11.03.2018

Bird (36, 19, 6, 3) Superb . . . Again

December 13, 1982

Bird Superb Again

Most of the centers were missing. Robert Parish was on the bench with a throbbing left ankle. Rick Robey was next to Parish with back spasms and foul trouble. Eric Fernsten was in Winchester reading the Wall Street Journel.



And so Larry Bird took over. With Kevin McHale (38 minutes), acting as the team's only legitimate big man, Bird swooped and scooped his way to 36 points, 19 rebounds, 6 steals and 3 blocked shots in 43 minutes of ceaseless motion. Although he struggled early and didn't shoot particularly well (15-33), Sir Larry managed to claw his way to one of the more memorable performances of his unforgettable young career. As a result, the Celtics were able to turn back the Denver Nuggets, 126-112.

"To play 43 minutes at that pace and do what he did is amazing," Robey said with a gasp. "He just went crazy."

Folks in Vegas probably figured the Celtics won in a breeze when Boston's victory margin moved on the ticker. One would never have guessed that Boston trailed by 17 points in the second minute of the second half. That's right, 17. In other words, the Celtics outscored the weary Nuggets (four games in five nights) by a whopping 31 points (71-40) in the final 22 minutes.

The first big run came after Denver's pinball wizards had taken a 72-55 lead with 10:20 left in the third quarter. In the next 3 minutes and 9 seconds, the Celtics scored 13 straight points to cut it to 72-68.

McHale started it with a turnaround jumper. Bird caught an Alex English (a disappointing 16) airball and Archibald hit a jumper at the other end. After a Denver timeout, Bird rebounded a Kiki Wandeweghe (19) airball and fed Cedric Maxwell for a basket. T.R. Dunn was called for traveling and Bird converted a three-point play on a fourth-shot opportunity to cut it to 72-64. Bird then stole English's inbound pass and jammed one himself. A Maxwell dunk after Dunn missed a shot concluded the 13-0 run. If you noticed the word "Bird" four times above, well, you're beginning to get the idea.

The Celtics didn't take their first lead until Bird canned a left corner jumper with 7:09 left to make it 100-99. That was part of a 27-8 fourth quarter spurt which pushed the Celtics to a 118-105 lead with 2:37 left. Traffic-beaters were spilling into the Garden aisles at that point. It was hard to remember that the Celtics had been on the verge of defeat less than an hour earlier, but it was easy to remember that Bird prevented such indignity.

It was Bird's fourth consecutive 30-plus game and the sixth time in eight outings that he has scored 30 or more.

"Scoring isn't the game," Bird said afterward. "In a game like that, the defense has got to take over, because the offense will come. I think our defense and rebounding (59-45, Celtics) were the keys to the game. We held them when we had to."

McHale, who contributed 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks in his longest stint of the season, echoed Bird, saying, "It was tough tonight, especially since we were shorthanded, but we pulled together and played the best defense we've played in a long time. They were kicking our butts for a while there."

There is nothing subtle about the Nuggets. They score a lot of points (121 per game) and they give up a lot (124). If you wanted to torture Bobby Knight, you could lock him in a room and force him to watch Nuggets' game films round the clock.

Paced by the long-bombing of Dan Issel (12-19, 25 points) and Billy McKinney (9-16, 18), Denver led by as much as eight in the first period and 13 in the second. The Celtics helped out with nine first-quarter turnovers and some unusually poor shooting from Bird, but unlike most scorers, Bird is capable of contributing when he's not scoring. And unlike almost every player on the planet, he doesn't appear discouraged when his shots clank off the rim.

Bill Fitch on Bird: "In that first period, he was like a guy in a snow bank with no chains on his tires. He kept getting in deeper and deeper. But he didn't wait until Wednesday to get out of the slump. He didn't let it affect him like a lot of guys would do, because that would affect the team. He just worked his way back into the game."

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