Cornbread (23, 9, & 6), Bird (29, 6, & 6), and Tiny (19 & 9) Lead the Way

March 5, 1980

Cornbread (23, 9, & 6), Bird (29, 6, & 6), and Tiny (19 & 9) Lead the Way

They've always said that it's worth your life to play in San Antonio, but never before have they been referring to that life being a Spur's. Yup, it was definitely a hometown lynch mob that filed out of the Hemisfair last night after watching the Boston Celtics pummel its once- fearsome Spurs by a 137-108 score. That margin was a very accurate indication of the manner in which the Celtics took control of this game to record their seventh straight victory and raise their season's record to 51-15.



The Spurs' fans were not exactly thrilled about watching a game that featured 18 first-half lead changes and eight ties turn into a Celtic second- half clinic. They are used to watching the Spurs run teams into the San Antonio River. They also are used to having a playoff team in their city, and now that the Spurs have lost six straight games and have fallen to a 33-35 record, they may have one no longer.

Boston assumed control of the game with a defensively oriented spurt late in the second quarter. The score was 62-60, Boston, with 2:04 left in the half when the Celtics clamped on some serious D. Two free throws by Cedric Maxwell (23 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) started the run. Then Maxwell switched off to help Tiny Archibald guard James Silas, blocking the latter's jumper and starting a fast break culminated by his own crashing dunk. The Celtics harassed the Spurs into a turnover, and Larry Bird (29, 6 and 6) banked in a weird hesitation jumper. The Celtics came up with another steal, and Pete

Maravich deftly sent in Bird for an authoritative dunk to make the score 70-60 at the half. That defense carried over into the third period, when the Celtics quickly spurted into a 78-62 lead, again via tough defense and its auxiliary partner, the fast break. Before the third period would come to a merciful conclusion, the Celtics would shoot 16-for-21; Spurs' interim coach Bob Bass would call three slow-'em-down timeouts within seven minutes; Bird would increase his point total to 29; Tiny Archibald would have 19 points and 9 assists; and the Celtics would have a 107-84 lead to nurse through the final period.

What passed for second-half suspense was a San Antonio burst of six unanswered points to open the fourth period. That prompted an irate Bill Fitch into a timeout of his own, and when play resumed, the Celtics proved that they were decent listeners. They resumed playing basketball instead of alleyball, and before too long the scoreboard was posting such scores as 113-91, 126-99 and, finally, 137-108, this coming on a buzzer-beating tap-in by Eric Fernsten.

The Celtics had done many good things in this game, but what pleased Fitch most of all was the affirmation of Celtic depth. The first period had ended with an intriguing 40-40 score, and with the game being played at that pace, Fitch knew he would need some decent performances from the bench. "San Antonio played doggone good in the first period," Fitch said. "They came at us. Our subs did not interfere with the flow of the game. They enabled us to keep right on going." Among those helpful subs was Dave Cowens, who was called upon to replace Rick Robey after the young center picked up three fouls by the time the game was three minutes old. But with Cowens, M.L. Carr and Maravich out there, the Celtics put on the big second-period surge.

Bird was pulled by Fitch with 8:58 left after missing his first four fourth-period shots. He obviously was tired after having spent the evening jousting with a Spur tag-team defensive combine of Mark Olberding and Kevin Restani. But Bird had devastated the Spurs in the first half by scoring 24 points on just 11 shots, eight of which he made. "Coach Bass," said Restani, "told Mark and me to just worry about him. Turn your back on everybody else and forget about team defense. I turned my back a couple of times to help out, though, and he just took a quick step into the corner for a three-pointer. That's like a layup for him."

Another Celtic standout was Maxwell, whose passing and boardwork (especially in the deciding third quarter) helped open up the running game, and Archibald played one of his best games of the second half of the season. As for San Antonio, the old run-and-gun game just isn't cutting it anymore. They've now surrendered 129 points a game during these six losses. What else need be said?