1986 C's Lose Second Straight, Fall to 50-13

Ready for some melodrama? Try this scenario.

The Mavericks had flown all night from Sacramento in order to play a team that was sitting comfortably in the hotel across the street. An All-Star player (Mark Aguirre) was sent home before the game with an intestinal virus. The team they were playing was not only the current No. 1 team in the league, but it also happened to be the one team Dallas had yet to defeat in its six- year history.

With 5:35 left, the Celtics were ahead by 13 (104-91) and Larry Bird was in the process of putting on a show the Reunion Arena crowd would never forget.

And then -- well, a lot of strange and wonderful things happened, the most strange and wonderful being a three-point shot by Dale Ellis with 16 seconds remaining that capped a memorable Dallas comeback and enabled the Mavericks to fly off the floor in possession of a 116-115 victory over the Celtics despite Bird's 50 points.

The Mavericks outscored Boston, 25-11, in those final 5 1/2 minutes. It was a classic mixture of good team defense, great offensive play and, of course, the requisite weird officiating that, by definition, must accompany a comeback of this magnitude.

For as poorly as the Celtics played at both ends of the floor during that horrifying stretch, they still might have pulled out victory had referee Hue Hollins not made a crucial call against Robert Parish with 43 seconds remaining. At that point Boston was still leading, 110-109, when Brad Davis angled in from the left of the lane. Parish switched off and, as Johnny Most would say, The Chief made him eat it. Hollins, who had spent the entire evening making calls from 25 to 40 feet away from the action, instead called a foul on Parish, his sixth, in fact.

"I thought it was a very clean block," opined Parish. But Hollins didn't, and when Davis made both foul shots, Boston was again behind by a point. The next possession was now vital, and it was a bad one. Bill Walton rolled in for a left-handed hook, but his shot was too strong. Now Dallas was up one with the ball, and Ellis was ready to strike. He found himself open straightaway, and he drilled a monster shot, a three-pointer that gave the Mavericks a 114-110 lead.

But Bird, who had already scored 45, and who doesn't die easily, took the ball and flipped in a three-point leaner (on which he appeared to be fouled). That made it 114-113 with 11 seconds to go.

Kevin McHale had to foul Rolando Blackman (32), and the Mavs' All-Star guard sank both shots to restore the three-point edge. Rather than throw up some kind of three-point response, Bird instead drove baseline and made a lefty contortion to create the final score.

The capacity crowd of 17,007 thus went home with the dual thrill of seeing the game's greatest player display his full athletic genius without being rude enough to spoil the party. Bird scored 31 second-half points as the Celtics moved from a 55-54 halftime advantage to a lead that would peak at 104-91. At this juncture Bird was the show, for the last two Celtics' baskets had been ultra swishes by Bird, the first a three-pointer and the second a long corner jumper.

So what happened?

"With the 13-point lead I should have taken control of the game and held things up," Bird confessed. "Dennis Johnson and I should have taken over. But I took a bad shot and made a bad pass and he threw a bad pass, and then they started going to the line every time down the floor."

Indeed, the first six points of the Dallas comeback were from the foul line, but that had little bearing on Boston's inability to respond at the other end. And then there was the matter of Danny Ainge's inexcusable failure to honor Davis as a three-point threat. Second only to the Ellis shot, an unguarded Davis three-pointer that made it 108-105 with 1:52 remaining did Boston in.

Between missing shots (Bird, Walton), fouling people (Johnson), not guarding people (Ainge) and being unlucky (Parish), every Celtic shared blame for the giveaway.

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1986 Cs BEAT DALLAS, MOVE TO 21-5

They always have an answer. Whenever a Celtic team loses a game, look for the kind of response they gave to a sellout crowd and the Dallas Mavericks at Boston Garden last night.

As if to squelch any notion that Boston was slipping, coach K.C. Jones turned the Celtics loose for a 137-117 devastation of the Texans.

Never mind that Dallas has yet to beat the Celtics in its five-year history. With Larry Bird pouring in 35 points and Kevin McHale adding 28, the youthful Mavericks couldn't have had much of a chance even if they'd recruited both Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to play center, the slot which is supposed to be all that keeps them from being a contender.

The Celtics bolted from a 93-82 lead after three quarters and finished with a 44-point flourish that was capped by rookie Sam Vincent's slam jam with three seconds left.

Bird hit 14 of 27 shots and took over the game in the final period with 17 points. Yet he was almost overshadowed by Danny Ainge, who finished with 20 points.

Ainge was a force of another dimension with his long-range missiles, finishing 9 for 13. Two were of the three-point variety that thwarted Dallas comebacks in the third quarter.

Ainge also had 13 assists, two short of his career high. As a team, Boston shot 57 percent (59 for 104).

The Mavericks came prepared for Boston's strong inside game. But when the Celtics went up top from the opening tap, it was only a matter of time before the young visitors became just another group of Not Ready for Prime Time Players.

"We just weren't going to win this game tonight," said coach Dick Motta. "Halfway through the fourth quarter, you knew it. That's when (Bird) just took it over. And Ainge was hitting his outside shots. If Ainge hits his outside shot like that, they can beat the Lakers."

In the last couple of games, the Celtics have been sluggish, losing two of three. But last night they roared to a 37-24 lead in the first period.

The Mavericks are no slouches. With James Donaldson at center, they figure to contend in the NBA's Midwest Division with Houston and Denver. But raw talent cannot make up for experience. The Celtics answered every challenge with one of their own.

Credit Bird for most of that. He was 5 for 17 in the Celtics' 116-108 loss at Chicago Tuesday and All World last night.

"They didn't name him MVP last year because he's pretty," said Motta.

Bird displayed a nice touch, both from long range and around the basket. He played with anger and put on his fourth-quarter display despite picking up a fifth foul very early in the period.

"Tonight was very good for him," said Jones. "His inside game was good. But I think it was a matter of hesitation on his outside shot. That's not Larry Bird. As a team, we were walking in Chicago. Tonight we came out running."

And run they did, especially in the fourth quarter. With Boston ahead, 93-82, Bird opened it with a scoop layup after driving the baseline. Then he finished off a fast break. Next Bird sank a three-point shot and had nine of the first 11 points to give the Celtics a 104-93 lead. He had four more layups for baskets as the Celtics broke the game wide open, and finally left with Boston leading, 128-106.

The Mavericks must have read the wrong scouting report, said Robert Parish (5 for 6, 12 points).

"Sure, Larry has had some problems," he said. "But you can never take for granted that a man of his talent will stay in a slump. They made some mistakes on defense against him, and those layups just took the starch out of them.

"I'm a little surprised that we had a blowout because Dallas has always been a tough team for us. But that's the way we're capable of playing every game all year. We just haven't been doing it consistently."

The Mavericks, who got 20 points from rookie Detlef Schrempf, had no excuses for losing this one. None were necessary.

"You hate to lose," said Jay Vincent, who finally got to play against his brother Sam. "But we're growing up. We're not youngsters anymore. We're all in our fourth and fifth years. We'll win our share."