Bird's Rookie Year: Celtics Overcome Barrage of Rick Barry Threes

January 3, 1980

CELTICS RALLY - AGAIN

You know how good this one was? Bill Fitch even liked it. Since he usually analyzes each Celtic performance with all the humor of your friendly IRS man in the midst of an audit (". . . Now, about this deduction for your trip to Disney World"), that tells you all you need to know about triumph No. 30 and road triumph No. 14 in this increasingly enjoyable Celtic season.

The Celtics trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter, the result of an 18-1 Rocket spurt keyed by three consecutive Rick Barry three-pointers. They still trailed by seven, 95-88, with 6:42 left, which, obviously, is no big deal in this league. But what set this 111-103 victory over the Rockets apart from some others the Celtics have had was the total two-way execution in the game's final four minutes.

Because, in order to pull this one out, the Celtics scored the game's final 10 points, beginning with a Dave Cowens 20-foot clock jumper from the right side which tied the game at 103-103 with 2:47 to play. In one masterful minute of defense, the Celtics forced successive Houston 24-second violations and then made them really count by scoring at the other end. And when more tremendous team defense by the quintet of Dave Cowens, Cedric Maxwell, M.L. Carr, Tiny Archibald and - isn't this great? - Don Chaney forced Barry into a wild three-point heave in order to beat another 24-second buzzer, Chaney put the game away by (a) grabbing a traffic defensive rebound and (b) calmly sticking in an open 20-footer with 17 seconds left to give Boston an insurmountable 109-103 lead.

There was a lot of Boston locker-room comment afterward about the Houston offensive approach down the stretch, because in their final four possessions, the home team had two 24-second violations and two three-point misses. "It seemed like they were going to the three-point area," said Archibald, who snaked around for 17 assists. "It's like they forgot they had Moses (Malone) and we had a center (Dave Cowens) with five fouls. I mean, if you're watching the score and the fouls, you've got to go inside."

In fact, however, that's exactly what the Rockets were trying to do. "We were trying to get the ball into Moses," explained Barry, "but Dave was draped all over him, and they weren't about to call his sixth. Dave worked his tail off on the overplay. Most centers with five fouls won't play that way. Dave figured he wasn't going to win any other way. And he wouldn't let us have the lane, either." Playing good defense was only half the story, because the corollary was that the Celtics needed offense. Thus, when the Celtics came up with 24-second violation No. 1 at 2:20 (103-all), a Maxwell followup of a Chaney miss (all this after a loose-ball foul on rookie Allan Leavell had given the Rockets one reprieve) gave Boston its first lead since 76-73. The result of 24-second violation No. 2, at 1:18, was a baseline foul of Maxwell (who scored 12 points in the final 4:56) by Rudy Tomjanovich. Max dropped them both in for a 107-103 lead.

Needing a score desperately, the Rockets still were unable to run an offense, and Barry did well to get off a long bomb, which was rebounded by Chaney. The Celtics ran a pick-down for Carr, with Chaney stationed on the right wing and Maxwell setting up shop underneath. They were prepared to live with Chaney as the open man, and the Duck obliged with a 20-footer. "That was our defensive team," said a beaming Fitch, "but their offensive execution was also very good."

The Celtics had gotten off to a great start when a strong defensive effort by the first five ignited a 15-point fast-break attack (all on layups and free throws, not jumpers) and propelled them into a 29-21 one-quarter lead. From then on, the game was a wild exchange of offensive thrusts, with Boston leading by 12 (37-25) and nine (63-54), and Houston leading by 10 (86-76) after that 18-1 blast sparked by Barry's sensational bombing. But a key Fitch substitution paid immediate dividends late in the third quarter. Fitch inserted Gerald Henderson for a temporarily tiring Archibald, and the rookie blocked a Calvin Murphy jumper, leading to a gorgeous running hook off the break by Larry Bird (20, including two three-pointers), a basket that pulled the Celtics within five (87-82) after three quarters.

What transpired surprised neither the victors, whose road confidence is enormous, nor the vanquished, whose fatalism is notorious. "We made mistakes," Barry said with a sigh, "but they went out and executed. You can only ask for breaks. Then you must do something with them. The Celtics did."

"This is what we preached at training camp," said Fitch. "Be tough mentally on the road, and the pressure will fall on the home team. Tonight was an example."

And Happy New Year to you, too, Bill.