(no subject)

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Have you all noticed the existence on the TSN site of an archive
containing (detailed) game summaries from every NBA Finals since 1947?
The address is http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/nbafinals.html

TSN archives also features summaries of every NCAA Final Four, World
Series, World Cup, even Little League World Series.  It makes for weeks
of great reading on the subway. I've been printing all that stuff out
like mad.

For your reading pleasure, I've pasted the 1981 Finals below.
Personally, I got knocked down reading it and recalling every incredible
emotion I felt that year from game to game.  I hope you all enjoy it
too.

BTW, did the Celtics ever retire Cedric Maxwell's number (and if not
why)?

Joe

p.s.  I guess I side with "Cecil Wright and the Wailers" on the list
ganjah debate, although the other side made compelling arguments. I for
one would not have been keen to see both of our two dominant centers
(Parish and Walton) forced to sit on the sidelines of the 1986 Finals,
wearing tye-dye shirts and hari krishna bells.

****

1981
  Boston Celtics vs. Houston Rockets
  By George White (Originally appeared in The Sporting News 1980-81 NBA
Guide.)

  And so, the Boston Celtics once again complete the cycle. For richer,
for poorer, in sickness and in health, the saga of the
  Celtics so often seems to be the story of the NBA.

  In the beginning, of course, there were Cousy and K.C., Sharman and
Satch, Russell and Red, the long string of championships in the '50s.
Then came a lull with the years B.C. (Before Cowens), and then another
string of super teams with  Cowens and Chancy and White and Havlicek.

  The late '70s were the years of shame, the  Celtics suffering through
back-to-back 32-50 and 29-53 nightmares. Against  such a miserable
backdrop came the third renaissance, completed on Thursday  night, May
14, 1981, in Houston, Tex.

  On that evening, led by a man who personifies "Celtic" more than any
other man in the NBA, Larry Bird and the Boston New Breed swept aside
the Houston  Rockets, 102-91, once again claiming for the Celtics a
world championship, and possibly the start of dynasty No. 3.

  It was a series with much more drama than anyone had reason to expect.
In the  beginning, this one had all the potential of a four-game
snoozer. Most of the  basketball world figured the Celtics had played
for the championship in the  Eastern Conference finals, struggling out
of a deep hole (down 3-1) to nip the  Philadelphia 76ers in a seven-game
matchup that some dubbed The Greatest Series Ever.

  The Rockets were strictly beggars who crashed the party, a team which
had  bounced erratically up and down in the regular season to finish
with a 40-42  record. Despite the fact that they jelled quickly in the
playoffs, knocking off defending league champ Los Angeles, San Antonio
and Kansas City, the  basketball structure was singularly unimpressed
when the Rockets showed up at  the front door of the Boston Garden to
begin the championship series. They  were, after all, only the third
team in NBA history to make it to that lofty height  with an under-.500
record, and the first ever under the modern-day playoff format.

  It would be, however, a series of surprises. From the opening game,
when the Rockets leaped far ahead in the opening quarter, to the sixth
and final confrontation when Bird finally snapped out of his two-week
offensive slump to score 27 points with 13 rebounds, it was a series
surprisingly worthy of the championship label.

  A lot of observers feel the series' critical juncture came early -- in
the first game.  Houston's best chance for a championship, most felt,
would be to surprise the mentally weary Celtics early in Boston Garden,
perchance sneak away from town with two quick victories, then look at
their more illustrious opponents on a bit more equal footing when they
got home.

  And late in the first quarter of game No. 1, look what was happening:
The Rockets, led by the lightly regarded offense of Billy Paultz, were
in command with  a 22-8 lead.

  The Rockets dominated, in fact, for most of three quarters. The
Celtics were doing a superb defensive job on Moses Malone, the Rocket
center eventually winding up with only four baskets in 17 shots, but
Houston's Robert Reid was a particularly thorny problem. The young
forward, who was to play exceptionally well defensively, against Bird
throughout the series, kept the Rockets in control of the evening with
27 points. And sure enough, as the fourth quarter began, the bedraggled
Texans were refusing to wilt away, clinging to an 81-76 lead.

  With four minutes left, however, the cream began to rise. Consecutive
fast-break baskets by M. L. Carr and Cedric Maxwell gave the Celtics a
95-90 lead, and though the Rockets scrapped back to trail by just one
point with 1:29 to go, Boston came up with five straight offensive
rebounds in the final minute to choke the breath out of the Rockets.

  "We were in trouble," said Maxwell, whose inspired play throughout the
series would earn him Most Valuable Player honors. "Houston was like a
shark. We bled and they became aroused. We came back to win, but I hope
we didn't arouse them enough to think they can win Game 2.

  "It's obvious everyone thought we won the NBA championship when we
beat Philadelphia. But Houston is here and is a very good team. We've
got to put an ax to them if we want to win the championship."

  The ax in Game No. 1 was offensive rebounding. With Bird, Maxwell and
Robert Parish combining for 17 offensive caroms, the Celtics scored 32
points on second shots. That, in the end, was what pulled them over the
hump on an evening in which they could hit only 43.2 percent of their
shots.

  Curiously, that victory was Boston's 14th in a row over the Rockets
stretching back to 1978. The odds, as the dice players in Las Vegas
stress, certainly were against any NBA team beating another 15 straight
times. Sure enough, the odds, helped generously by an aroused Malone,
were correct.

  Game No. 2 was perhaps the most bizarre game in a bizarre series. The
Celtics would hit 50 percent of their shots, outrebound Houston, 48-35,
and still lose. To further compound the irony, the Rockets won on a
night in which Reid, who the game before scored 27, couldn't score a
single field goal.

  The difference was twofold. No. 1, Malone rose up and scored 31
points. No. 2, the Celtics handled the ball as though it were a live
hand grenade, committing 22 turnovers that resulted in 31 Houston
points. The result was a 92-90 Houston
  victory.

  It was a close game throughout, the Rockets playing their methodic
power game to perfection. The Celtics, by far the more stylish of the
two teams, got bogged down in the maddening slow tempo and destroyed
themselves with turnovers.

  Boston led late, 81-75, but the Rockets rallied behind, of all people,
rookie Calvin Garrett and second-year pro Allen Leavell. Lea-veil made
the game's most critical shot, a fallaway jumper in the final minute,
putting the Rockets ahead by one
  with only five seconds remaining. Like the after-shave commercial in
which the gorgeous young thing slaps old beardie on the cheeks with a
handful of  smell-good, however, the Celtics were no in position to say,
"Thanks, I needed  that."

  "We got a slap in the face," said Carr. "And sometimes a slap in the
face will  wake you up. It better, because we can't go on playing like
this and expect to  win."

  "The fans, the media and everyone else were taking Houston for
granted," Chris  Ford said afterward, "and I think some of that feeling
dribbled into the locker  room. Maybe some of the guys got a big head
and felt they could just go  through the motions and win. But you just
can't go through the motions and win  the NBA championships."

  And so, the series moved to Houston tied at one win each. "The scary
thing,"  reminded Maxwell, "is that they (the Rockets) could be going
home ahead 2-0."

  Scary, huh? The scary stuff was waiting just around the corner in
Houston,  where Maxwell was about to lead the Celtics off on a blowout
of immense  proportions. Maxwell hit nine of 16 shots, Ford was seven of
12 with a couple of  three-pointers, and when the Rockets could only
retaliate with a miserable 30 percent shooting night, Boston ran away
with a 94-71 rout.

  This was Celtic basketball at its best -- six players scoring in
double figures, the fast break sweeping upcourt like a storm surge
before a hurricane and a strangling defense that forced the opponent
into 22 turnovers.

  "What really turned the tide was our strong pressure defense," said
Ford. "We  picked them up early and pressured them all over the court.
That's how we beat  the Rockets last year, with strong end-to-end
pressure.

  "The first two games we were very passive. We would let them make six
or  seven passes on every possession, get it to the good shooters every
time.  Today, each guy just committed himself to not letting his man
catch the ball."

  "It was good for us to get out of Boston Garden," said Bird. "It was
good for us  to get away from the newspapers constantly reminding us
that we ought to win  this in four games. I felt some pressure at home,
hearing all that stuff how there  was no way we could lose. It was good
for us to get in front of a hostile crowd  again."

  It would have been impossible for the Rockets to have not gotten the
message.  The message was that when the Celtics put their game together,
they were  indeed as awesome as their 62-20 regular-season record would
suggest. That  23-point wipeout had to have dealt a thudding blow to the
Rockets' swaggering  confidence, even though the Rockets were to regroup
in Game 4 and knot the  series 2-2 with a 91-86 win.

  Just to follow the whacky script, game No. 4 was another in a string
of weird  ones. Rocket Coach Del Harris, declaring that, "for the most
part, substituting  messes up a game," masterminded a win in a game in
which he only used six  players. Little guard Mike Dunleavy was the
ultimate pest, prancing around to  score 28 points, and Malone and Reid
combined for 35 rebounds. For the Celtics,  only Maxwell (25 points, 14
rebounds) played winning basketball.

  "I don't know how they can win using only six guys," said the
consistent  Maxwell. "I never thought I'd see a championship team doing
that. But you can't  argue with the strategy. It worked."

  It succeeded despite another horrible shooting day, the Rockets
hitting just 35.9  percent of their shots. It worked, though, largely
because of the excellence of  Dunleavy, and because it was Boston's turn
to handle the ball like it was covered
  with butter. On this day the Celtics committed 22 turnovers to only 10
for the  Rockets, and that difference enabled Houston to launch 29 more
shots than  Boston.

  What may be the most important event of the series took place that
afternoon  -- not during the two-hour battle, but in the locker room
afterward when Malone  uttered the words that have become as widely
quoted in Boston as "One if by
  land, two if by sea."

  After it was over and the series tied after four games, Malone opined
that, "I  don't think Boston is all that good. They're a good team, but
Philadelphia was  better. People think they're that good because they
get a lot of press. I could get  four guys off the streets of Petersburg
(Va., his hometown) and beat them. To  my standpoint, they just aren't
that good."

  Prior to game No. 5, Celtic Coach Bill Fitch mimeographed copies of
Malone's  remarks and tacked them to the locker of each Celtic. Whether
Malone can take  credit for what happened next will never fully be
known, but this much is in the  record books for all interested parties
to see: the Celtics came home to Boston  not even a facsimile of the
team that had fallen apart in Houston.

  The Celtics were riled, miffed and tight-lipped as they went about the
business of  making a mockery of Malone's remarks. At the end of one
quarter it was Boston  34-19. By halftime it was 59-37. By game's end it
was a farce, Maxwell again  taking command (28 points, 15 rebounds) as
the Celtics won by 29 points,  109-80.

  "Anytime anyone says stuff like that," said Rick Robey, referring to
Malone's  contention, "it makes you play harder."

  "None of us appreciated his comments," said Kevin McHale.

  "We were upset after the loss in Houston," agreed Maxwell. "We were
embarrassed; there was a lot of name-calling by them and we were
determined  to come out early and establish ourselves.

  "These guys on this team have a lot of pride, and when somebody
embarrasses  us and says we don't have heart or character, well, that
spurs you on. This team  answered the challenge tonight."

  It was as thorough a shellacking as was possible, the tidal wave
beginning early  when Boston outscored the Rockets, 19-1, over one
stretch in the first quarter.  "The way we played tonight, very few
teams in the league could beat us," said
  Maxwell. "We have the best basketball team in the world right now."

  To prove it, however, the Celtics had to win one more game. That came
two  nights later at Houston, on an evening when Bird stepped to the
front in true  championship fashion.

  Reid had played superbly on defense against Bird for most of the
series, so  tightly, in fact, that in Games 3, 4 and 5 Bird had hit just
29 percent of his shots  (11 of 38). He was, everyone knew, a time bomb
just waiting to explode.

  And then it happened. In the sixth and final game, he reared up for 27
points,  hitting 11 of 20 shots and contributing 13 rebounds. The 27
points weren't so  damaging, however, as the time when he got them. The
Celtics had raced far  ahead, leading by 17 points late in the third
quarter. The gritty Rockets, however,  came back kicking in the fourth
quarter, eventually coming back to within three  points of the lead at
86-83.

  Bird retaliated with a pair of jumpers from 15 and 18 feet to
momentarily defuse  the rally, but the Rockets scrambled back into
contention one more time, closing  back to within 92-89 with 1:55
remaining.

  Bird broke the back of that rally, however, with a three-point bomb
from the  corner, once again boosting Boston into a six-point advantage
from which the  Rockets could never recover.

  "I have to say the man (Bird) is a helluva player," said Dunleavy
after it was  finally over. "He did all the things they had to do to get
the championship.

  "When he wasn't scoring, he rebounded, passed, provided leadership,
did a lot of  things to help them win. And tonight, when it came down to
the big game, he  was everywhere. He's the key to this Boston club, no
question."

  Bird remarked that, "The guys had carried me all the way through the
series. I  had a chance to carry them in this one, and I was glad to
have it."

  And about the 14th Celtic championship?

  "The other 13 don't mean anything, because we did nothing to achieve
those,"  he said. "The people who won those should be the ones to take
the credit. We  are a different team with different fans."

  Reid, however, said the 1980-81 Celtics owed apologies to no one. "The
whole  Celtic team is a great champion. They're a great team. They can
run around The  Summit with their hands held up, because they are indeed
No. 1.

  "They have earned the right to call themselves the champions."