April 13, 1986
THE BOSTON Celtics were running The Fist. Bill Walton was in the low post. Kevin McHale was posted low on the other side, Larry Bird was on the right wing, Jerry Sichting on left wing and Dennis Johnson was handling the ball. Johnson passed the ball to Bird, and he in turn made a pass into Walton. As two Cleveland Cavaliers came over to double-team him, Walton gave the ball over to Sichting, who was all alone after a pick by Johnson. He canned a 20-foot jumper.
The play was a videotape recording from a recent 30-point victory over the Cavaliers that was showing on the two 25-inch television monitors in the Celtic dressing room. Similar, live images are likely this week as the Celtics open their chase for a 16th National Basketball Association title with a first-round series against the Chicago Bulls. With two changes - the addition of Walton and Sichting - this Celtic team may be as strong as any of those past champions.
''If Jerry is open,'' Bird says, ''and they're double-teaming, we've got to find him and get the ball into his hands. We got him to shoot the outside jumper; that's what he does best.''
Sichting, who was traded to the Celtics from the Indiana Pacers during the offseason, enjoys his new role.
''This is a team where you only need to get open to get the ball,'' said the 6-foot-1-inch guard. There is great movement on this club, things you hear coaches talk about, and that has given us a chance to shoot a wide open 20-foot jumper.''
Coach K. C. Jones has called this team ''more talented than any of the nine Celtic teams I played with and the best team I've ever coached.'' Eight of those teams, part of the Bill Russell era, won N.B.A. championships. Jimmy Rodgers, the assistant coach and director of player personnel, was showing the tape in the locker room. ''A year ago, our fist play, which is a post-up play for our big men, was simple and effective, but sometimes stoppable,'' said Rodgers. ''Today, that same play is virtually unstoppable because of three factors - our movement without the ball, delivering the pass to the open man and our growth as a team to anticipate each others moves.''
In the past, the Celtic offense lacked the consistent outside shooting that Sichting has provided. Everything was geared to come inside to the big front line of Robert Parish, McHale and Bird. The double- and triple-teaming of the post men that may have worked then has been made more difficult with the addition of outside shooting. Now, when opposing teams double the big men in the post, they find the open man on the perimeter, and he either hits the jumper or makes the extra pass to the next available open man.
''Our overall style of play has not changed that much,'' said McHale, ''but our depth has become a real factor in our favor. Larry Bird is constant, but Bill Walton gives us a different dimension. We have forced opponents to pay more attention to the backcourt. Our guards can really hurt you if you cheat and try and take away our inside game.''
Although the Celtic offense is still inside-oriented, Walton and Sichting have not only provided additional depth, but they move well without the ball. Their passing has been more creative and the team's defense more intense.
Kevin Loughery, who spent most of the season as the Detroit Piston television commentator until his recent appointment as coach of the Washington Bullets, said the Celtics' movement of the ball was ''the best I've ever seen.'' But what has impressed Loughery equally ''is the way they are playing defense.''
''Maybe it's time K. C. Jones started getting some credit for what this club has become,'' he said.
A soft-spoken man who never draws attention to himself, Jones, was noted for his defense in his nine seasons as a Celtic player. He coaches much the way he played, quietly, never seeking the spotlight. The Celtics won 62 games and the league championship in 1983-84, his first as head coach. Last season, Boston went 63-19 but was beaten for the title by the Lakers in the six-game championship series. With one game remaining, they are 66-15 this season, including 39-1 at home. They have run off 30 victories in a row at home.
''If there is anything different about this team, other than our added depth, it's got to be D. J,'' said Red Auerbach, the president of the Celtics, speaking of Johnson. ''Not only is he the catalyst of our defense, making life miserable for all the top guards he is matched against, but often overlooked are his offensive skills. He's developed into an outstanding passer, he can shoot outside and post up. He's giving us 16 points a game.''
Johnson acknowledged he's having a ''good season,'' but he said he preferred to talk about how good the Celtics are.
''There is no question that this is the best Celtic team in my three seasons here,'' he said. ''We are moving the ball better, we're more creative in our passing and things we do. To that, add the depth that Walton has brought. And Larry Bird is Larry Bird. The good thing about being on this team is not only to know that you're playing with Larry Bird, the best passing big man in the game. It's knowing that if I or someone else gets open, we'll get a pass.
''That has always been the case with Larry, only this season the same can be said about McHale, Parish and Walton. I don't know if a lot of people have taken notice, but Kevin has had more assists than any time in his career. That has to say something.''
Auerbach, the architect, first as coach and later as president, of the 15 championship teams, said the transition of the Celtics began at the ''usual end-of-the-season meeting.''
It was at that meeting that the Celtics, tired of seeing their big men constantly double-teamed, placed a priority on acquiring two players -Sichting, for his outside shooting, and Walton for his passing, rebounding skills and defense. Sichting, a free agent, was given an offer sheet that the Pacers matched and traded for two second-round draft choices.
The 33-year-old Walton had been talking of wearing the Celtic Green for two years, according to Auerbach. The problems were his health and how to get him from the Los Angeles Clippers. After he passed his physical examination, the Celtics gave up Cedric Maxwell and a first-round draft choice for him. Not only has Walton played in more games this season (80) than any other in his career of 12 injury-riddled seasons, but he has helped in all the areas the Celtics hoped he would. The biggest contribution may be the rest he has been able to provide for Parish.
''We had depth last year,'' said Bird, ''but it was a different type of depth. Now we have Walton, who can block shots, rebound, play defense and make the pass. His coming has cut Parish's minutes. He's playing like a young Parish again. To me, Walton has been the big difference.''
The 32-year-old Parish, who has played an average of six minutes a game less this season than last, said: ''I'm feeling and playing stronger than ever. The answer is obvious. I'm playing less minutes.''
And why is the 7-1 Parish passing more and playing more creatively?
''It's a lot easier to pass to an open man,'' he said. ''There is more passing and movement this season than in my six years that I've been here.''
Watching Walton play in a Celtic uniform and without pain is almost like watching a miracle. Although he is no longer able to play the same number of minutes as he once did, his enthusiasm when he sets a pick, crashes the boards for a rebound or makes a pass is reminicent of his younger days, when he led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 championship.
''Coming to Boston is all that I expected it would be,'' said Walton. ''It's a great feeling to be winning games again. There is a lot of the same feeling on this team as there was in Portland the year we won the title. Every night we go out on the floor, we think we're going to win. I love that kind of feeling. I guess what I'm looking to most is being part of that playoff atmosphere again. I have been away from it a long time.''
Walton, who missed three entire seasons with foot injuries and played in only 14 games during the 1979-80 season, has not been in the playoffs since the 1977-78 season with the Trail Blazers. Sichting had played one minute in one playoff game in his five seasons with the Indiana Pacers.
The Celtics opened the season by winning 17 of their first 20 games. Then they lost three of their next seven before losing to the Knicks on Christmas Day.
K. C. Jones called that loss the ''most significant game of the season for us.''
The Knicks trailed by 25 but beat Boston in double overtime. After that, this powerful team began to emerge. They are 45-8 since. ''That was the turning point,'' said Jones. ''We were playing bad. Something had to happen to get the players' attention, and losing to the Knicks was good enough reason.''
In the days following the loss to the Knicks, Jones made a few changes. Walton and Sichting were becoming more familiar with why they were brought to Boston. Jones developed a fast-break unit out of his reserves, including Scott Wedman, Sichting and Rick Carlisle, all excellent outside shooters. When McHale went out on Feb. 9 with an Achilles' tendon injury that would sideline him 14 games, the Celtics called on the 6-foot-7-inch Wedman to start. The Celtics were 11-3 during that stretch, and Wedman averaged 15.3 points and 5 rebounds a game.
It was also around Christmastime that the back aches and other pains that had plagued Bird before and during training camp began to disappear. Bird had been shooting a poor 44 percent from the field through the first 28 games.
''Training camp was like hell,'' said Bird. ''The pain affected everything I did. I had trouble bending over and extending myself in any way.''
But with the help of a therapist, the pains began to disappear, and Bird went about trying to win his third straight most-valuable-player award. For the first time in his seven professional seasons, he began to pop 3-pointers almost as if he was shooting from the free-throw line.
Since Christmas, he has shot 52 percent from the floor, recorded 10 triple-doubles (double figures in scoring, rebounding and assists) and scored 30 or more points 21 times, including six games of 40 or more and one of 50. He is the only player in the league listed in the top 10 in five of the eight statistical categories. He is fourth in scoring (26 points a game), second in free-throw percentage (.894), seventh in rebounding (10.0), fourth in 3-pointers (80 of 189) and ninth in steals (2.0).
''He's gotten better,'' said Jones. ''He's a mover, leading the fast break, cutting to the basket, firing up 3-pointers. It's all there.''
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