DJ and Sonics have “Abiding Respect” for Celtics

DJ and Sonics have “Abiding Respect” for Celtics

February 18, 1980

The Sonics won this magnificent game, but the Celtics led in "What-ifs?"

The Celtics had no business leaving the Kingdome with their heads between their legs. They had come into a joint bursting with humanity (28,726, fifth highest crowd of the season here, and for a TV game) and had played the fannies off the league's best team, and they had done it without Dave Cowens. So there's What-if No. 1. They had failed to score in their final five possessions, a stretch covering 2:47, and on the first three of them they did not have the services of Larry Bird, who had turned an ankle underneath the basket with 3:09 to play. It's not an alibi; it's just a legitimate "What-if?"



The game began with a pair of political protesters marching onto the court in the first eight seconds carrying a banner calling for freedom for the "Youngstown 10." Other vignettes: Seattle owner Sam Schulman, leaving his midcourt seat and getting down on one knee in his best Al Jolson-Jack Ramsay imitation during a tense first-half moment; the eight-strong "Husky Percussion Section" spelling out "Sonics" in Wild Bill Hagy fashion during second-half timeouts; and the countless times Bill Fitch wore a look on his face which suggested that 17 little men with daggers were assaulting his intestinal tract.

The Sonics have an abiding respect for the Celtics; there is no question about that. "I think our two games with Boston," said Dennis Johnson, "were probably the two best games we've played all year. They have been exciting, and whether you come out winning or losing, you know when it's over that you have played well."

M. L. Carr may have played his finest game. He came off the bench to score 11 second-period points as the Celtics battled back from a 43-32 deficit two minutes into the period. Carr, Eric Fernsten and Gerald Henderson were all instrumental in getting the Celtics back in the ballgame.

Had the Celtics won, Fernsten would have been properly cited for making his biggest contribution yet ... Pete Maravich has not attained the degree of conditioning he would have needed to maintain the tempo of this game ... Fred Brown had a big third quarter and was a forgotten Sonic key to victory ... The Celtics did a tremendous job of cutting down the Seattle transition game after the first quarter, when their penetrating guards were occasionally burned by clever releases by DJ and Gus Williams. Seattle scored one fast-break basket in the final three periods, if you can believe that. The Celtics outran the Sonics, 41-16, but there was a Seattle domination of the offensive boards that killed the Celtics. The Sonics actually had a better than one-to-one ration (32-29) of offensive to defensive rebounds. The starting five all had a minimum of four offensive rebounds apiece, a startling statistic. Surprisingly, the Sonics came up with only 22 points out of all those rebounds, while Boston's total of 15 offensive rebounds was good for 19 points. But that's a lot of possessions the Celtics, who were outshot by a 107-84 margin, didn't have.