18-Point Run Gives Spurs the Game

January 6, 1980

It was like sitting in Honolulu and hearing that a tidal wave had just started gathering in Okinawa and was heading your way. You could only hope it would do its crash bit before it hit your front door. But this time it did not.

Here were the Celtics, having four times led by 15 points, and now in possession of a 107-99 lead with 4:47 left. A team could certainly be in a worse position some 1500 miles from home. But at this point the wave began to swell, and it didn't stop until it had crested with a spectacular 18-point San Antonio run. By that time, the game had been torn apart and, with it, the dreams of a 4-1 holiday trip. The suddenly-aroused San Antonio Spurs had somehow managed a crowd-pleasing 119-111 victory over the Celtics.

During the awful 4:05 in which Boston was unable to score, its offense, which had forced the action during the first 43 minutes of this wild game, just plain died. Expired. Croaked. "We had no action whatsoever," lamented M. L. Carr, whose first-half heroics included sinking his first six shots. "There was nothing," sighed Chris Ford. "Absolutely nothing."

About all there was in this stretch were passes hung out, the better for opportunistic Spurs such as Larry Kenon to pick off. There were also bad shots. What there were none of, and they definitely would have been nice to have hand, were offensive rebounds. Only on one possession in the key run from 107-99, Boston, to 108-107, San Antonio, did the home team fail to score.