Will Nique Make a Diff in Playoffs?

April 27, 1995 He has been portrayed as the Celtics' answer to Jack Clark, symbolic of profligate, wasteful spending. He has been portrayed as the Celtics' answer to Norma Desmond, the retired silent screen star in "Sunset Boulevard" who defiantly states, "I am big! It's the pictures that got small."

He also has been seen as an irritant to the coach, a defensive liability and a pouter on the bench. The one thing he has not been is a consistent, reliable scorer who causes fits for the opposition. 

And now that the playoffs are upon us, Dominique Wilkins wants to let bygones be bygones and forget about the last five tumultuous months.

"The way I am looking at it is, this is what you play for," Wilkins said yesterday. "If you get to the playoffs, you've already achieved one of your goals. When you get this far and start over again, what you have done in the regular season doesn't matter all that much."

Tomorrow night, Wilkins will be in the starting lineup when the Celtics play the Magic in the opener of a first-round best-of-five series. This is, Wilkins said, the time of year he enjoys most. He has the most playoff experience on the team, although he has never been a member of a team that won a seven-game series. His coach is expecting big things of Wilkins - and everyone else.

"I hope Dominique steps up his game," Chris Ford said. "He's going to have to. Everyone is going to have to. And he's going to have to do it at both ends. He's going to have to play defense, because they throw guys out there who can put the ball in the basket. I want a total player out there."

The Celtics and Wilkins were a combustible mix from the start, when he reported for camp in something less than exquisite condition. He quickly drew the wrath of Ford, who had the temerity to expect his players to play defense. And it all exploded in January after a pounding in Atlanta, when Ford accused his starters (read: Wilkins) of being pigheaded and selfish and Wilkins firing back, "That's a bunch of crap."

The next game was in Orlando. M.L. Carr flew down to play the role of mediator. Wilkins started and scored 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting. The following night, he was booed in Boston, going 1 for 9 against the Clippers. He went only six minutes the next game, was taken out of the starting lineup Feb. 23 and returned a month later only when Xavier McDaniel's knee acted up.

Wilkins finished the season averaging 17.8 points, a shade more than his career low of 17.5, which he had as a rookie in 1982-83. He shot 42.4 percent from the field, the worst of his career. But most deflating of all was the Gingrichesque cut in playing time; he went from 35.6 a year ago, and a career average of almost 37, to 31.5 minutes a game.

But now it's the playoffs, a new start, and Wilkins said, "I like to be out there. It's my favorite time. I get real emotional in the playoffs. I'm talking, being enthusiastic, being energetic. That's what it is all about. My approach has always been the same. You put up or you go home."

Orlando has been a bad match for Wilkins all season. He averaged a mere 8.3 points in four games, scoring no more than 10. In the back-to-back games in February, he had 6 in only 16 minutes in the Celtics' win at Hartford. The next night in Orlando, he had 10 points in 24 minutes. He shot 7 for 21 in the two games.

"I was going through some tough times when we played them," he said. "But I don't see the Magic as being a problem. And I can tell you this: It won't be any 8 points a game. I can't say what it's going to be, but it won't be 8."

Some of the Magic players were asked last Sunday about players they feared on the Celtics. Horace Grant mentioned Dino Radja. Anfernee Hardaway mentioned Sherman Douglas and Dee Brown. Neither one mentioned Wilkins, until this season a perennial All-Star, scoring machine, person to watch and fear.

The past season did not develop as he would have liked. "It was tough," he acknowledged, and it would have been harder had not the playoffs provided a new life and a second chance. Wilkinswanted both. He also needed both.

HOW GLOBE STAFF SEES THE SERIES

BOB RYAN Orlando in 4 Celtics close Garden with dignity. DAN SHAUGHNESSY Orlando in 3 - Let's not kid oursevles. PETER MAY Orlando in 4 - Too many weapons for the Magic. JACKIE MacMULLAN Orlando in 4 - Celtics win one when Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway bump heads down the stretch, a pigeon lands on the court, Dino Radja steals the ball and Dominique Wilkinssuffers a concussion but returns triumphantly to rain jump shots on the Magic's heads; delirious fans tear down the nets and rip up the parquet in celebration, Garden is condemned and Game 4 is declared a forfeit.