause on a man whose primary work had been defensive. But the fans lauded Chris Ford when he went out of the game with 3:24 to play, and that basically told the story of a wretched 95-75 Celtic triumph over the Rockets at the Garden last night.

They might have to dig very, very deep into the Celtic record books to unearth the last time that the high scorer in a Boston playoff victory had 14 points. But that's what Larry Bird had, and no Celtic was able to top it. Offense was just not much in evidence last night.

The Celtics played acceptable defense, however, and nobody did more than Ford, who probably lived up to his reputation as a passing-lane rover more than at any time in his two-year Celtic career. He radared in on all kinds of Rocket passes, and it didn't seem to make any difference whether the man releasing the ball was a center, forward or guard.

The Celtics, who led by scores of 23-21 and 46-43 after the first and second periods respectively, eliminated the remaining suspense by changing a 61-57 game into a 71-59 three-quarter situation by outscoring the Rockets, 10-2, in the final 3:15 of the third quarter. Ford and M.L. Carr (13) were key figures, and one Ford play in particular burned the visitors. The score was 65-59 when Houston's Mike Dunleavy was complaining to referee Darrell Garretson. He threw a sloppy pass. Ford walked in and picked it off, laying the ball in the basket in a typical hustling display.

The Rockets, who were shooting a dismal 23 for 61 after three periods, never could get closer than 11 points (81-70) in the final period of this ragged game. As a result, the Celtics assumed a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal. Game 3 will be in the Summit tomorrow at 1 p.m. (Ch. 7, WBZ).

A driving lefthanded scoop through a Houston press by Bird salvaged what could have been a completely disastrous final minute and a half of first-half play and enabled the Celtics to enter the locker room with a shaky 46-43 lead.

Boston was twice leading by nine points and in possession of the basketball in the final two minutes, but two Robert Reid steals resulted in five quick Rocket points after the Celtics had gone ahead by a 44-35 score. Moses Malone capped an eight-point Houston run (which consumed only 46 seconds on the clock) with a baseline power move to the hoop for a three-point play with 22 seconds remaining. The Rockets then applied a press, but Boston broke through and Bird deposited the bal into the basket in spectacular fashion at the other end.

A very valid question for fans to pose after two periods of play would have been, "When does the real game start?" The lasting memories of the first half were those of turnovers: bad passes, three-second violations, offensive fouls and other assorted transgressions. And when the Rockets weren't turning the ball over, they were giving it back to the Celtics via poor shooting (41 percent). They didn't score a basket in the second period, for example, until 4:39 had elapsed. And this was after they shot 7 for 21 in the opening period.

Given that circumstance, each team had reason to think that things would simply have to be better in the second half. The Celtics could further rationalize their plight by remembering that Cedric Maxwell picked up his third personal foul with 2:08 to play in the first quarter and had to sit out the remainder of the half.

There was really very little excitement for the hopeful crowd until the entrance of Pete Maravich with 8:15 remaining in the half. It was just over two minutes later when he took his first shot, a nice clear-out banker from the right. He hit that one, and his next three as well, and as each shot went through the hoop, the crowd noise grew louder. His spree was a major factor in the accumulation of the aforementioned nine-point leads (40-31, 42-33, and finally, 44-35 with 2:08 to play).