C's Down Mighty Sixers

March 5, 1983

SIXERS STUMBLE IN THE GARDEN

You don't need to be a genius to know that the 76ers need Bobby Jones and Julius Erving on the court when the team hits the Crunch in Boston Garden.



That's the time and the place when all other pressures dim in comparison. The Crunch at Boston Garden - is it not a fact? - seems worse than it is anywhere else in the Western world.

The air almost sizzles with bad omens, and the fans in the uncomfortably close-to-the-floor stands roar in such loud cacaphony that anyone other than a seasoned player can hardly think. It is a time unlike that of any other in the NBA - a time when rookies fold up and when lesser veterans' feet rattle in their sneakers.

And so it was last night, when the Sixers had to go with the improbable frontcourt of Earl Cureton and Marc Iavaroni in a Crunch that ended with the Celtics on top, 115-110.

The Sixers, whose 10-game winning streak was snapped with the loss, could have won it.

They could have been sitting on top of the NBA this morning.

But because Iavaroni made a boneheaded inbounds pass into the arms of Celtics guard Gerald Henderson, and because Sixers guard Maurice Cheeks made a pass that ended up in the hands of Celtic Larry Bird rather than shoot a fast-break layup, the Sixers received only a pointed reminder that the Celtics are a long way from bowing out of this year's race for the NBA championship.

"I know that we still have a seven-game lead on them (in the Atlantic Division race)," said Sixers coach Billy Cunningham afterward. "And I still think that the only way Boston is going to catch us is if there is a rash of injuries on our part, or if we would just hit a brick wall.

"But," he continued, the stub of his cigar jutting out from his clenched teeth, "I also know that if we meet in the playoffs, it will be quite a battle."

In the future, the Sixers must find a way to get Erving and Jones into the game at the end.

As Iavaroni proved last night, sometimes the Crunch is just too much for someone not used to the perils of the musty old building or the odd bounce of a ball off the Garden's parquet floor.

Last night proved the point.

Erving got himself into foul trouble early and played, in total, only eight minutes in the first half, giving the Celts an opportunity to grab a 60-59 lead at the intermission.

And in the second half, in which the Sixers led by as many six points, Erving picked up three more fouls, the sixth sending him to the bench with 55 seconds remaining and the Celtics ahead by a single point, 111-110.

As for Jones, he was back in South Jersey, resting his cracked toe, which still needs a week or more to mend.

Clemon Johnson, the Sixers reserve who until last night had pieced together a string of nice games, was on the bench, also holding six fouls.

Moreover, the play involving Cheeks was still a stinging memory - a play that had happened with 3 minutes remaining, a play that Cheeks could run over and over without fault again.

He had come hurtling down the floor on a break after a Robert Parish miss. He had Erving with him, but Boston's Larry Bird between them.

He left the floor, he said, and blew it.

"I just waited too late," he said. "I should have shot it. The pass was too low."

Indeed, his pass went off Erving's hands and into the hands of Bird, who turned around, scampered down the floor and zipped a pass over to Tiny Archibald. Archibald laid it in, was fouled by C. Johnson and made the free throw, giving the Celtics what was in essence a five-point turnaround and a six-point lead, at 109-103 - a lead from which that the Sixers never recovered.

Moments later, after Andrew Toney had hit a three-pointer and missed two free throws, and after two Cheeks free throws, Erving laid in a finger roll that drew the Sixers to within one point, at 111-110.

That, however, was to be the last play for the Doctor, who seconds later bowled over Bird in the Celtics' lane and was out of the game.

Thus Iavaroni became an unlikely finisher, as did Earl Cureton. You could almost taste the trouble as it was brewing.

After Bird made the two free throws to give the Celts a 113-110 lead, Iavaroni stood with the ball on the sidelines, with 17 seconds to go.

A three-pointer, of course, would have tied the game and sent it into overtime.

Like Cheeks, Iavaroni said he blew it.

"My first look was supposed to be to Mo (Cheeks). But then I tried to 'look' Bird off the play, and when I looked back I couldn't find Mo. The only pass I saw was to Andrew, even though I know Mo was open. I don't know. When I saw Andrew, I threw the ball, and I just put too much on it."

So instead of going to Toney, the ball went to Henderson, who drifted unmolested down the floor for a layup that gave Boston its clinching basket.

Thus did the Sixers cough this one up in the Crunch in Boston Garden, according to Cheeks and Iavaroni.

Next time the two teams meet, the Sixers can only hope that Jones is back, and that the Doctor isn't nursing fouls on the bench.