February 27, 1990
But the key to this impressive showing lies in the days ahead. Will the trip be as significant if Boston loses at home to Dallas tomorrow night? Definitely not. That old buzzword, consistency, applies.
"It's dangerous to make too much of these two wins, just like it was dangerous to make too much of the four losses before that," said Dennis Johnson. "We're still an up-and-down team, but when you play .500 on the road, you're doing OK."
Those final two wins were the result of coach Jimmy Rodgers shaking up his lineup, taking bit players Michael Smith, Charles Smith and Jim Paxson and giving them significant minutes in crucial situations. The odd men out in the switch were Ed Pinckney, John Bagley, Kevin Gamble, and, to an extent, Johnson, who is still not used to watching a rookie soak up crunch time.
That, however, should not bother him - not when the team is winning. How DJ and the rest of the crew deal with their reduced roles is also crucial to the team's success in the weeks ahead.
Kevin McHale acknowledged that the past couple of games have been difficult for some of his teammates.
"But the coaching staff has asked me to sacrifice, and I have," said McHale. "I think everyone should feel the same way I do.
"It's a long, long season, and everyone will get involved. No one thought much about Eric Fernsten, because he didn't play all that much, but then we had a couple of games where everyone fouled out and his play helped us win. Eric helped us get the best record in basketball that year 1980-81, and we went on to win the world championship."
What has players such as Larry Bird concerned, though, is that disrupting the rotation ultimately could prevent Boston from reaching that goal.
When asked Sunday whether he felt better about the team with the new personnel, he answered, "I don't know. If we don't win the championship, it's a wasted season."
Earlier, Bird - whose minutes have not been affected by the new lineup - wondered aloud what long-term results the changes would create.
"Our rotation has been disrupted over the last couple games," said Bird. "At this point in the season, you'd like to know where you are going, but we aren't set on anything. We're still learning about ourselves."
When asked if that worried him, Bird said, "Not really. We're playing pretty well. I don't know. It's hard to say."
Bird has always been a big public backer of Johnson and Robert Parish, who has been limited to 23 minutes in each of the past two outings. He also has said he feels Gamble could help the team.
Gamble has been half of a tandem roller coaster ride with Paxson for most of the season. For a while, he logged the majority of the minutes, while his veteran counterpart racked up the DNPs and garbage time. Now, for the moment, those roles have been reversed.
"You can't help but be a little confused, but you just have to go with it," said Gamble. "I can't control what happens out there. From what I see, Rodgers is going to stick with Jim Paxson for a while.
"I guess I can see that. It hasn't benefited either of us to change from one game to game."
The argument for the shakeup is obvious: The team was stagnant and predictable, but now Boston can hit teams with a steady point guard in the halfcourt set (DJ), then switch to a frenzied, pressure-oriented guard (Charles Smith) for a different look. Likewise, they can hit opponents with a perimeter power forward (Mike Smith), then switch gears and go with McHale and pound it in down low.
The argument against sticking to the strategy depends on whether the Smiths can handle the extended minutes they've been allotted over the long haul, and if there was, in fact, any team chemistry to disrupt.
Regardless of what happens, the coaching staff is hoping the personnel can all be as single-minded about the goal at hand as Pinckney, who played a total of 16 seconds in the final two games.
"Whatever it takes to win," said the forward. "You've always got to be ready, but if we're winning, then things should stay the same. Winning benefits all of us."
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