bruce@godot.UUCP (06/09/84)
The Celts put the Lakers' backs against the wall by blowing them out 121-103
at the Garden tonight. Tonight was the first Larry Bird Show of the series
(15 of 20, most from downtown, 34 pts, 17 rebounds, ...), which opened up the
middle quite a bit. Honerable mention to DJ, who has been surperb in the last
two games.
The Lakers were not able to break most of the night. There has been a
world of difference in the Laker offense since KC put DJ on Magic
starting in the 2nd half of game 4. That's the matchup everyone
expected to start with. LA shot poorly tonight (it's about time), and,
for the first time, the Celtics shot their season's average.
Boston had its first good game tonight. Actually, I think Boston played
very well in game 4, but they shot terribly. They were very patient on
offense, created good shots, and totally dominated the boards (32-8 edge
in 2nd chance points). It's to their credit they won on a night when
they were outshot 59%-43%.
Kevin McHale played the price for the Rambis foul Wednesday. He
contributed 19 points before fouling out on some over-eager calls. Two
of the fouls contained absolutely no contact (with either the ball or a
Laker), and the replays clearly showed he got all ball on two more (one
a block, one a rebound).
Kevin is not a dirty player and never has been. He was reaching in from
the left side to keep Rambis from getting the shot off. Kurt was
cutting right-to-left and had a step on him. As they crossed, McHale's
arm hooked Rambis. I've seen scores of similar plays which were much,
much more flagrent, where the defender had no chance of getting his hand
on the ball (Kevin did) and just shoved the man into the backboard
support or something. It was not a wise play, Kevin was sorry it
happened, and fortunately Kurt wasn't hurt.
I commend Earl Strom for his officiating tonight. He and ___ (nuts...I
forgot) called an extremely close game from the beginning, not about to
let anything get out of hand.
I must take issue with the Knicks fan who made analogies with the
Philadelphia Flyers. Boston is by no means the most physical team
around. If you follow the Atlantic conference, you should know that.
Generally, Boston doesn't like physical games and often gets shoved
around. The Knicks played extremely rough against the Celtics (and very
effectively, I might add). Finally, you *must* be a Knick fan to think
King outplayed Bird in that series. :-)
On the other side, I agree that Danny Ainge gets carried away sometimes.
He plays with extreme emotion (he gets hyper), and he occasionally loses
control. He's matured a lot in the last two years, though.
But if y'all want to talk about cheap shots, let's talk about Kareem's
elbows. He about took Buckner's head off in game 3 by throwing his
elbows around like a madman. In game four, he threw a wild elbow which
hit Bird in the side of the head well after the whistle had blown. At
least Kevin was trying to make a play.
If they have to come back, it's going to be just as hot in the Garden
Tuesday. Record-high temperatures (over 100) are predicted through the
weekend.
--
--Bruce Nemnich, Thinking Machines Corporation, Waltham, MA
{decvax!cca,ihnp4!mit-eddie,allegra!ias}!godot!bruce, BJN@MIT-MC.ARPA