Jerry West on KG v. Kobe

Tip of the cap to Michael for reminding me of this piece from the Globe The man who brought Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers recently called the high-scoring, high-maintenance guard the best player in the NBA. West made his preference clear with all due respect to the Celtics' Kevin Garnett , though the Hollywood logic behind his choice likely will spark some debate. 

"Garnett is very good, but if he had the pressure on him to score like Kobe does every night, there's a difference," West said. "Kevin is going to be a great, great player every night in all facets of the game. 

But the other one has a little bit different kind of cachet to him." While Garnett is a "tremendously good basketball player," West said Bryant brings a degree of excitement "like going to an action movie instead of seeing a great film. 

Kevin Garnett would be in a great film and Kobe Bryant would be the action-hero figure. He's going to supply the jumps off the tops of bridges, dunks, going through 10 people, driving to make a layup.

 "Kevin Garnett is just going to be the steady, steady, steady guy there every night. But I think from an all-around standpoint, Kobe is the best." "I love Kevin Garnett as a player. As you move along in your life, you learn to appreciate different things. I saw the incredible skill of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I saw incredible skill in Magic Johnson. 

But Magic Johnson was the action hero, and Abdul-Jabbar was your serious actor. Boston's never had a player like Bryant. West acknowledged the impact Garnett has made with the Celtics and commented that he is happy for them.

 But do the Celtics have what it takes to win a championship? "I wouldn't even want to venture into that," said West. "One injury to the best of teams [changes the odds]. I don't care who it is. You take the best player off the best team and they can forget about it." --- Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. 

Your beloved purple was supposedly deeper, more talented, and better coached than Da Green, and yet they still lost 6 of 8 games this year (if you read any Bob Ryan, then you'll also agree that the purple should have lost all eight). Worse, in two games, your team quit trying before the game was over.

That's right, your team quit competing despite the fact that they are paid millions to do so, not to mention that they are professional athletes and ought to have some individual pride. Shameful and shameless. 12/30/2007 Game at Staples Purple Quits Trying With 7 Minutes Left in 4th 6/19/2008 NBA Finals Game 6 Purple Quits Trying at Half

Purple vs. Green: The Hatred Runs Deep

3/29/2013

BOSTON -- After Friday's back-and-forth between Pat Riley and Danny Ainge, you have to remember one telling, underlying fact: The Heat el jefe started it. And he started it because he can't help himself.

He (cue Tommy Heinsohn voice here) loathes, loathes, LOATHES the Boston Celtics.

Red's Last Motivational Speech as Head Coach

Thursday night, April 28, 1966, was eventful in Boston.

It was seventh game of the championship series against the Los Angeles Lakers and Red Auerbach's last as a pro coach. The Celtics were going for an eighth consecutive National Basketball Association title.

Auerbach, reliving the past, recently recalled his final pep talk.

"This one means $700 apiece to you guys," he told his team. "That's the difference between the winners' and losers' shares. Show me another way you can make $700 quicker."

The National Basketball Association has since grown from 9 to 23 teams and the playoff pool to $1.5 million, with the winner's share worth about 30,000 a player.

The Celtics beat the Lakers in that last game, 95-93, and Auerbach went out a winner.

Three seasons later, on May 5, 1969, the Celtics were again involved in a seventh game in the championship round against the Lakers. This time it was Bill Russell's final game as a Celtic.

Jack Kent Cooke, then the Los Angeles owner, ordered thousands of balloons to be released from the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., to mark a Laker victory. They never were released because Boston won, 108-106, for its 11th championship.

1984 Purple v. Green: Reality and Rhetoric

June 1984

Two weeks of soaring slams, sweeping sky hooks, arching jumpers, savage boardwork, crisp passing and just plain passion have resulted in a deadlock. The Celtics and Lakers, burdened with the public pressure to entertain us with professional basketball at its best, have often done just that.

But amid the obvious basketball issues in this series there have been needless diversions. Let us set the record straight by identifying the two biggest nonissues in the Celtics -Lakers series.

1. Pat Riley Calls The Celtics Thugs'

It was just a standard playoff bit designed to attract the attention of the two officials who were working the next game. Who are the Celtic ruffians? Robert Parish? He sure leaves bruises. Cedric (I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter) Maxwell? Kevin McHale (one regrettable foul does not a bully make)? Larry Bird? No Steeler linebackers in that corps.

M.L. Carr aside, the Celtics have no players on the roster to rival the recent likes of Dave Cowens, Paul Silas and Rick Robey. I've got too much respect for Pat Riley's intelligence and class to take seriously anything he said about the Celtics being a rough team. The Celtics rough? That snicker you hear over there in the corner belongs to Rick Mahorn.

Good try, Pat. Shows you have a sense of history.

2. The Celtics Band Together To Show Up The Media

After Game 4 you kept hearing the media this and the media that coming out of Celtics' mouths. The inference was that the Boston press (and public) had questioned the team's integrity following the Game 3 rout. That is not what happened.

Leaving aside whatever Tom Heinsohn said or did not say about Dennis Johnson on the telly, and therefore sticking to the printed ac-counts, the truth is that people questioned Boston's ability to compete with Los Angeles on a talent basis. To hear the Celtics tell it, they were accused of burning orphanages in their spare time. The worst part was that certain irresponsible local scribes printed their inane statements without qualification.

Now let's talk about the real issues in this series.

1. Double-Teaming

There may never have been a series like it. Both the Celtics and Lakers have a star player of such magnitude that full-time double-teaming has been deemed necessary. The Celtics are doing what teams generally do by double- teaming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But by insisting that Larry Bird cannot be handled by one man, the Lakers are paying him a tribute accorded few, if any, forwards, in history.

Suffice it to say that what each of these great players has achieved in light of the attention lavished upon him by their opponents is astonishing.

2. Conditions

Somebody Up There likes the Celtics. The visiting Lakers first spent four days in a hotel plagued by incessant nocturnal fire alarms. They spent their second trip moping around in a heat wave. They simply could not adapt to the playing conditions inside the Boston Garden, where the game-time temperature was 97 degrees. Backed by their fans, the Celtics were able to turn the adverse Garden situation into an asset.

3. Crowds

This was thought to be a major Boston advantage, and indeed it was until the third quarter of Game 6. There was a Boston timeout with the score Boston 84, LA 81, during which the normally somnolent Forum gathering transformed itself into a maniacal mob that the Palestra would have embraced as its own. The Celtics, of course, are assuming that tonight their backers will be in a mood to wake the dead in every Southern California cemetery.

4. Magic vs. Larry vs. Ziegfeld

We wanted a seven-game series in order to observe the two best all-around players in the game. What have we learned? We've learned that Magic is a wondrous full-court player. We've learned that Magic will stand out there and knock in 20-foot set shots as long as you'll let him. We learned that Bird will always find a way to score, that he is a phenomenal rebounder and that he eagerly embraces the concept that he is the team leader.

However, this being basketball, we have also been reminded that there is no more effective weapon than a big scoring center. The Bird-Magic argument is mainly artistic. The fact remains that if the 22-year-old Larry Bird, the 22- year-old Magic Johnson and the 22-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were all available in a given college draft, that the first pick would be Kareem.

5. It Has All Been Worth It

Some might argue that we would probably need a great game tonight to officially label the series a certified classic, but we have all basically gotten what we wished for. Each team has demonstrated that it has the heart and intelligence to match its talent. The runnerup will be disappointed, but surely not embarrassed.

"I got 'em. I Finally Got Him"

That's what Larry Bird said to Quinn Buckner a few hours after the Boston Celtics took game 7 of the 1984 Finals. Of course, we all know now who Larry was talking about. I'm about half-way through the HBO documentary. It is outstanding. Perhaps even better. Bird has his game face on throughout the entire show as he reflects back on the rivalry. Stoic, in the moment, the moment having occurred 20-30 years earlier.

Pat Riley Appreciated the Bird-Magic Rivalry

1984 NBA Finals

GAME 1

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

"HERE, look at this," the Los Angeles Lakers' coach, Pat Riley, said one recent afternoon as he sat in his bright and spacious office at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. He handed his visitor a large black-and-white photograph. "Isn't it something?" he asked.

Larry v. Magic: Postscript #3

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

Game 4 in Los Angeles had been an epic - truly one of the great games in Celtics playoff history - and now the teams were arriving at Logan Airport late on a Thursday afternoon to find a very different Boston than the one they had left five days earlier.

For Boston was in the grip of a heat wave.

We're talking high 90s with accompanying East Coast humidity. Logan Airport was chaotic. There were cars and taxis everywhere. There were people sweating, babies crying, miserable, angry, and frustrated people all over. If you ever saw "The Year of Living Dangerously," you know what I'm talking about.

The traffic was such a mess that the state troopers would not allow the Laker bus to get near Terminal C. And that's when I saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson folding themselves into the same taxi, and never mind the idea of the presi dent and vice president flying on the same plane.

"This," I remember thinking, "is not exactly what those two had in mind."

It was the eve of Game 5 in that unforgettable 1984 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, and it was a pretty good prelude for the game that took place the following night.

It was to be a very important affair, Game 5, with the teams tied at two games apiece and feelings coming to a boil. The series could easily have been an LA sweep, but a lot had happened to change the tone of the series, most notably a vicious Kevin McHale takedown of Kurt Rambis in Game 4 that would have gotten him suspended for the duration today.

The weather snippet on the far right corner of the game-day Globe said, "Hazy, humid, low 90s," but that turned out to be an understatement. By mid-afternoon it was a record-setting 96, so everyone knew it was going to be a very interesting evening of basketball because the original Boston Garden did not have that newfangled thing known as air conditioning.

There were some hot nights in that old building over the years, but there was never one like the evening of June 8, 1984. The male fans wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts. The women wore, well, as little as possible. Halter tops proliferated. There was never a day or evening in the long history of that building when there was so much exposed skin.

CBS announced a game-time temperature of 97 degrees.

The Lakers did not like it, and Kareem disliked it most of all. He was 37, and fairly cranky to begin with, and playing a Finals game in 97-degree heat was not his idea of fun. He would shoot 7 for 25 and wind up sucking on oxygen (honest).

"I suggest you go to the local steam bath with all your clothes on," he said afterward. "First, try to do 100 push-ups. Then run back and forth for 48 minutes."

Referee Hugh Evans had to leave at halftime, a victim of dehydration. Robert Parish sat out a stretch of the second half with leg cramps. But there was one player who applied mind over matter better than everyone else, one player who not only overcame the circumstances to play a good game of basketball, but who so took to the conditions that he played one of the great games of his life.

As my mother used to say, I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count

"I play in this stuff all the time back home, " sneered Larry Bird. "It's like this all summer."

He had just played 42 minutes in Kareem's sauna. He had scored 34 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and shot 15 for 20. He even blocked a James Worthy shot. The Celtics had won, 121-103, to take charge of a series they would win in seven, and the man deserving the first, second, and third stars was No. 33.

"The man who made the difference was Bird," acknowledged Lakers coach Pat Riley. "He was just awesome. He made everything work. He was the catalyst, and that's what happens when great players come to the front."

"I've never seen him as intense as he was tonight," said Kevin McHale. "Never."
The other great force that night was the crowd, which turned what could have been a negative into a complete positive by celebrating the absurd conditions. Rather than bemoaning the heat, those savvy people celebrated it, realizing that the Lakers were feeling sorry for themselves because they were used to the creature comforts of the palatial Forum.

Here was the message: Watching a game in an old, cramped, steamy building and sitting on those hard seats, why, that's what we do here in New England. We don't need your cushioned seats and we don't need no stinkin' air conditioning. We leave that stuff to you West Coast wusses. And, by the way, your team is soft.

"It was extremely hot; both teams were affected," said Riley. "But Boston showed up better than we did. I think the home crowd had something to do with that. It gave them some adrenaline."

Those great people just did what used to come so naturally. Wyc and Pags, get this: No over-the-top PA man. No ridiculously loud and unnecessary music. No Jumbotron to tell you when to cheer and how to react. No dancing girls. The fans created an atmosphere to remember all by themselves. People in those days actually knew how to cheer. They went to the game to see the game, not for a mini-concert, and not, Lord knows, to see themselves on a big screen.

On the night of June 8, 1984, 25 years ago tomorrow, we had an unscripted evening of serendipitous athletic joy. The Clippers will win a championship before we'll ever have the remotest chance of anything like it ever happening again.

Larry v. Magic: Postscript #2

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

November 8, 1991

Section: SPORTS

FINALS CHAPTERS CLIMAXED LEGENDARY RIVALRY

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were the epicenter of the earthquake that shook the NBA in the 1980s.

Magic's Lakers and Bird's Celtics met three times in the NBA Finals, in 1984, '85 and '87. Magic's teams won the last two, but it was the first encounter, in 1984, that may have been the on-court shot of adrenaline the league needed to make the jump to "big time."

The series shattered previous TV ratings and, because of Bird and Johnson, rekindled the LA-Boston rivalry, which dominated the league for much of the decade.

Last year Magic had pined for one more Boston-LA matchup, a Glory Days revisited, if you will. Both teams were playing well and the Lakers made it. The Celtics did not. If it happens again, Magic won't be a part of it. The Lakers guard retired yesterday.

Two Celtics guards who battled Magic in those memorable playoff series reflected on the player and the individual. Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge both went head-to-head with Johnson and both felt the better for it. Ainge said he still got a kick out of playing against Magic.

"It's the ultimate challenge for me. I love playing against him. I've said it before, but I think he's the best player of all time," Ainge said. "Maybe Michael Jordan will be, but Magic has been doing it for 12 years."

Dennis Johnson said, "I've probably guarded Magic more than anyone in the league. And when you played against a guy like him, you came away with a lot more than just basketball. The happiness. The adulation. And he never said a negative word about anyone."

Magic already had two rings, and Bird one, when the Celtics and Lakers met in the 1984 NBA Finals. It was a hugely anticipated matchup in that it had been five years in the making.

Although both players entered the league in 1979, months after their memorable meeting in the NCAA final in Salt Lake City, the Lakers and Celtics somehow managed to avoid each other come playoff time until 1984. Bird had taken Rookie of the Year honors. Johnson had finished that season with his memorable 42-point, 15-rebound, 7-assist performance while playing all five positions in the Game 6 closer against the Sixers in the Spectrum.

The Celtics won the '84 series in seven games, and Magic spent a disconsolate summer trying to shed his unfamiliar image as series goat. There were three events in that series that led to the demythologizing of Magic, something that was as short-lived as it was utterly absurd.

In Game 2, the Lakers were in position to win, but Gerald Henderson stole a James Worthy pass and tied the game. The Lakers still had time for one last possession, but Magic dribbled out the clock before LA could get off a shot. Boston went on to win in overtime.

His second gaffe came in Game 4. He had two free throws that would have put the game away but missed both. The Celtics again went on to win in overtime. In Game 7, as the Lakers were making a comeback, Magic had the ball stolen at a critical time.

Revenge came a year later, but it was a series remembered mostly for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's performance. The Lakers won in six, and for the first time, Magic was on a world champion without being the playoff MVP.

Johnson always was able to add weapons to his game. He became a 3-point threat. And because of his height, he developed an affinity for posting up smaller guards and learned the baby sky hook from Abdul-Jabbar.

That move came in handy in Game 4. The Lakers had crushed the ailing Celtics in the first two games and, save for Greg Kite, might have won Game 3. Boston built a double-digit lead into the third quarter in Game 4 and seemed destined to tie the series.

But Magic stepped forward. With the Celtics leading, 106-105, Johnson posted up and tossed in a baby hook from the lane. LA took a 3-1 lead and closed out the Celtics at home in Game 6.

Johnson also had one dramatic game-winner against Boston in the regular season. The two teams met early in the 1987-88 season, and both were struggling. The Celtics had lost three of four, and LA was on an Eastern swing, having lost to Cleveland.

Magic won the game for the Lakers at the buzzer with a banker off an inbounds pass. The Lakers then went on a 15-game winning binge and eventually won their second straight NBA title.

Ainge was on all three Boston teams, as was DJ. Ainge ran into Johnson again last year in the Western Conference finals.

"I felt we had a great team last year in Portland," Ainge said. "We won 63 games and we might have won a championship. But Magic Johnson beat us. Magic Johnson has been the roadblock to a few championship rings for me.

Larry v. Magic: Postscript #1

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

February 16, 1991

Section: SPORTS

HE STILL HAS MAGIC TOUCH

He remembers being shocked by the criticism leveled at Larry Bird his first few months back from heel surgery. Magic Johnson was both angry and dumbfounded.

How much can people expect? Don't they understand we are human?

The answer, he knows firsthand, is no. The curse of the

superstar is the day when he loses a step, lets down his guard for the moment.

"The price of fame is tremendous," said Johnson. "The trick is to remain constant, to do it again and again and again. But you must also remember that as fast as you can get up there, you can go the other way just as quickly."

For most of his storied NBA career, Johnson -- like Bird -- avoided the sting of criticism. Both were champions, MVPs, elite players on elite teams.

But then Los Angeles began the 1990-91 season with a 2-5 mark, and all bets were off. The Lakers were under fire, and the snipers were aiming for Magic Johnson from all sides.

"They looked at the record," he said, "and it was a reflection of me. Everything the Lakers do is a reflection of me."

Perhaps that is why, then, the Lakers have been able to post the best record in the NBA since their inauspicious start. Perhaps that also explains the 16-game winning streak, which was finally snapped Tuesday night in the final seconds by Phoenix. It was LA's second-longest winning stretch in 19 years, and its point guard was the architect.

Magic Johnson may be shooting only 47.5 percent, but he is not ready to let down his guard. Nor, he adds hastily, is his team. First-year coach Mike Dunleavy has a plan, and the Lakers are learning to implement it.

"We have a great basketball team," Johnson said. "Everything is clicking now, both offensively and defensively.

"In preseason, we had no identity. People were still making us out to be a running team, and when we weren't doing that, they said, 'Oh-oh, what's wrong with the Lakers?'

"Nothing was wrong other than adjusting to a new coach and a new style. That takes time."

Johnson had questions in the early going about Dunleavy's style; questions that were made public, and subsequently caused a furor. Yet Magic now advertises himself as a Dunleavy backer.

"We know what he wants now," Johnson said. "He's got us believing that we can't just run, run, run. Detroit has proven there are other ways.

"Mike is a player's coach. He's a guy who has been through it, and he understands what players go through.

"But that's not to say he isn't tough. We hear from him when things don't go right."

To fully appreciate the difference in the Lakers' style, you must first realize they are relinquishing only 99.3 points a game. LA and Detroit are the only teams in the league holding clubs under 100 points. In comparison, the last season they won the title, 1987-88, the Lakers gave up an average of 107.0 points a game (11th in the league), while averaging 112.8 points a game (fifth in the league).

These days LA looks vaguely familiar to the team Dunleavy came from -- Milwaukee. Like the Bucks, the Lakers are stressing defense and a controlled, ball-movement offense.

"But the difference between us and Milwaukee is we have players who can post up," said Magic. "Sam Perkins can do it, and James Worthy makes a living of it, and I have good success with it. Vlade Divac is growing more comfortable with it, too."

The names Divac and Shaw and Gamble and Perkins do not belong to original members of the LA-Boston rivalry, a battle that has lost some of its luster in recent years.

Both the game and those who played it have undergone significant changes since Bird and Magic bounded onto the scene. In the old days, people adjusted to them. Now they must be willing to make the adjustments.

"As an old man, you know you have to change," said Johnson. "You have to keep yourself going, but you can only do that for so long.

"Me? I need new things. The way we are playing now is new for me. That's what's keeping me going.

"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is retired now. Michael Cooper is gone. I would be retired, too, if there wasn't something here to keep me interested."

The goal is no different than in any other season -- to win the NBA championship. LA is nearly three seasons removed from that now; Boston is five. Detroit and Portland have stuck their noses in, and proven there is more to the NBA than the Celtics and the Lakers.

And yet the rivalry lives on, as long as Magic Johnson and Larry Bird can breathe and run and throw look-away passes.

"Sam told me after we beat the Celtics he had never won a game in Boston Garden before," Magic said. "That was a really big thing for him. To see him enjoy that, it brought out a lot of joy in me. There are some things you never get tired of."

For Magic, beating Boston is one of those things.

Larry v. Magic: Game 37

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

CELTICS' DAZZLE FRAZZLES LAKERS

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

Something special is happening out here. The Celtics are three time zones away and doing some eerie things while most of New England sleeps.

Last night they went into the Forum and won for the first time in five years. They got a season-high 29 points from Robert Parish, 26 from Reggie Lewis and solid defense from everyone in a 98-85 stunner before Jack Nicholson, Dyan Cannon and 17,503 others.

To give you an idea of how convincing this one was, the Lakers led for all of 22 seconds -- at 6-4 -- in the building where they had won 14 straight. Not only that, but the Lakers managed a meager 13 points on 4-for-19 shooting in the fourth quarter.

Chris Ford's reenergized juggernaut has now won six straight, including all three on this trip. Last night was only their second regular-season victory over the Lakers in their last 10 meetings and more than atoned for a 104-87 defeat to Magic Johnson & Co. on Super Bowl Sunday.

"Give them credit. They played a great game," Magic said. "The whole night, I never really thought we got into a rhythm."

To add to the strange mix, the Celtics again were without Kevin McHale (ankle), who had to restrain himself in the locker room while the surprising triumph unfolded. They are 2-0 without McHale, who quite likely won't play tomorrow in Denver.

Larry Bird had an atrocious shooting game (4 for 16) and had only one basket in the final 33 minutes. But, typically, it was a big one. He drained a trey which gave Boston a 92-81 lead and all but ended any Laker hopes. Bird managed a triple-double, getting 11s across the board in 40 minutes.

"I was tired out there, so I tried to distribute the ball as best I could," Bird said. "We just went to the hot man and kept going to him."

The hot men? Start with the Chief. Parish delivered a first quarter right out of the Chamberlain handbook. He was 9 for 10 from the field after missing his first shot, scoring a staggering 21 points. Predictably, he tailed off, but he was an inside force all night (10 rebounds and 2 blocks).

Lewis took over after a scoreless first quarter, punctuating his output with two Forum-clearing jumpers in the fourth quarter.

It was Parish, however, who set the tone, and the Celtics rarely wavered from it all game. He had the first 5 points of an early 9-0 run which erased the only Laker lead of the game.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, was resigned to looking a lot like the old Celtics. Magic (21 points, 16 assists) would dump it in to James Worthy (23 points) and the rest of the Lakers would settle into their lawn chairs and watch.

The Celtics' faced two semi-serious Laker thrusts after bolting to a 35-27 one-period lead. They went cold early in the second and LA actually tied it, 39-39, on a jump hook by an injured and ineffective Sam Perkins (7 points in 24 minutes).

But Boston regrouped and Kevin Gamble (14) and Lewis took over. They scored the final 19 of Boston's 23 second-quarter points. At the half, the Boston lead was 11.

Everyone from Malibu to Thousand Oaks could have predicted a Lakers surge in the third. They hit their first five shots and pulled to 62-57. Ford called time and Boston responded with a Lewis-led 7-1 run. The lead was back to 11.

The Lakers' last real challenge came late in the third. An A.C. Green put-back made it 75-72.

But Ed Pinckney then came up with two big plays. He rebounded one of many Bird bricks, which led to a Lewis banker. At the other end, he swallowed a Perkins drive and that led to another Lewis hoop. Gamble then finished off the mini-run -- all this happened in the final 49 seconds -- with a steal and two free throws. The lead was 81-72 after three.

Los Angeles never got closer than 6 in the fourth. It made only one basket in the final 7:32. Gamble launched a game-deciding 11-2 run with a lefty drive and the spurt included Bird's big trey and Lewis' two hoops, which gave the beautiful people the excuse they needed to leave early.

Larry v. Magic: Game 36

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

February 19, 1990

Section: SPORTS

A RUNNING STORY: LA PREVAILS AGAIN

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

The game plan was being followed to a textbook T. Turnovers? A manageable seven at intermission, a nice complement to a half in which the Celtics shot 63 percent from the floor.

Did someone mention shooting? In the first eight minutes of the third quarter, Boston hit 90 percent of its jumpers.

And lost the lead.

The game, too.

And so it goes in the Fabulous Forum, where the Celtics acquitted themselves admirably yesterday, yet still fell, 116-110, to the league's best team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The infuriating reality is this: Boston can shoot the lights out (61.5 percent for the game) and play near perfect basketball for 40 minutes, but the Lakers will take those eight minutes when your concentration wavers and stuff them down your throat.

Consider the aforementioned stretch of the third quarter, which began with the Boys in Green on top, 58-52.

With 9:02 on the clock, Magic Johnson knocked down his first 3-pointer of the day. That seemed harmless enough, especially since Reggie Lewis (24 points on 10-of-13 shooting) countered with a slashing jumper.

No problem, right? James Worthy (25 points), who terrorized the Celtics all afternoon, knocked a drive in underneath and when Lewis hit the deck scrambling for a loose ball, he and Magic were called for a jump, which the Lakers controlled.

That turned into a Mychal Thompson bucket, which Larry Bird (20 points) answered shortly thereafter. Still no need to panic.

But the next time down, Worthy pulled up short on his jumper, Robert Parish lost a handle on the rebound,

and it was LA's ball. Byron Scott made good on the second chance, and the Lakers were within 2 (70-68).

Now the Boston bench began shifting uncomfortably. Bird walked the next time down and Scott hit a single free throw. Parish swished a rainbow, Worthy scored on a drive, Dennis Johnson nailed a perimeter jumper, and Magic pulled up for another 3-pointer.

Tie game, 74-74.

Momentarily stunned, Boston regained its composure and struck on a Lewis lob to Kevin McHale. But here came Magic again, with another pull-up 3.

When Scott stole DJ's entry pass to Parish, LA was off and running, with Scott finishing off the 3-point play, the 21-10 run and the Lakers' 80-76 advantage.

At that moment, Boston was 9 for 10 from the floor, yet somehow had lost 11 points.

"We got beat on the hustle plays," said Parish, who scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. "That's what beat us. Jump balls, second and third attempts . . . they thrive on that."

"I think the 3s took a lot out of them," said Magic, whose MVP line included 30 points and 13 assists. "That kind of run really deflates you. You play as well as you can and you still lose the lead."

Boston did forge ahead again by the end of the third (94-92) on a Kevin Gamble 3-point bomb with one tick on the clock, but it was disheartening nonetheless to shoot 79 percent in a quarter and cling to a one-basket advantage.

That lead was still in place with 9:18 left -- when another brief spell of mistakes did the Celtics in.

An Orlando Woolridge slam off a Boston turnover knotted the score at 98 and kicked off a run that staked the Lakers to a 106-100 edge with 5:34 left.

Included in that stretch was Woolridge stripping McHale of the ball (that turned into a killer Scott trey from the corner), an ill-advised McHale 3-point attempt, a Parish turnover in the post and a forced, off-balance jumper by DJ with the shot clock running down. Those were Boston's worst two minutes of the day, and they came in crunch time.

"Give them some credit," said McHale, "but we didn't move the ball well. We weren't aggressive. We fell apart."

The Celtics were outdone on the offensive glass, 13-6. Thompson, Worthy and rookie Vlade Divac accounted for the majority of those second chances.

In fact, the Yugoslavian center was the embodiment of the hustle plays Parish referred to. He scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds, but was also a defensive presence, forcing Parish and McHale to alter shots.

So it didn't matter that LA shot 47.3 percent from the floor, or that Worthy's shoulder was so sore he iced it at every timeout. The Lakers live for opportunities, and the Celtics gave them just enough to clinch it.

Larry v. Magic: Game 35

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

Lakers Win Battle of Good v. Great

December 16, 1989

Section: SPORTS

LA'S FOURTH GEAR STALLS CELTICS

Some rivalries never die, and the Celtics vs. the Lakers may well be one of them.

Let's just say the "Beat LA" chant is terminally ill.

The Garden crowd was reduced to a whisper last night by the Lakers, who blew open the game in the fourth quarter, then cruised off the parquet with a 119-110 win.

Leading the charge was Magic Johnson, who scored 16 points, handed out 21 assists and made 6 steals, and James Worthy, the fluid forward who torched Boston for 28 points. In spite of their gaudy numbers, those two were only part of the story.

The other half included a string of perimeter jumpers from A.C. Green (8 for 12, 25 points), who normally makes his living in and around the paint, and even more outside shooting from Byron Scott (9 for 15, 21 points). In all, LA shot 54.3 percent from the floor and simply outmatched the Celtics with smarts, ball movement and quickness. The Lakers did all that without a center in their starting lineup, since Mychal Thompson was sidelined with an inflamed Achilles' tendon.

"I didn't know what to expect coming in," said Larry Bird. "But this is the first time I can honestly say they are better."

"I don't know of anyone playing better than that," said Robert Parish.

These rare admissions of Laker supremacy were with good reason. There's an overused cliche in sports, and it's called the killer instinct. It separates good teams from great teams, which these days is the same as separating Boston from LA.

What the Lakers did to the Celtics on their own floor was rip their heart out. They did it quietly and swiftly in the opening minute of the final quarter.

What happened in those first 60 seconds? The Lakers dropped a neutron bomb on the Celtics, blowing them to pieces with a back-door lob from Magic Johnson to Orlando Woolridge for a 3-point play, a trifecta from Scott with the shot clock winding down and a Vlade Divac steal, which quickly (and we stress the quickly here) turned into a fast break bucket from Worthy.

A stunned Jimmy Rodgers called time, his team suddenly down, 93-82. The way LA was playing on the defensive end, it was nearly impossible to expect the slower, more deliberate Celtics to make up the difference in the final 11 minutes.

As for the Lakers' offense, it was close to flawless when they needed it most. The visitors scored on their first five possessions of the final quarter, culminated by a Divac bucket underneath that extended that opening run to a 10-0 streak and a 97-82 cushion with 10:04 to play. Down the stretch, Magic took the ball to the hole, drew a pile of defenders, then kicked it back to a teammate on the wing for an open jumper.

In that final frame, the Lakers shot 57.1 percent from the floor. The Celtics? They checked out at 37.5 percent.

"That's how it's been going for us," said Green. "Earvin draws double-teams and we spot up. If we can hit those shots, it makes it tough to stop us."

It is particularly hard to stop a team when you turn the ball over 17 times, as Boston did. It becomes more complicated when your top gun, Bird, shoots 9 for 27 from the floor. Add a 32-13 disparity on trips to the line that favored LA, and it's clear why this game turned out the way it did.

The bad vibes were evident at halftime, when the Lakers ran off with a 60-55 edge even though the Celtics shot 62.8 percent from the floor. At that juncture, no Boston player could keep up with Worthy (16 at the break) long enough to stick a hand in his face. The goggled forward ignited an 8-0 spurt in the waning minutes of the second quarter to provide LA with its 5-point spread.

"The Lakers played tremendous," said Rodgers. "Defensively, we did everything we wanted. We got them to take the outside shot, and it seemed like they hit all of them."

That, of course, wasn't by accident. Magic moves the ball better than anyone else the league. The Lakers make better decisions than anyone else the league. They also back up their offense with active, bothersome, hands-up defense.

In short, they do everything the Celtics have been trying to do for the past two months.

"The Lakers swing the ball and get it to who they want to," said Jim Paxson. "If you take something away, they react. From a basketball perspective, that's how you want it to work.

"When we call a play, we don't switch sides often enough to make it work. We rush shots we don't have."

Good teams and great teams. There was one of each on the floor last night, and for the boys in green trim, it was a little hard to swallow.

Larry v. Magic: Game 34

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

Celtics 36-12 Run Falls Short

February 15, 1988

Section: SPORTS

LAKERS BREAK AWAY FROM CELTICS

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

The moral of the story is: Hang around long enough, you'll see everything.

In this particular case, you'd see the Lakers impose a suffocating first-half defense that triggers a 20-point (64-44) halftime lead. Next you'd see the Celtics play a Michelangelo of a third period, wiping out the deficit with a 36-12 whomping that sends them into the final period leading by 4 (80-76). Finally, you'd see the Lakers demonstrate why they are defending champions (with the best chance to repeat in recent memory) by charging out of the fourth-quarter box with runs of 9-0 (in the first 1:44), 17-4, 20-7 and 31-11, all of which leads to a 115-106 victory in a game that will find its way high onto any list of "Oddities" in this historic rivalry.

"I have never had anything like that happen to a team of mine," said LA coach Pat Riley after yesterday's triumph. "You get 20-point leads where you might give up 12 or 16. But to have a 24-point swing in a game like this is incredible. It's a testimony to the Celtics, the fact that they never give up."

So what does it say about Riley's team, which responded to the challenge like, well, champs? "We never really panic anymore," explained Magic Johnson (22 points, 14 assists). That's from our years of being together. The key was to get a fast start in the fourth period. Once we did that, the whole momentum just changed. We got two big steals after our first basket, and that's what turned it around."

That's no lie. Mychal Thompson (12 points, team-high 11 rebounds) evaded a steal attempt and stuck in a short banker on the first LA possession of Period 4. Dirk Minniefield (3 turnovers, 1 assist) missed connections with Brad Lohaus, and Byron Scott (a first-half killer with 20 points) scored in transition. The next Boston possession was key, and it ended in disaster when Michael Cooper deflected a Larry Bird pass to Danny Ainge (Bird insisted he was fouled). Magic converted the turnover to give the Lakers a lead (82-80) they would never relinquish.

It was a bloodless coup. Without firing a shot, the Celtics handed over the parliamentary keys to the opposition.

The aforementioned momentum shift was irrevocable. The Lakers had regained their desire and ability to play stifling defense, and they were once again the free-and-easy offensive team they had been during the first half. But Boston kept battling, and with 6:17 left a Kevin McHale turnaround pulled the Celtics within 5 at 96-91. Here Scott, en route to a career-high 38 points, drilled an open three-pointer resulting from exemplary ball movement (99-91), and when Minniefield couldn't convert a drive over the long arm of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Scott converted two free throws in the subsequent transition. That made it 101-91 with 5:30 left, and the rest was for the stat man.

From a Boston viewpoint, the first half was strictly for the junk man. The Celtics led early (8-4), but that little advantage disappeared in the face of a 12-0 LA run that established the tone for the remainder of the half. Boston simply couldn't combat the superb LA team defense, which was particularly effective against Bird, whose every shot in the paint, or near it, was contested by more than one gold jersey.

"They were always there if I got the ball and spun in the middle," lauded Bird.

"The first half," agreed Riley, "was as well as we've played all year defensively. There was a hand in every face."

But what was this third-quarter thing all about? How was it that McHale outscored the Lakers in their own gym (14-12), while Bird was outrebounding them (7-6)? How was it that LA scored a season-low 12 points, at home, while shooting 24 percent (5 for 21)? How was it that the Celtics ended a sensational period's work by outscoring the champs, 16-3, in the final 3:38 while the frosty Bird (8 for 22) was enjoying the show from the bench? How was it that the Celtics accomplished all this without Robert Parish, who departed complaining of lower back pain after playing an ineffective eight minutes?

"We became very terminal," contended Riley, ever the wordsmith. "We had no motion at all."

Added general manager Jerry West, "That's what good teams do when they're on a roll. They get you standing around."

It certainly was a 12 minutes to remember, and it crested when an Ainge three-point bomb cut the lead to 1 (76-75), an illegal defense technical foul shot tied it for the first time since 8-8 and a lefty tap-in by the relentless (24 points, 11-for-14) McHale put the Celtics ahead.

But there were still 12 long minutes to play, and the Lakers excel at one-upmanship, even if the opponent is Boston.

"We had to beat them twice," said a relieved Riley. "It's hard enough to beat them once."

Larry v. Magic: Game 33

Another Last-Second Shot by Magic Secures Lakers' Victory

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

December 12, 1987

Section: SPORTS

MAGIC STUNS CELTICS LAST-SECOND HOOP LIFTS LA, 115-114

Is there a longer second or second and a half in sports? Team A by a point. Man from Team B lets fly with the basketball, and by the time the ball either does or doesn't go in the basket, the buzzer will have sounded and the game will be over. All control of the game passes to a higher authority. And isn't the suspense heightened when the identity of the player from Team B is Earvin (Magic) Johnson and the identity of Team A is the Boston Celtics, and the game is being played in Boston Garden?

It was a long second or so, all right, and it was an even longer walk back to the locker room for the Celtics after Johnson's borderline three-pointer (officially, uh-uh, but it sure looked like it) banked in cleanly through the cords to give the Lakers a dramatic 115-114 triumph before 14,890 instant pallbearers last night.

Magic's game-winner from the edge of the three-point line served as a fitting exclamation point to a sizzler that had far transcended the NBA norm from the opening tap-off. Each team came into the game as a loser in four of its last five outings, but this one had a Finals tinge, as befitted the build- up. In order to pull this one out, the Lakers had to come from 13 down (71-58) in the third, from 9 down (98-89) with 8:24 remaining and from 6 down (111-105) with 2:35 to go, not to mention from 3 down (113-110) with 55 seconds to go.

Pick it up right there, after Danny Ainge had rifled a pass underneath to Robert Parish for a layup. The Celtics needed one defensive stop to wrap up the game. Instead, they had a communications breakdown of some sort, because what they did was leave the menacing Michael Cooper (21) alone on the right wing for a game-tying three-pointer.

A steal by Byron Scott (21 points in perhaps his best Garden appearance ever) gave it back to Los Angeles, but the Celtics dug in and prevented the magisterial Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (23) from getting off a good shot. Stuck with the ball in the deep right corner, he missed a leaner, and Larry Bird (35 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals) rebounded. Eschewing a timeout, he initiated a fast break that culminated in an Ainge drive. Danny was fouled by Magic, stepping to the line with three seconds left and the scored tied at 113.

He made the first but missed the second, and Mychal Thompson rebounded. By the time he came down to the parquet, the ball had been jarred loose and Kevin McHale had it in his possession, but referee Mike Mathis ruled that a legitimate timeout had been called, to the anguish of the Celtics, their coaching staff and the patrons.

"Before Ainge took the free throws," Mathis said, "Michael Cooper asked me for a timeout, whether the shots were made or missed. Ainge then missed the second shot, Mychal Thompson grabbed the rebound and Cooper yelled for the timeout."

So the Lakers retained possession. The Celtics called for time after a look at the first LA setup and, when play resumed, LA had a different look, with everybody high.

"All you can ask for is to get the ball in bounds," said Lakers coach Pat Riley. "You just hope you can get some air space. Earvin made a miracle shot, granted, but he was able to get some rhythm going because he had air space."

This was an extremely painful loss for the Celtics, who blew a game in which they committed only 11 turnovers and surrendered but 6 offensive rebounds for 12 LA points. Among the wasted efforts were Bird's high-level game and a brilliant 17-point, 8-for-10 relief job turned in by Jerry Sichting, plus a gutsy big-time game by Dennis Johnson, who scored 19 points on his injured left ankle.

The ultimate reality of this game was that with 2:35 left, the Celtics were in control and they could not finish off the night's work. Riley called time after a Bird steal and coast-to-coast runner and informed his team it could win if it kept its poise on offense and dug in on defense. Accordingly, the World Champs (a salient point, is it not?) scored on five of their final six possessions while limiting the Celtics to the Parish layup and the Ainge transition free throw at the other end.

Included in the stretch run were successive inside-out foul line jumpers by Thompson (111-107, 111-109) and the Cooper crusher from Quincy Market. That, hoop fans, is clutch shooting. And throw in a prototypical second-half shooting display by the 40-year-old Kareem, a 10-for-14 shooter.

Suffice it to say that this game, while flawed, contained more graphic displays of one-upmanship and more sheer outbursts of athletic brilliance than all previous home games put together. "That," said Riley, "was a great game, hot game. Both teams were causing-and-effecting all over the place."

Last year (Game 5, remember?) Magic knifed the Celtics with a game-winning hook. This time he slit their throat with a banked runner.

"In April, all of this will be forgotten," said Abdul-Jabbar, the only person in the joint who looked bored when it was over, "but I will say they gave him the right nickname."

Larry v. Magic: Game 32

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

1987 NBA Finals

Lakers End Celtics Season

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

The walk to the locker room was through the celebration. The tired faces had to cut through the sea of smiles.

Down a hallway. Past the line of mini-cams. Past the room where the champagne already was being opened. Through the celebrities -- look, there's Sammy Davis -- and around a corner. Past a television set.

"Hey, Celtics, take a look at this," a young guy shouted, pointing at the picture on the 21-inch screen yesterday afternoon, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar standing next to the National Basketball Association championship trophy.

"Shhhhhhh," a couple of Laker Girls, the cheerleaders for the Los Angeles Lakers, said. "That's not nice."

One by one the tired faces passed, single file, almost as if you were watching one of those World War II movies that shows all the characters in the gallant platoon one last time during the closing credits.

McHale . . . Parish . . . Bird . . . Ainge . . . Johnson . . . K.C. Jones. This was the end of the Boston Celtics' long-running story.

The dead end.

"This hurts," guard Dennis Johnson said, finally reaching the little visiting locker room at the Forum after the Celtics had been thumped, 106-93, by the Lakers in a sixth and closing game to determine the champions of the professional basketball world. "We can be proud of each other and proud of our accomplishments, but this hurts. No doubt about it."

There had been so much work -- the season extended by 23 playoff games, dragged all the way to the middle of June -- that there was an unreality to what had happened. Over? How can this be? These were the first dizzy steps after a long ride on the roller coaster. Over? What do you mean? Isn't there a seventh game Tuesday night for the entire NBA enchilada? What do you mean, "Over?"

"We shouldn't have been here," coach K.C. Jones said in his quiet voice. "That's the thing to remember. This rag-tag team with the broken feet. These guys fought, hustled, grabbed, sat on the floor, did everything they could do. That's the thing to remember."

The work had been so hard and so many people had done so many things that second prize did not seem to be enough. Oh, the Lakers deserved to be champions, running away to this clinching win in the second half, but the Celtics somehow did not deserve to be losers. They were, of course, losers, but the name seemed more harsh than it had to be. For this team.

Didn't these guys stay alive twice with wins in seventh games, situations where they either had to win or go home? Weren't two players playing with broken feet? How do you play basketball with broken feet? Wasn't there a new injury even on this final day, Danny Ainge's sprained ankle being taped and taped again so he could withstand the pain?

Losers?

"You think about how it could have been," forward Kevin McHale, the owner of the most prominent broken foot, said. "You don't take anything away from the Lakers. You just wonder. What would we have done with a healthy Bill Walton, a 7-foot-3 guy off the bench who claims he's 6-11? What would we have done with Scott Wedman off the bench? What would we have done if everyone were healthy?

"I know for me, it was like three-quarters of the year went through in a breeze and then God said, 'Oh, no, I don't think basketball's supposed to be as easy as that.' I haven't been able to practice in a month. Two months. Haven't practiced once. Just shot and played the games. How much does that hurt?"

The Lakers were better. That was the final story. The Lakers were a lot better. That was the story at the beginning. The Celtics somehow pulled and yanked and prolonged this thing to a sixth game, scared Jack Nicholson half to death, and still are one Magic Johnson hook shot away from being tied, three games to three in the series. That somehow was the best story.

At least in Boston.

"I thought when you were retired, stuff like this wasn't supposed to hurt," M.L. Carr, the former Celtic, now on television, said as he sat at a locker stall. "Doesn't it just eat at you?"

This team somehow captured hearts and minds even better than last year's world championship team did. Underdogs. When have the Boston Celtics ever been underdogs? This was what they were here. There was a ragged look to this team. An endearing team. The Celtics of 1986 went exactly where they were supposed to go. The Celtics of 1987 went further than where they were supposed to go.

"I knew we'd be here in the finals against the Lakers," star forward Larry Bird said. "I somehow always knew that we'd be in the finals, even when we had those two seventh games."

"What did you think last year?" a reporter asked. "Did you think you'd be in the finals last year?"

"Last year I knew we'd win the world championship," Larry Bird said.

The final player left in the locker room, an hour after the game ended, was McHale. He somehow was the symbol of all this, wasn't he? The broken foot. The bruise under one eye. The man who decided to play when he didn't have to play. The man who will have his foot put in a cast in the next week and will hobble for the rest of the summer.

"What can we say?" he said as he stood to leave. "We gave it a good run. The run came up short."

A reporter pointed toward McHale's locker and told the player he had forgotten a sneaker. McHale looked and saw it was the sneaker for the left foot, his good foot.

"Maybe I should take it," he said. "That's the only shoe I'll probably be wearing for a while. Then again . . ."

He swung out the door, into the hallway still filled with noise and celebration and the smell of somebody else's champagne. End of story. Dead end. Kevin McHale's shoe still sat in his empty locker in the empty room.

Larry v. Magic: Game 31

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

1987 NBA FINALS

Game 5

Celtics Force Game 6

June 12, 1987

Section: SPORTS

CELTICS CRASH LAKERS' PARTY

This one was for the guy in the "Big Bird" suit waving the sign that said "Certified Bird Sanctuary." This one was for the kid walking around as a Celtic ghost.

This one was for the people who remember Ed Sadowski and Hank Beenders and Dickie Hemric. This one was for the people who recall that Richie Niemann was once a Celtic. This one was for the people who lay awake with a transistor radio plugged into their ear listening to Johnny Most tell them about the night in Seattle when the game had three endings and the Celtics lost at the final-final-final buzzer. This one was for all the fans who lifted the team in the last-day Atlanta game and who pulled the team through Milwaukee 7, Detroit 5 and 7 and LA 3.

Most of all, this one was for themselves. It was Boston 123, Los Angeles 108 last night at the Garden. The Lakers will drink no champagne, make no speeches or dance no victory dances in this town. There will be a Game 6. It's a 3-2 series now, and if the Lakers are to win it, they'll have to celebrate with Dancing Barry, either Sunday or Tuesday.

"We had to win this one," said Danny Ainge, whose downtown marksmanship tilted the game in Boston's favor during the third quarter. "We let it all out on this one. If you think of winning three games now against LA, it's pretty mind-boggling. But if you think of winning one game at a time, then it's not too bad."

Mark it down: This one was a registered stomping. And get this. It was Boston's biggest rout of this endless postseason. Oh, the Lakers were close on the scoreboard in the final period at 103-95, Boston, with 5:59 left, but that's as close as it came because The World's Greatest Starting Five wasn't going to let this one get away. The Lakers had started off Period 4 trailing by 19 (96-77), but by connecting on 9 of their first 11 fourth-quarter shots, they made the crowd very nervous. But their heroes didn't disappoint them this time.

When Ainge (whose four third-quarter three-pointers had cracked open this game) missed a drive, the resourceful Dennis Johnson (25 points, 11 assists) was there for a lefty tap-in (106-95). Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came back with a short sneakaway hook, but Robert Parish (21) took a pass from a trapped Kevin McHale and dunked one to restore the 11-point lead. By this time, the Celtics, who had suffered through a 2-for-8 fourth-quarter start, had restarted the engine.

The decisive sequence came at 112-99. Larry Bird (23 points, 12 rebounds) pulled down a James Worthy brick, starting a fast break culminating in a fast break jumper by the irreplaceable DJ. Bird retreated and tipped away Michael Cooper's long outlet pass. Johnson came back and stuck in another transition jumper. That made it 116-99, and at that moment, Pat Riley knew he'd be playing in the Forum Sunday.

The Celtics originally broke the game open in the second quarter, taking the lead at 32-31 (there had been 10 ties before Period 1 concluded at 25-25) and expanding it to a crowd-pleasing 15 at 63-48 by the halftime buzzer when Ainge threw in a 33-foot runner.

The closing sequence was revealing, because it may have indicated exactly whose night it was or wasn't going to be. For the Lakers had come upcourt with 28 seconds left hoping to get a 12-point deficit down to 10 when Worthy (6 for 19) missed a jumper. Greg Kite hauled in the rebound, pitched out to Ainge and then watched along with 14,890 delighted patrons and 10 teammates as young Daniel launched an old-fashioned Cousyesque runner that sailed cleanly through the hoop.

But that bit of show biz was naught but the warmup act for the Ainge headliner, which turned out to be a 14-point third quarter during which he sank four more three-pointers. The first two were back-to-back jobs (72-60, 75-62). The third made it 82-71, and may have been the biggest, because LA was showing definite signs of life at the time. The fourth, with 36 seconds left, made it 94-77 and was the prelude to a delicious Celtic ending when Bird sent -- are you ready? -- Bill Walton in for a gorgeous pick-and-roll layup that capped a dazzling Boston third quarter and made it 96-77 heading into the fourth.

For the third time in as many games, the Celtics demonstrated that in the Friendly Confines of the Gah-den, they not only know how to play the Lakers, but actually are the better team. They unveiled a beautifully balanced offense that resulted in all five starters cracking the 20-point barrier, headed by Johnson, and followed by Bird (23), McHale (22), Parish and Ainge (21). They did the job on the boards (a 46-40 edge). And they even got helpful little contributions from the bench, as the likes of Darren Daye, Jerry Sichting, Walton and Folk Hero Supreme Greg Kite (whose banked free throw only added to his personal mystique) did their parts to send this series back to LA.

And all you folks wearing the "Beat LA" or "I Hate LA" T-shirts, you did indeed see what you think you saw. The Celtics not only beat the boys in purple, but they also ran them out of town. By any reasonable count (underline the word "reasonable"), the Celtics had more fast break points than the Lakers (CBS said 39-30; the Globe says 28-24).

The Lakers were left in the din and the sweat of the Garden like so many Nuggets, Nets or Washington Generals. The trick now is to get your mind off the last minute and a half of Tuesday's game and reflect on the satisfaction the team brought its fans last night.

Larry v. Magic: Game 30

1987 NBA Finals  Game 4

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

Junior, Junior Sky-Hook Dooms Boston

It was a process that required almost surgical skill. Down by a point, seven seconds left. Sixteen banners above, deadwood below. Nothing could help them here, not the witches of Eastwick or even Jack Nicholson himself. Nothing but a sneak punch to the gut.

"I thought my best choice was to drive on him," said Magic Johnson, who maneuvered around Kevin McHale for a 12-foot hook with two seconds left that put the Lakers 50 yards ahead of the Celtics in the NBA Finals. "I didn't really see it go in because there was somebody in front of me."

He didn't see it go in because McHale, Robert Parish and Larry Bird all converged on the point of attack. He didn't see it go in because an entire Garden crowd dared the shot to be different.

"The release felt pretty good," said Johnson, who finished with a team- high 29 points and 8 rebounds. "But I never watched it. I'll have to see it some other time."

It was everything great finishes should be. Johnson hesitated on the left wing, decided what to do, then stutter-stepped around McHale and let his "junior, junior sky hook" go. When it fell through the hoop, the Laker bench erupted and Pat Riley pumped a fist that would have made Marvin Hagler take a second look.

"We were trying to do whatever was available," said Mychal Thompson after the game, "but if you put the ball in Magic's hands, it's going to be a great design play."

Johnson has always had the hook in his shot parade, but he never really used it until this year. Earlier in the playoffs, he beat Golden State with nearly the exact same shot. In the second period last night, he dropped a lefthanded version of his baby sky.

"I don't have the depth that Kareem has," he said. "I have to be within 7 or 8 feet."

Make that 12. Johnson's soar to the basket drove a blade through the Celtics' heart and gave them only two seconds to recover, only two seconds to score.

"I saw Larry's shot got up at the end, but I didn't think he was set," said Johnson of Bird's final attempt. "If he'd had another two seconds, I think it would have gone for him."

In Los Angeles, the memory of Johnson scoring probably will win Best Picture this year. And it wasn't even the shot Riley wanted.

"James Worthy was our first look," said the coach. "Michael Cooper had him open for one count but didn't force the pass. Magic was open for a jumper but he went back into the lane. When it licked the net, it was amazing. This is about as emotional a game as I have ever been involved in."

From the beginning of the game, Johnson showed his cheeky, cocky charm. His sixth point pulled the Lakers within 2, 17-15 and his 10 points in the second quarter made it 55-47, Celtics, at the half. Johnson had totaled 19 of LA's 47 points, the only Laker in double figures. And down the stretch, he was always murderously there. With 29 seconds left, his alley-oop pass to Kareem Abdul- Jabbar put the Lakers ahead by 1, 104-103. His running hook ended it all.

"We'd been standing around too much in the beginning of the game," he said. "We were fumbling and missing and dropping the ball. We had to calm ourselves."

They calmed themselves, all right, calmed themselves into a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Johnson said he and Bird are the type of players "who'll do whatever it takes to win, who aren't afraid to take the last shot."

Score one for the California cooler with the baby sky.

Larry v. Magic: Game 29

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

Celtics Raise Hand from the Grave

June 8, 1987

Section: SPORTS

LAKERS UNSTOPPABLE? NOT SO FAST

They were in the strangest of positions. They were straight men and character actors, back-up singers to the stars. Window dressing. The Boston Celtics were the defending basketball champions of the world but somehow they had become so much window dressing.

Until yesterday.

"Had you ever seen so many negatives attached to this team?" guard Jerry Sichting was asked after the Celtics had changed a lot of those negatives to positives with a 109-103 win in the third game of these best-of-seven NBA Finals at the Garden.

"Not since I've been here," Sichting replied.

The series was finished. The Celtics were done. Or vice-versa. The CBS television network already had scheduled a meeting on Monday to decide how the presentation of the championship Podoloff Trophy could best be held in the tiny visitors locker room. The Lakers were too good. The Celtics were too slow, too tired, too damn hurt. No chance. They were drowning.

Until yesterday.

"Not really drowning," star forward Larry Bird replied. "Nothing feels that bad. Because I almost drowned once. I came back up for that gasp of air and there's no feeling like that."

OK, maybe this wasn't as serious as actually drowning -- 7-year-old Larry Bird in trouble in the middle of an Indiana lake, saved by an older brother as his mother laughs because she thinks the two kids are clowning -- but this definitely was a last-gasp time. The Celtics had been destroyed twice in Los Angeles. What was to stop them from being destroyed two more times in a row?

This Lakers team was the greatest team of all time. Or could be. Or should be. Something like that. If a man could read a Los Angeles newspaper or listen to a Los Angeles drive-time disc jockey, he would know that fact. Bring these Lakers into your dirt farm and they could find water, plant crops and have the largest cabbage in the county ready in time for the state fair. They could do anything. They could score from the inside, the outside, from upside-down. They could not be stopped.

Until yesterday.

"You can tell yourself that you're not going to listen to all the nice things people are saying and you can guard against it, but still sometimes reality has to come and slap you in the face before you can do it," Los Angeles Lakers coach Pat Riley, who had worried about all the talk, said. "If you could make your players blind and deaf for the three days between games it wouldn't hurt sometimes."

The best encouragement the Celtics players received was "you guys won't let 'em sweep you, you're too good for that." Even the stories about the mystique of the Garden seemed tired and old. Yeah, the leprechaun. Yeah, the ghosts. Yeah, the crowd and the dead spots on the parquet floor and the banners on the ceiling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many times can votive candles be lit and prayers answered? This seemed to be asking too much.

The oddsmakers in Las Vegas had made the team 3 1/2-point underdogs at home. When was the last time that had happened? When Sidney Wicks was playing? Or was it Fat Freddy Scolari? This was science fiction, wasn't it? The Celtics never were underdogs at home.

Until yesterday.

"We're under a dark cloud," coach K.C. Jones had admitted on the evening news.

"What do you do now?" the reporter asked.

"Hope that it doesn't start raining," the coach said.

There seemed to be no place to attack the problem. The Lakers seemed too hot to touch anywhere. A kettle on the stove. Bubbling. Uncontrollable. There were none of those little stories about "if we double James Worthy, then we give up this and if we give up this, we can pick up that." Nothing. There almost didn't seem to be a strategical hope. How do you stop a tornado that comes down Main Street? Don't you simply go to the root cellar and come out later to see if the roof still is on the house?

The Lakers seemed to have every feature of the Celtics' game covered. The Celtics didn't seem to know where to begin.

Until yesterday.

"I think now we have some ideas," Larry Bird said. "I think in this game we were able to win and learn at the same time. Those other two games, they were so far out of control, we couldn't study anything. I think this game was a game you could study."

What happened? There was a sense as the game started that the people in the stands were terrified. They believed what they read and heard. They believed what their late-night television showed them from the West Coast.

The building was dead for the first few minutes. The air had been sucked in by 14,890 nervous customers and swallowed. The search was for dignity more than a championship. Death with honor. Bird noticed the strange feeling. The other players noticed the strange feeling. They never had seen the crowd this way.

Until yesterday.

"This was a very big game for the organization and the crowd was just out for a Sunday stroll," Bird said. "Until they realized we could win this thing. Then they got into it and so did we."

What happened? Greg Kite was a star with zero points and James Worthy was human with 13. The Celtics' guards were hitting every shot they took. The Lakers had two starters who combined for 6 points. One thing led to another. What happened? Wasn't this supposed to be a romp, a roll, a grand Los Angeles giggle, two games and home, an intermittent stop at Springfield to leave Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's goggles at the Hall of Fame? What happened? Wasn't this supposed to be easy for this visiting team of destiny? What happened?

"Did you have a sense the playoffs really had begun after those two games in LA?" Larry Bird was asked.

"No, I didn't," Bird replied. "This just didn't seem like a final playoff series to me."

Until yesterday.

Larry v. Magic: Game 28

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

June 5, 1987

Section: SPORTS

LA PUMMELS CELTICS AGAIN IT'S ANOTHER ROUT, 141-122

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

A good, solid first quarter that would have earned a 10-point lead over any other team in the league? It meant nothing.

Three starters over 20 points? Meant nothing.

Shooting 55 percent for the second game in a row? Meant nothing.

Playing with dignity? Meant nothing. The way the Lakers played in these first two games of the best-of-seven NBA Finals, nothing the Celtics do means anything. Their good deeds are instantly forgotten. The Celtics go out and play a good basketball game -- no matter what they may tell you -- and all it gets them is a 141-122 loss and the realization that they will need a lot more than merely a set of white uniforms to prevent the Lakers from sweeping this series.

History will place the Lakers in the proper context, but you don't need your PhD in Hoopology to know that if the Lakers continue to play this way, the argument for them being the best thing ever will be strong. "I'm elated," said LA coach Pat Riley. "Ecstatic. We're playing championship basketball."

The Lakers blasted their way into the record books, too. Michael Cooper, one of five Lakers crashing the 20-point barrier, sneaked in there twice by making an astonishing six (6) three-point shots and by handing out eight (8) second-quarter assists, which tied a record. He was quickly joined by Magic Johnson, who came up with eight third-period assists. The five men over 20 points is, of course, another record.

But the most important LA accomplishment on this particular evening was in taking what may be the best the Celtics have to offer and dismissing it as inconsequential. For Boston had jumped into a 14-8 lead. There were eight first-quarter lead swaps, seven of them from 22-21, LA, to 29-27, LA. It was still a competitive game at 47-42, LA, 3 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.

So for 15 minutes, it was a high-level championship series game. "That doesn't matter," said Larry Bird. "It's a 48-minute game. It doesn't matter what you do in the first quarter if you lose by 20 points."

Reporters from Presque Isle to Palos Verdes huddled around the Bird locker, awaiting his arrival following the game. He has become the unquestioned team spokesman, and what he had to say was sobering. "What we have to do," he said, "is get home, regroup and find out where our team's at. There's no question that right now we're not playing very well."

Not well enough to beat the Lakers, anyway. LA has become one of the great offensive machines of all time. "Right now," said Riley, "our best defense is our offense." In other words, the Celtics are so worried about what will happen if they should happen to miss a shot that they can't function normally on offense.

The final lead swap in the game came, fittingly, on a Cooper three-pointer that made it 29-27, LA, with 3:14 remaining in the first period. He caught the Celtics in a nonexistent defensive rotation and casually drilled a set shot from the left wing. Five of his three-pointers were in the half-court. The sixth was a neo-Bird pull-up on the break in the second quarter. In no case was there anyone within 10 feet of him when he shot.

"He had time to study the shot and test the wind," said a disgusted Danny Ainge. "There was nobody running at him. We've got to make some adjustment."

Cooper's bombardment changed the game. "He broke our backs," said Bird. Agreed Riley, "The key to the game was Coop. He really opened up their defense with those three-pointers."

This was as beautiful a mix of inside-outside and transition/ half-court offense as the NBA could possibly provide. Start with LA's 33 first-half fast break points. Factor in a bunch of hook shots by the revived Kareem Abdul- Jabbar (23), some spectacular drives by James Worthy (23), perimeter sniping by Byron Scott (24) and the usual choreography by Magic, who had 22 points and 20 assists, the latter figure a typically upgraded Forum handout total. The Forum stat crew is to assist exaggeration what Argentina is to inflation. Ah, well . . .

Anyway, the Celtics were hanging around nicely at 47-42 (thanks to a strong 12-point, 7-rebound opening period by Robert Parish) when LA struck with one of those machine-gun bursts that continually disrupt a game and render everything preceding it superfluous. The "skirmish" began when Magic responded to a Bird reverse layup with a short running hook. Cooper then stuck in the aforementioned fast break home run ball. And when Parish missed a jumper, Kareem sneaked off to dunk a fast break opportunity. Boston called time. LA had scored 7 straight in 55 seconds, and the game would never be competitive again.

By halftime, the margin was 19 at 75-56, and LA had just gotten through hitting on 24 of its final 35 shots of the half. Worse yet, the Celtics had finished the half without Kevin McHale, who had rolled over his right ankle with 47 seconds remaining in the half by stepping on Parish's foot as he backpedaled away from a Bird air ball.

McHale limped off the court, but when the second half began, he was back out there and was instrumental as the Celtics enjoyed another decent period of play, riding the inside play of McHale, the all-around play of Bird and the jump shooting of Dennis Johnson to a 36-32 period advantage and a respectable 101-87 deficit as they entered the final quarter.

Before that gruesome exercise was over, however, they had to endure the indignity of fans chanting, "We Want Detroit!" It was vintage Forum Show Time. Hell, Mike Smrek even banked a turnaround, for all you ECAC North aficionados.

When it was over, Bird was left to assess the damage. "Can the Lakers be stopped?" he was asked.

"Not yet," he replied. "At this point, it's very questionable."

Larry v. Magic: Game 27

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Summary

Larry v. Magic: Game-by-Game Media Coverage

1987 Finals: Lakers Win Game 1

June 3, 1987

Section: SPORTS

LAKERS BREAK CELTICS' BACKS LA RUNS BOSTON DOWN

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

How do they put it in legal shop talk? "Worst Case Scenario"?

It was worse than worse. It was a horrifyingly Worst Case Scenario at the Forum last night when the Celtics found themselves used as foils for one of the great fast break exhibitions ever seen in the NBA playoffs. The Lakers scored the game's first 9 points and never allowed the game to get any closer than 12 in the final 34 minutes as they cruised to a 126-113 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-seven NBA Finals.

Answered in this game were any questions surrounding the prolonged Los Angeles layoff (no games in eight days and four in 21), as well as any doubts about what would happen to the Celtics should they fail to play a brilliant offensive game. Boston was cooked as soon as its first few shots started clanging off the rim. There were very, very few second-shot ooiprtunities afforded them in this game, and any they did get were long after the fact; in oither words, any time after the midway point of the second quarter.

"I think it was apparent we had a lot of energy," said LA coach Pat Riley, who probably had spent half the night before worrying about the potentially debilitating effect of the LA layoff. "You never know what to expect in these situations. I was worried about our ability to catch the ball and react. But our running game was sharp. The players were committed to running. The teams sparred for the first few minutes. The Lakers actually misconnected on their first three fast break attempts. The first basket of the game was a little jump hook in the lane by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who then ignited the real LA attack by blocking/goaltending? a Kevin McHale shot and starting a fast break that culminated in a second-chance basket by James Worthy, who helped himself to a game-high 33 points, almost all of the baskets on an infinite variety of 2-foot shots.

The Lakers jumped into that 9-0 lead, expanded it to 23-13 (a total that included 15 fast break points) and exited the first quarter with a 35-26 lead. The most telling figure was four fast break baskets after Boston scored. Nothing demoralizes a team more.

"We all put a lot of emphasis on hitting baskets back on them," pointed out Worthy.

"When we called our first timeout (9-0, 9:27 left in the first quarter)," said Larry Bird (32 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists), "I knew we had to start getting back faster. We just couldn't beat them up and down the floor."

While Worthy was drawing the fans' attention with his dunks and swooping drives, the man with the keys to the engine was, of course, Magic Johnson. He was the one pushing the ball up the floor and commanding most of Boston's attention. Let's set the record straight; James Worthy is good, but he is very fortunate to be playing with Magic Johnson, not the other way around. The Celtics were never in the game after the initial 9-0 run. It was a matter of how close the scoreboard was. Whenever Boston would make the slightest push to make the score interesting, the Lakers would simply downshift and embarrass the Celtics in what Riley loves to label "skirmishes." But that military term suggests some sort of mutual fire. Those weren't "skirmishes" going on out there; those were target practices.

The most devastating of those "skirmishes" came when a Sam Vincent second-quarter drive created a 39-30 LA spread. This innocent shot must have struck some kind of nerve in the LA psyche, because what happened after that wasn't nice. Worthy almost immediately spun in for a three-point play. Two Boston turnovers created two more Worthy transition baskets. Finally, Worthy pitched the ball from the left box to a spotted-up, unguarded Michael Cooper. Mr. Three-Point calmly swished a home run ball. The Lakers had just run off 10 points.

In 66 seconds.

Now it was 49-30, and the show time had only begun. For when A.C. Green retrieved a Boston miss, he quickly handed the ball off to Cooper, who had circled behind him along the baseline. It was as if he were Gretzky and he had just picked the puck up behind the net. Cooper dribbled upcourt at top speed and, one step inside the three-point arc, he pulled up for a 21-footer that touched, as they say, nothing but net. That capped the run at 12 straight, and the rest of the game was conversation as far as the final outcome was concerned. Almost lost in the local rush to crown the Lakers the Team of the Century was an inspired performance by Bird, who made 11 shots in succession, the last four in the half and all seven in the third period. He scored 26 points in the span of 16:26, and without that hot streak, this easily could have gone into the books as one of those 40-point humiliations instead of the gentle 13-point drubbing it turned out to be.

But Bird's showing had no effect on the overall outcome. What mattered were the 17 LA fast break points in the first quarter, and the 12 transition points the Lakers added in the second. The Lakers had watched Milwaukee and Detroit run on Boston, and they had no doubts they could run even more.

"I was disappointed with our effort," Bird said. "This isn't Detroit or Atlanta we're playing. It's the Los Angeles Lakers, probably the best team in the league. It's going to take a great effort on our part and we just didn't have that."

For his part, Riley was careful to play the role of Gracious Conqueror, sort of like General Grant at Appomatox. "All we did," Riley claimed, "was light a fire under the Celtics. "They're gonna come hard and heavy Thursday night; you can believe that."

After what he just saw, you've got to wonder what he really thinks.