Rookie Ainge Making Impact

December 23, 1982

ROOKIE AINGE KEEPS HEAT ON

Danny Ainge continues to improve and impress. Last night, Boston's second- semester freshman scored 21 points (9 for 13 from the floor) in just 21 minutes.

In his last five games he has averaged 15.8 points and four assists, hit 61 percent of his shots (36-59), led the team in scoring for the first time in his career (with 17 Tuesday night in Philadelphia) and established his single- game career high (21 last night).



"I hope I continue to improve," Ainge said last night. "I got a long way to go, but I feel good about it. I don't think I'm consciously doing aything different. It just seems like it's happening that way."-

Keep this in mind: En route to basketball's best record (63-19) in 1981-82, the Celtics won 21 of their first 28 ballgames. Last night's victory over the Bulls brought Boston's '82-83 record to 21-7. In other words, despite the recent slump and accompanying local panic, this Celtic edition is playing at the same pace as last year's. In the championship season of 1980-81, the Celtics were 20-8 after 28 games. We'd all do well to remember that it is very, very early.-

In the loss at Philly, Boston's starting frontcourt of Cedric Maxwell (2) Larry Bird (11) and Robert Parish (10) scored only 23 points. Last night, the treetop trio combined for 55 . . . Tiny Archibald's 20-point, 5-assist effort was his second straight strong game . . . Charles Bradley played 16 quality minutes and did the best job on Reggie Theus, who was practically unstoppable last night. Bradley hit three of five from the floor and blocked two shots in 16 minutes . . . Theus: "I'm just one member of this club. Some nights I don't score. We get along very well. It's one of the closest teams I've been on. I got fired up early in the game tonight. They ran guards at me all night, but I was able to get fouled." . . . The Bulls are 1-13 on the road.-

With six games in eight days behind them, the Celtics take five days of R & R before embarking on a six-game trip which will take them to Kansas City, Denver, Utah, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. The next Garden game is Jan. 12 vs. Golden State . . . Garden fans might be wondering what happened to the artistic and multicolored Celtics signs which have adorned the balconies for the last 14 years. It seems that Rita Kissane has been getting some resistance from Garden security and has elected to discontinue the banner hanging until "reasonable" policy is defined . . . Bill Fitch gave the Celtics today and tomorrow off. They're scheduled to practice again Christmas Day.