9.05.2016

How Did the '86 C's Lose that One Home Game?

Portland Trail Blazers
121

13-10 (Won 1)
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Boston Celtics
103

17-3 (Lost 1)
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December 6, 1985
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Portland Trail Blazers (13-10)

Glossary  · SHARE  · Embed  · CSV  · Export  · PRE  · LINK  · ?

Basic Box Score Stats
Starters MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Jim Paxson 35:00 6 14 .429 0 0
4 5 .800 2 3 5 3 0 0 3 2 16
Clyde Drexler 32:00 8 19 .421 0 0
3 4 .750 0 3 3 6 5 2 2 3 19
Mychal Thompson 31:00 6 14 .429 0 0
1 2 .500 3 3 6 2 0 1 1 4 13
Sam Bowie 30:00 8 15 .533 0 0
2 4 .500 4 9 13 5 1 3 1 3 18
Darnell Valentine 21:00 1 6 .167 0 0
0 0
1 1 2 7 0 0 1 2 2
Reserves MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Steve Colter 27:00 5 9 .556 0 2 .000 12 14 .857 0 1 1 5 3 0 1 3 22
Jerome Kersey 22:00 11 15 .733 0 0
0 0
2 2 4 0 5 0 1 1 22
Caldwell Jones 22:00 3 5 .600 0 0
1 3 .333 1 2 3 1 1 1 0 3 7
Kenny Carr 9:00 1 2 .500 0 0
0 0
1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 2
Terry Porter 9:00 0 3 .000 0 1 .000 0 0
0 2 2 2 0 0 3 3 0
Ken Johnson 2:00 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team Totals 240 49 102 .480 0 3 .000 23 32 .719 14 27 41 31 16 7 13 24 121

Boston Celtics (17-3)

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Basic Box Score Stats
Starters MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Danny Ainge 41:00 5 12 .417 2 5 .400 2 3 .667 1 6 7 9 2 0 2 1 14
Larry Bird 39:00 9 26 .346 0 2 .000 2 2 1.000 4 7 11 7 1 3 3 1 20
Kevin McHale 39:00 7 12 .583 0 0
5 7 .714 0 10 10 0 1 1 4 3 19
Robert Parish 28:00 5 11 .455 0 0
2 6 .333 2 4 6 0 0 3 3 3 12
Dennis Johnson 23:00 4 6 .667 0 0
5 6 .833 2 2 4 3 4 0 3 6 13
Reserves MP FG FGA FG% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
Bill Walton 18:00 1 3 .333 0 0
0 0
0 3 3 1 0 1 5 2 2
Sam Vincent 13:00 3 6 .500 1 2 .500 2 2 1.000 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 9
Jerry Sichting 11:00 2 2 1.000 0 0
0 0
0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 4
Greg Kite 9:00 0 1 .000 0 0
0 0
0 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
Rick Carlisle 7:00 2 3 .667 0 1 .000 0 0
0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 4
Scott Wedman 7:00 1 3 .333 1 1 1.000 0 0
1 1 2 0 1 0 3 0 3
David Thirdkill 5:00 1 1 1.000 0 0
1 4 .250 2 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 3
Team Totals 240 40 86 .465 4 11 .364 19 30 .633 12 36 48 25 11 8 26 22 103


Some green loyalists will try to blame this one on Larry Bird's 9-for- 26 shooting, the buffoonery of referees Tommy Nunez and Bennett Salvatore, or maybe a farewell curse by the maniacal Sly Williams.

No. The Portland Trail Blazers trashed the Celtics , 121-103, at Boston Garden last night because Dr. Jack Ramsay's Flying Burrito Brothers could do no wrong. Steve Colter was Norm Van Lier, Jerome Kersey was Elgin Baylor, and Sam Bowie was Nate Thurmond. How else does a team which had lost eight of 12, and came to town without its high scorer (Kiki Vandeweghe) humiliate the 17-3 Celtics at home?

So much for boredom. After toying with opponents for several weeks, the Celts had their lunch handed to them. Boston's nine-game winning streak is history. The Celts led only once (75-74) and the rest of the night was spent watching the Burritos simulate the 1984 Track & Field Olympic trials in LA. It was the Celts' worst home beating since March 28, 1982 (116-98 vs. Philly, snapping an 18-game winning streak).

"I think there comes a time when you just tire of being embarrassed," said Bowie (18 points, 13 rebounds).

"Every team gets extra-psyched to play Boston," added Colter (22 points). "Everyone wants to get ya. We're one of the teams that wants to get ya and tonight we got ya."

The Celts helped out with 26 turnovers (second highest of the season) and 63 percent free throw shooting. Robert Parish stood still for the fourth straight game, Bill Walton (2 points, 3 rebounds, 5 turnovers) was worse, and Bird's brick-tossing turned the area under the hoop into a hard-hat zone. Dennis Johnson fouled out in 23 minutes, and the Celts capped the awful night with four technicals and K.C. Jones' first ejection of the season.

You sensed it might be a strange evening when you saw the sneakers. The Celts are generally considered to be owners of the ugliest footwear in the NBA, but Portland's red runners look worse then Boston's black beauties.

The men in the red shoes ran the Celtics off the floor in the first five minutes. Bowie, Mychal Thompson, Clyde Drexler (19) and Jim Paxson forced a flurry of Boston turnovers and beat the green team down the floor for layups and dunks as the visitors bolted to an 18-7 lead.

The Celts were able to close the gap to 34-29 at the end of one, but Boston went 3:20 without scoring at the start of the second and Colter (22) led Portland's super subs to a fluid 14-2 run and 48-31 lead. The Trail Blazers had 15 fastbreak points, Boston none.

Boston trailed, 53-35, when Jones tried Sam Vincent in the backcourt. Sudden Sam (nine points) led Boston on a 17-3 drive in the final five minutes of the half. Portland's margin was only 56-52 at intermission.

Unfortunately for Boston, Mr. Kersey had not yet begun to fly. He scored only two of his 22 points in the first half.

"He looked like a guy with a 48-inch vertical jump tonight," said Danny Ainge.

The Celts tightened their defense and turned it around briefly in the third. Kevin McHale blocked a Thompson shot and Walton fed Bird for a fastbreak layup (as he was fouled by Colter). Bird made the free throw to give the Celts their only lead, 75-74.

Enter Kersey. En route to a 10-13 second half, this man who averages 11 minutes and 5.7 points destroyed the Celtics. While Bird looked at the bottoms of Kersey's red shoes, the second-year sub led the Blazers to a quarter- closing 11-2 run. Portland led, 85-77, at the end of three.

DJ picked up his sixth foul at the start of the fourth and the Celts trailed by 10 when Johnson departed.

It got worse. Kersey kept connecting and a fastbreak follow-up slam by Bowie gave Portland a 97-83 lead with 8:36 left. Then Bowie dunked on an alley-oop from Colter and it was 99-83. The Celts had made one of six shots, and Bird was on his way to seven straight misses.

"They had 14 offensive rebounds and I think all of them must have been dunks," sighed Ainge.

The lead peaked at 23 (119-96), but Portland never stopped running. The Blazers flew out of the Garden to catch a 10:45 flight to Jersey.

"Tonight they played great basketball and we did not play well at all," admitted Jones. "They just outplayed us in every department. They did a royal job on us."

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