Bird Drops 30 & 16 as C's Pound Pistons

December 5, 1982

CELTICS MOTOR PAST PISTONS BIRD HITS OVERDRIVE (30 POINTS, 16 REBOUNDS) IN 119-112 WIN

The implusive element of the Celtic bandwagon was undoubtedly getting ready to overreact. A loss in Detroit last night would have been Boston's third in four games, and we'd surely hear demands to replace Bill Fitch, send Quinn Buckner back to Milwaukee and trade Danny Ainge to the Toronto Blue Jays.



Instead, the Celtics dug in and spared themselves a week of "What's wrong with the Celtics?" by holding Detroit to one field goal in the final 5 1/2 minutes. The result? A gutty, 119-112 victory over the more-than-respectable Pistons.

When Tom Owens' baseline basket propeled Detroit to a 105-101 lead with 5:26 remaining, 22,396 inmates of this State of Unemployment had much to cheer about.

The Pistons looked as if they were on the verge of back-to-back wins over Boston (Detroit whipped the Celtics, 123-116, in Hartford Tuesday), while the Celtics were showing signs of battle fatigue (four games in five nights) and playing without Robert Parish, who had fouled out early in the final quarter.

The Green held on. In place of Parish, Rick Robey started snatching rebounds. Larry Bird, finishing off his first triple-double (30 points, 16 rebounds, 12 assists), was everywhere, and Tiny Archibald (23 points, 7 assists) gave Isiah Thomas a crash course in Point Guard 101.

"Give the game ball to Tiny," Fitch said. "One time he went coast to coast, just like 10 years ago. He came through in great shape for us tonight."

Team defense did the rest. After Owens' hoop put the Pistons up by four, the Celtics outscored Detroit 18-7 the rest of the way. Detroit shot 27 percent (7 for 26) in the final quarter and went more than five minutes without a basket before Vinnie Johnson canned a three-pointer in the final 10 seconds.

With the Celtics down, 105-101, Cedric Maxwell scored from underneath to cut it to two. Robey grabbed a rebound down at the other end, and Tiny went from end to end for two, plus a foul shot, to put the Celtics ahead for good, 106-105, with 4:45 left.

When Detroit came back down the floor, Archibald, Boston's Mr. T, stole the ball and fed to Bird, who hit Maxwell in stride. Bird completed the crunching 9-0 run with a long jumper as the 24-second clock went off. Detroit never got closer than three points thereafter.

The Pistons were playing without Kent Benson, Kelly Tripucka and Edgar Jones (strained right arch), but managed to beat Boston without Benson and Tripucka in Hartford. The Celtics hadn't forgotten that one, and the pain of Friday's 115-112 beating in Milwaukee (the Bucks were without Bob Lanier and Dave Cowens) was still being felt.

"I have a lot of respect for this team," Fitch said of the Pistons. "They may be without Tripucka, but Terry Tyler (16 points) has played two games against us better than Tripucka ever played against us.

In the first quarter, the Pistons led by 10 points four times as rookie rocketman (44-inch vertical leap) Cliff Levingston slammed his way to 10 points in 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, Johnson (25 points) was showing that he's more than an ad for Pumping Iron, and it was obvious the Pistons planned on making things tough for Boston.

Detroit led, 37-31, after one and took a 64-63 halftime lead when Isiah Thomas (3-19 from the floor, 12 points) canned a shot at the halftime buzzer.

Parish (8 points in only 19 minutes) sat out the third quarter, but the Celtics were able to outscore Detroit, 29-27 to take a 92-91 lead after three. Parish fouled out quickly in the fourth, making things that much tougher in the final 12 minutes.

As if things weren't bad enough, Boston had to put up with referees Hue Hollins and Bob Rakel, both of whom were (hopefully) having an off night.

As a reward for winning at the end of a grueling week, the Celtics don't play again until Friday - unless you want to count Wednesday's Garden party with the Cleveland Cavaliers.