KC Jones Uses the Past Not as Prologue

May 1984

The Boston Garden has 14 N.B.A. championship flags hanging from its old and dusty rafters, and 7 were earned as a result of victories over the Lakers in the title round.

Now the Lakers, beaten in all previous championship meetings with the Celtics, try again. In the first meeting in 1959, in which Boston swept the series, the Laker franchise was still based in Minneapolis. The other meetings have taken place since the team moved to Los Angeles.

The four-of-seven-game final series opens today at Boston Garden, with several key figures of the 1960's still involved. Auerbach, the Celtic president and general manager, will be sitting in Loge 1. Jerry West, who played in six series, is now the Laker general manager, and K. C. Jones, the former Celtic backcourt star, is in his first season as the Boston coach.

"I don't live in the past," Jones said, "but I refer to it. I use it as a reference for today's game. It's a whole different N.B.A. than I played in, with its zone traps and stronger, more talented players."