Das Pistol is Smokin’

Das Pistol is Smokin’

March 26, 1980

PISTOL IS SMOKING

Like, wow, Pistol, did you really want to shoot a three- pointer?

The Celtics were losing by two points, 95-93. A sequence begun when Pete Maravich himself had missed a jumper (one of only two fourth-period misses in 10 tries), and there had been a couple of taps, a back-tap across mid-court and another miss. Now the 24-second clock was again dwindling down and here was Maravich on the right flank, a half-step or so outside the line. To advance, or not to advance, that was clearly the question.



"The time before I had driven to the right," Maravich said. "This time Kevin (Grevey) had taken a step back. I think he felt I was going to dribble and take a two-pointer. I would rather take a three-pointer and get us a lead than just get into overtime. Anyway, if I had taken a step I would have been moving. This way I had my balance."

And so Maravich shot the ball and it swished. On many another Celtic night this season it would not have held up. In Atlanta there were approximately 137 lead changes in the final 90 seconds. But this time it held up through an involved set of circumstances and The Pistol was a certified, bona fide and maybe even cannonized hero in The Hub.

Cedric Maxwell, who was coming off an 18-for-47 shooting stretch in his previous four games, and who had been the target of some good-natured kidding from Chris Ford and M.L. Carr in a psyche-up vein prior to the game, played a strong game, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 45 minutes of action. "I wasn't primed for this game, per se," he contended. "A lot of things have been written about how I was in a slump, and I was, but I think it was due to my (sprained) ankle. I just wanted to ignore the pain and establish the things I like to do. I wanted to get some shots off down low early (he was 5-for-5 in the first period, and all on his patented power moves in tight), and I wanted to take a few outside shots so I could open up the lane."

The Celtics concluded a strange season's series with the Bullets by going 3-0 at the Capital Centre (two routs and this bladder-bloater) and 1-2 in Boston . . . Super John Williamson was booed upon his entrances and certainly looked chubbier than he did just 16 days ago, when he destroyed the Celtics in that overtime game in the Garden . . . Rick Robey was held scoreless for the first time all year, and his 15 minutes of playing time was his fewest minutes since Jan. 20, when the Celtics lost to Seattle.

The passing in the game was crisp. Consider that in the first half the Celtics had assists on 22 of their 26 baskets, while Washington had assists on 17 of their 21 . . . Their were only 26 turnovers in the game, with Washington contributing just 11 . . . The Celtics can now wrap up this division championship, no matter what Philly does tonight against Atlanta, by winning home games tonight (New York) and Friday (Cleveland) . . . Little remembered was a typically useless technical incurred by Kevin Porter in the first quarter, a mouthy comment that turned two Tiny Archibald free throws into a gratis three-point play during a one-point game. But the Bullets couldn't have been in it without his 15 assists . . . Chris Ford was reactivated prior to the game after having missed nine games, and Don Chaney was placed on the injured list with a groin pull.