C's Burn Suns

January 29, 1983

CELTICS TURN ON HEAT, BURN SUNS, 111-104

This was no mere tuneup for tomorrow's Armegeddon match with the Lakers. It took 29 points from Robert Parish and the return to form of Tiny Archibald to push the Celtics to a 111-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns last night.



The Celtics have taken a lot of heat for playing poorly against bad teams lately. Let the record show that the Suns are one of more respectable teams (27-19) in the NBA and that the the Celtics were able to take Phoenix' best shot.

The Celtics led by seven in the first quarter, fell behind by nine in the second, and pulled even by intermission.

Led by Maurice Lucas (24 points, 13 rebounds), Dennis Johnson (20 points) and Walter Davis (26), the Suns led for most of the third quarter and held an 86-83 margin going into the fourth.

A slamdunk by Rory White pushed the visitors to a 90-85 lead early in the final quarter. That's when Archibald (12 points, 7 assists) took over. The Celtics outscored Phoenix, 21-8 over the next eight minutes. Tiny led an initial surge of 11-4, scoring eight of the points himself. The Suns were daring him to take the 18-footer, and he canned three in a row in one stretch.

A tap-in by Kevin McHale (24 points) gave the Celtics a 102-96 lead with 4:44 left. The Suns went ice cold (almost four minutes without a point) and with 2:08 left, Larry Bird (20 points) tapped in an M. L. Carr miss off the break and the Celts were up, 106-98.

The Suns ran off six straight to pull to within two, 106-104, with 46 seconds left. After two free throws by Davis, Alvan Adams fouled Parish and the Chief sank both to give the Boston a 4-point lead with 29 seconds left. Kyle Macy missed a shot at the other end, and McHale was fouled going for the rebound. McHale made both, and it was a comfortable 110-104 edge with 17 seconds left.

The Celtics were on fire at the start. Hitting 10 of its first 13 shots, Boston raced to a 23-16 lead with 5:48 left in the first quarter. McHale, starting for the still-feverish Cedric Maxwell, personally accounted for nine points in the first 4:18.

After scoring 23 in the first six minutes of the quarter, the Celtics were held to six in the final half of the period. Meanwhile, Lucas and Davis got in gear and the Suns outscored the Celtics, 18-6, to take a 34-29 lead after one. Phoenix shot 62 percent (16-26) in the quarter, and Lucas scored 12 points.

The visitors ran off four more at the start of the second to take a 38-29 lead - meaning a 22-6 edge since the middle of the first quarter. It seems that Celtic legions are getting accustomed to seeing the Green team blown out in certain stretches.

Still trailing by nine (46-37) with 7:06 left in the half, the Celtics came back, outscoring the Suns, 21-9, over the next five minutes to take a 58-55 lead with two minutes left before intermission. Parish scored 13 in the quarter and 11 in the vital stretch. Archibald was his old self - hitting teammates with perfect passes for easy baskets.

One highlight came when Carr stole the ball, and fed Gerald Henderson who hit Parish with a behind the back pass for a dramatic jam. Late in the half, the Chief got another slam, this time off a fast break pass from Archibald.

Johnson hit a jumper with 10 seconds left to tie it, 60-60, at the half. It was pretty even all around. Each team had 18 points, 7 turnovers and shot 58 percent in the first half.

No one was looking ahead to tomorrow's game with the Lakers. The situation at hand was plenty dangerous.