Lakers-Celtics Again

May 24, 1985

FINAL EXAMINATION CELTICS, LAKERS PUT TO THE TEST FOR NINTH TIME

New England awoke with a Celtic hangover yesterday. Wednesday's conquest of the Philadelphia 76ers was as fresh as morning coffee, and the anticipation of a Boston-Los Angeles rematch made some folks wish this weekend was already over.



The final series doesn't start until Memorial Day Monday (3 p.m., Channel 7) and coach K.C. Jones rewarded his team with a rare day off.

This will be the ninth time that the Celtics and Lakers have met in the NBA finals. Boston has won all eight series, including last year's pulsating, seven-game, body-heat special. The Lakers thought they were better then, and know they're better now. They come to Boston with the eye of the tiger and the legs of Carl Lewis. Strap yourself in.

The Celtics, meanwhile, seek to become the NBA's first repeat champions since their Boston forefathers turned the trick in 1968-69. Only three of the 15 who failed have made it back to the final round. It should also be noted that Boston teams are 15-1 in championship series.

Leftover observations from the Sixer series serve as a good introduction to the imminent tidal wave of preseries analysis:

- Larry Bird - Blame it on the elbow, the finger, the MBTA or the law of averages . . . but Boston's MVP is in a legitimate slump, his worst of an MVP season. He shot 42 percent (39 of 93) in the Philadelphia series and scored only 10 field goals in the last two games (10 of 33, 30 percent). Since muffling the fans in Cleveland, he has made fewer than half of his shots in seven of 11 games. Meanwhile, his rebounding has trailed off. Bird averaged only 7.2 rebounds against the Sixers. This is the hungry-hearted forward who averaged a whopping 14 rebounds per game against LA last spring.

Bird acknowledged the problem late Wednesday night, saying, "I didn't shoot well in this series and I just didn't play well. Usually when I don't shoot well, I do other things like rebounding, but I didn't do much of that in this series, either. I've got to get back to my game . . . I haven't played that well this round, but the guys carried me. But, hopefully, LA can be my series and I can carry them a little."

Jones indicated that injuries were the cause of Bird's slump. "The bad finger really does a job on his shooting," said the coach. "Plus, there's the elbow and an ankle. Someone else would not be playing in that condition, but I can't keep him off the court, even after practice."

- Robert Parish - Hail to the Chief. He has taken a lot of heat (much of it generated in this space) for postseason plunges, but was the clear-cut MVP of the Sixer series. During the regular season, Moses Malone outscored Parish, 26-13, and outrebounded the Chief, 16-8, but Parish took over in the playoffs. He shot 47 percent (36 for 76) to Malone's 41 percent (32 for 79) and matched Malone's offensive rebound total of 17. Parish had 13 blocks to Malone's seven and neutralized Moses' scoring (17.4 to Malone's 18.2) and rebounding (13 to Malone's 13.4).

"This is the most alert I've seen Robert in a long time," said Jones. "But I've always had the feeling that I can count on Robert in crunch time."

The bottom line is that the Chief outplayed Malone and is the man most responsible for Boston's 4-1 win. Now all he has to do is outrun the old guy with the goggles who plays the pivot for the Lakers.

- The bench - It appears the Celtics will attempt to win the title using five players. Each man in Boston's starting five played 41 or more minutes Wednesday. In 15 playoff games, Boston's bench has been outscored, 494-292. The Cavaliers, Pistons and Sixers employed their reserves for 1120 minutes compared with 723 minutes for Boston's Pine Gang. Meanwhile, the Celtics have won 11 while losing only four.

Ray Williams turned his ankle after scoring nine points in five minutes Wednesday but is expected to be ready Monday. Scott Wedman is available when the Celtics rest Bird, but Cedric Maxwell's Game 5 performance revealed that Max is still not ready for prime time. One shudders at the thought of Max trying to stay with James Worthy for more than five seconds. Even Jones admitted yesterday, "I think the leg is not ready yet."

- Rebounds and fast breaks - After Greco-Roman wrestling with the beasts of the East, the Celtics must prepare for a major adjustment.

"It's totally different," said Jones. "We thought we were a running team last year until LA got here in that first game and we all got pneumonia because they were going by us so fast."

Board domination enabled the Celtics to stop LA's running game last year, and the Celtics appear ready to work the boards again. Battling Malone and Charles Barkley for five games, Boston neutralized Philly's rebounding strength in the conference finals: the Celtics had 218 rebounds to Philadelphia's 220.