Billups Dunks

[Joe Urtz <joe_urtz@harvard.edu>]

Hello Celtic Fans,

        Looks like we're into the off-season doldrums on the basketball
front.  Since I'm mostly a lurker on the list, maybe I should do my small
bit to help fill the news void.

        As was noted yesterday, Chauncey Billups paid a visit to the
Shelburne Recreation Center in Roxbury, MA a few days ago.  He was
apparently a big hit with the kids, giving the assembled tykes a generous
demonstration of his dribbling and shooting skills.

        According to an article in the Boston Herald, the person hosting the
clinic annonuced over the PA system that all the kids wanted to see Chauncey
dunk the ball.  She also announced that the kids wouldn't be fans if
Chauncey didn't comply with their request.  So Chauncey gave it a go.  He
failed on a couple attempts, but then managed to get one down.  And so now
we know, Chauncey can dunk.

        I'm not sure how important dunking ability really is, for guards
anyways.  I seem to recall that Chris Ford went most of his career without
dunking the ball, and he was a pretty decent ballplayer.  Actually, the only
time I ever saw Chris Ford dunk was in a pre-game warmup.  Does anyone else
recall the game I'm thinking of?  It was a regular season finale at the
Garden versus the Philadelphia 76ers.  Was it 1979?  Anyways, the two teams
entered the game tied for first place with the same won-lost record.  The
victor would therefore have the home court advantage if/when the teams met
later on in the playoffs.

        Both teams were only going through their warmup drills, but the
noise in the Garden was deafening.  I'd never seen the Garden crowd so fired
up before.  The fans seemed to sense that the C's were going to win this
game and establish themselves as the new top dog in the east.  As the game
clock wound down under a minute -- to indicate the end of the pre-game
warmup period -- the Celtics were in the midst of a layup drill.  First one
player threw down a serious dunk, followed by another player's slam, then
the next, to increasing roars from the crowd.  Then the ball was in Chris
Ford's hands and I wondered for a moment if he was even able to dunk.  Then
Chris drove to the hoop and spiked one through the net, as the crowd went nuts.

        More thunderous dunks followed in succession, until every Celtic
player but one had jammed one down.  With less than five seconds on the
clock, Larry Bird got the ball at the top of the key.  Everyone in the place
was standing and straining to see what he'd do.  Bird took one dribble to
just inside the top of the key, scooped the ball with one hand and tossed an
underhand pass off the top of the backboard, then charged toward the basket,
caught the rebound with one hand and slammed it home!  The ball ripped
through the hoop just as the clock expired and the horn sounded to end the
warmups!!  Very dramatic -- and absolute bedlam ensued.  This was one of the
most raucuous moments in my Garden history and the game hadn't even started
yet!  I don't remember much about the actual game, but I do believe the
Celtics won quite convincingly.

        Looking back now, I think that game was the moment I realized I'd
made a very wise move in abandoning my childhood-long allegiance to the
76ers (I grew up in radio range of a Philly station).  After seeing Bird
play several amazing college basketball games on TV, and noting that the
Celtics owned his draft rights, and seeing that I was now living in Boston,
it dawned on me that maybe I wasn't such a big Sixers fan anymore, anyways!

        Well, I'm not quite sure how this message got from Billups to Ford
to my Celtic conversion.  I guess that dunking topic must've got me going!
Is there anyone else out there who recalls other details of that spontaneous
pre-game dunking episode I described, or of the game itself?  Any thoughts
on the actual value of dunking ability for guards in today's NBA?

Joe Urtz
Cambridge, MA