February 13, 1985
CELTICS BURNED OUT, 111-103
Don't panic. This does not mean that the Celtics must sign Ray Williams or deal Cedric Maxwell before Friday night's NBA trading deadline.
The Celts were beaten by the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-103, last night. The Blazers burst to a hideous 49-23 first-half lead and hung on after the Celts cut it to five in the third period.
Darnell Valentine (23 points) Jim Paxson (21), Clyde Drexler (21 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists) and much-maligned rookie center Sam Bowie (13 rebounds, four blocks) snapped Boston's four-game winning streak and cut the Celts first-place lead over Philadelphia to one half game. The Celtics have five more to play on this West Coast swing and it's obviously going to be an interesting stretch run.
Boston simply ran into a locomotive last night. The 23-28 Blazers (playing without injured Kiki Vandeweghe) were due for a big game, and the Celts appeared fat from the All-Star break and ripe for the kill.
After missing their first shots of the night, the Blazers buried nine straight and kept the Celts from getting a rebound in the first four minutes. Before you could say "Flying Burrito Brothers," Portland led by the unthinkable count of 35-12 with four minutes left in the first quarter.
"I don't know what it was, but it was ugly," said Robert Parish, who scored 24 with 10 rebounds.
"They came out running, jumping, running their fast break," said K.C. Jones. "They played a perfect basketball game, and we didn't have much on either end . . . Such is life in the fast lane."
Jones was forced to call his first timeout after only two minnutes and four seconds of play.
Things fell apart after the early pause. The Celts stood around and watched Paxson lead a 10-0 run which made it 20-6 and forced an embarrassed Jones to call for another timeout. The Celts had surrendered 20 points in four minutes and one second.
It got much worse, folks. The standaround Celts continued to miss shots (Dennis Johnson finished 1-11) and allow Portland every rebound. Jones replaced his starting guards with Quinn Buckner and Carlos Clark, but there was no relief in sight. Drexler was doing everything he pleased (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists in the quarter), and a pair of free throws by Valentine pushed the lead to 35-12.
The Celts cut the lead to 38-21 after one, but shot 30 percent (7-23), committed six turnovers and were outrebounded, 17-10, in the first 12 minutes.
Buckner and Clark were both stipped of the ball in the first two minutes of the second and Portland increased its lead to 26 points (49-23) with a 10-2 run. It was 66-46 at halftime.
Trailing, 70-48, early in the third, Boston's starting five stunned the sellout crowd with a 20-4 run. The Celts' sole surge of the night was orchestrated by Larry Bird, Cedric Maxwell, and Danny Ainge, all of whom had bad first halves.
After Kevin McHale sliced Portland's lead to five, Bird came out and the Celts slumped. Darnell Valentine shot Portland to a 90-81 lead at the end of three.
"A good team like Boston is always going to make a run, but we kept our poise," noted Portland coach Jack Ramsay.
With Bird still on the bench, Portland opened the fourth with four quick points. After Bird came back, a vicious sneakaway slam by Drexler made it 96-81 and effectively put it away. Any remaining doubts were squashed when Sam Bowie canned a foul-line jumper with 6:42 left to make it 101-84. When the Blazers led by 17 with 2:59 showing, white flag Rick Carlisle came off the Celtic bench.
Bird was a little puzzled by his pine time and said, "I don't know why he took me out, but he's the coach."
Jones said, "I thought he was tired and figured maybe we could hold the fort while he rested. But that's not what hurt us. It was mishandling the ball and our shot selection that killed us."
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