December 31, 1982
CELTICS DOWN SPURS 145-132 VICTORY
Enough," they said. Losers in four of their last six games, subjected to an unusual amount of second-guessing and controversy, the Celtics came out roaring last night and blasted their way to a season-high point total and a 145-132 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
Nothing comes easy these days and the Celtics almost fell victim to the curse of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The thin-blooded Nuggets try to wear you down in the early going, then take advantage of their altitude edge in the final two quarters. It almost worked, as Boston's 24-point first-half lead wilted to seven in the fourth quarter. The Celtics were able to withstand the rush hour, thanks to the backbreaking backboard persistence of Cedric Maxwell (season-high 27 points), Kevin McHale (19 points, 6 blocked shots) and Robert Parish (20 points, 9 rebounds). The Celtics outrebounded the Nuggets, 48-33.
The game was won in the first half, which was all Boston. How thorough was it? In the first 18 minutes of play, the Celtics shot 66 percent (24-36) and outrebounded Denver, 24-6. With 3:20 left in the half, Boston led, 80-56. Two minutes before intermission, Nuggets coach Doug Moe yelled, "We concede." Finally, with 1:25 left in the half, Bill Fitch felt comfortable enough to insert the human victory cigar - Darren Tillis. The Celtics hit 31 of 51 shots (61 percent) in that half and outrebounded the home team, 30-13.
The Nuggets helped out, playing their usual Randall (Tex) Cobb, stand- around-and-get-hit defense. Denver's pinball wizards give up 124.7 points per game, but this was ridiculous. The Celtics came within six points of Boston's all time team record - 91 against Detroit in 1960 and against Cincinnati in 1959. Maxwell hit 7 of 10, Parish 5 of 6 and Tiny Archibald 6 of 7. Tiny had 15 points and 5 assists in the second quarter.
You could see it coming early. Boston hit 14 of its first 20 shots and outrebounded the Nuggets, 9-3, to take a 34-25 lead with 2:51 left in the first quarter. Parish was hitting turnarounds, Max was posting up and over Kiki Vandeweghe and/or Alex English and the born-again Danny Ainge (16 points) was scoring off the break. When the period ended, Parish had 14 points, Maxwell 12 and Ainge 8 as Boston raced to a 42-29 lead.
"You've got to come out and score your points here," said Bill Fitch. "I think that's the safe way. For us to come in and slow down - that's not our game."
They settled for an 85-67 halftime lead and Denver made a strong run in the third period. Outscoring Boston, 12-4, to start the quarter, the Nuggets cut the margin to 89-79. They got it down to nine (101-92) with 5:55 left in the period, before McHale hit a couple of turnarounds and Ainge and Parish added buckets for eight straight and a 109-92 lead with four minutes left in the period. From there, Vandeweghe (career-high 40 points) and Issel (20) got hot and with 12 seconds left in the third, Rob Williams converted a three- point play to cut it to 117-110 after three. Denver outscored the Celtics, 43-32, in the third quarter.
"I'm not going to brag about our first half, because Doug really got on 'em at halftime," said Fitch. "It looked like they had six men out there."
Denver cut it to seven again (119-112) with 10:11 left in the game, but from there the Celtics went on a 15-6 run. McHale started it with a jumpshot, Parish followed with a short jumper and Max was next, hitting a jump hook. Robey, Gerald Henderson and Larry Bird also contributed to the surge, which gave the Celtics a 134-118 with 5:43 left.
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