Ainge Larger than Life in Utah

January 1, 1983

THE OLD AINGE COMES BACK TO UTAH

Danny Ainge is big in Utah. His face is on billboards and you can't spin a television dial without seeing Ainge promoting milk. With Brigham Young's 1982-83 hoop team struggling through hard times, the memory of Ainge's fullcourt drive against Notre Dame still warms the hearts of fans from Salt Lake City to Provo.



When the Celtics take the court against the Utah Jazz tonight, the natives will see the cocky Ainge they remember so well, not the tentative Ainge who barely played when the Celtics beat Utah, 121-110, here Dec. 30.

Ainge is on a roll. It started in New York two weeks ago when he hit 4 of 7 floor shots and handed out 6 assists in an overtime loss to the Knicks. In the seven games since, he has broken his career-high twice (21, then 24), and shot 63 percent (51-81), averaging 18.5 points per game. He's made at least half his shots in all eight games, including 28 of 42 (66 percent) in the last three games. He also had a career-high eight rebounds against Kansas City Tuesday.

Ainge's Utah ticket demand will be hefty. He has already rounded up 12 of his teammates complimentary passes, but that won't accommodate all of his in- laws, aunts, uncles and friends. Last night, Ainge returned to Provo to watch Brigham Young play Princeton at the Marriott Center.

He downplays the Coming Home aspect of tonight's match. "The fact that I'm playing well is nice," he says. "You always want to go back and do well when your friends are watching. But it's really no big deal. I didn't have any great feeling when I played In Utah last year."

Ainge's national image was somewhat tarnished when he left the Toronto Blue Jays to join the Celtics last winter and he knows that his fellow-Mormons were among his harshest critics.

"There were some mixed emotions about it," he says. "My friends, I think, understood and were on my side, but there were others who thought I was just a contract-breaker. I don't think I compromised my integrity by what I did, although a lot of people might have thought that. They just didn't know the whole story.