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Wednesday, May 28, 2014
The Celtics Were the First Bad Boys
ESPN's 30 for 30 episode "Bad Boys" originally aired last month. Here are three important truths to take away from that documentary:
1) Isiah Thomas is one of the most underrated players in pro basketball history. He was tough, he was fearless and he had an impeccable skill set: he was a tremendous ballhandler, he was a gifted passer who racked up legitimate assists (not fake ones given to him by generous scorekeepers), he rebounded well for his position, he was a solid individual defender who played heavy minutes for one of the best defensive teams of all-time and even though he was not a great outside shooter he made a ton of clutch jump shots throughout his career--and he was a good enough shooter that defenders could not just sag off of him. Thomas dropped 25 points on the L.A. Lakers in the third quarter of game six of the 1988 NBA Finals while playing on one leg, setting an NBA Finals single quarter record and tying the ABA/NBA Finals record set by Julius Erving during the 1976 ABA Finals; veteran NBA reporter Jack McCallum called Thomas' heroics "one of the top five offensive performances that there ever was." Thomas sacrificed a lot of his scoring and assist numbers to blend in with Detroit's team concept--so the "stat gurus" will forever underrate his value--but a strong case could be made that Thomas is the greatest 6 foot and under (don't believe his listed height of 6-1) player ever.
2) The Pistons were not the NBA's first "Bad Boys" or even the baddest of the bad. The Larry Bird-Kevin McHale-Robert Parish Boston Celtics were a brutally physical team--think back to McHale clotheslining Kurt Rambis in the 1984 NBA Finals and M.L. Carr undercutting Julius Erving in the 1980 Eastern Conference Finals and the way that their whole frontcourt mauled the Philadelphia 76ers' frontcourt in game seven of the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals while the officials swallowed their whistles. Erving was one of the classiest players in pro basketball history, someone who rarely received technical fouls and never got into fights--but during a November 1984 regular season game he took a swing at Bird after getting frustrated by Bird's roughhousing tactics (and verbal taunting, something that Erving never did on the many occasions that he outplayed Bird and other players). James Worthy put it best during "Bad Boys": "We knew that they (the Pistons) were a good team, a very physical team, but 'Bad Boys' was something that, nah, they didn't get much respect from us. Playing against the Celtics--it didn't get any tougher, no one got any badder. You could call the Celtics 'Bad Boys' back in the early '80s."
Erving's 76ers overcame the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1980 and 1982 despite the Celtics' rough tactics and then in 1983 the 76ers brought in Moses Malone as the final piece to their championship puzzle; although the 76ers had proven that they could circumvent the Celtics' physical tactics without changing their own style, they needed Malone to match up with the Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Pistons followed a similar path in the mid to late 1980s, adding Rick Mahorn, John Salley and Dennis Rodman in order to match up with the size, strength and physicality of the Celtics' frontcourt--but the idea that the Pistons did something fundamentally different from what the Celtics had been doing for years is nonsense. The Celtics taught the Pistons how to use physicality to gain an edge and win championships but then the Celtics got mad and lost their composure when they received a dose of their own medicine.
3) The Adrian Dantley-Mark Aguirre trade was not a product of politicking by Thomas on behalf of his boyhood friend Aguirre but rather a shrewd basketball move made by Detroit General Manager Jack McCloskey to put the final championship piece in place. Dantley resented Dennis Rodman's increasingly large role on the team and Aguirre was a much better passer than Dantley; bringing in Aguirre improved the Pistons at both ends of the court and the Pistons rolled to two straight titles with Aguirre and Rodman splitting time at the small forward position. Dantley wanted the Pistons to be his team, while Aguirre fit in perfectly; in his second year with the Pistons, Aguirre voluntarily gave up his starting role to Rodman, an unselfish act that Dantley would never have considered doing.
McDonald's Selects 35th Anniversary All American Team
In honor of the upcoming 35th anniversary of the McDonald's All American High School Boys Basketball Game, the McDonald's All American Games Selection Committee created a list of the 35 greatest McDonald's All Americans. More than 800 players have been honored as McDonald's All Americans, so the 35 players on this list are the elite of the elite. According to the press release from the Selection Committee, each player was chosen "based on his high school career and performance in the McDonald’s All American Games, success at the collegiate and professional level, and post-career accomplishments." The press release adds that each of the 35 players listed below "will receive a custom-designed basketball, produced by Anaconda Sports® The Rock®":
Earvin "Magic" Johnson (McDonald’s All American class of 1977) Clark Kellogg (1979) Ralph Sampson (1979) Isiah Thomas (1979) Dominique Wilkins (1979) James Worthy (1979) Sam Perkins (1980) Glenn "Doc" Rivers (1980) Patrick Ewing (1981) Michael Jordan (1981) Chris Mullin (1981) Kenny Smith (1983) Danny Manning (1984) Larry Johnson (1987) Christian Laettner (1988) Alonzo Mourning (1988) Bobby Hurley (1989) Shaquille O’Neal (1989) Grant Hill (1990) Glenn Robinson (1991) Jason Kidd (1992) Jerry Stackhouse (1993) Vince Carter (1995) Kevin Garnett (1995) Paul Pierce (1995) Kobe Bryant (1996) Jay Williams (1999) Carmelo Anthony (2002) Amare Stoudemire (2002) LeBron James (2003) Chris Paul (2003) Dwight Howard (2004) Tyler Hansbrough (2005) Kevin Durant (2006) Derrick Rose (2007)
The list includes numerous current and future Hall of Famers, NBA MVPs, NBA Rookies of the Year and NBA scoring champions. It is interesting to note that three of the players on the list who attended Duke had their NBA careers either ended or curtailed by serious leg injuries: Bobby Hurley (who almost died in a car accident), Jay Williams (whose promising NBA career was ended by a motorcycle accident) and Grant Hill, an All-NBA First Team performer whose career was altered by a severe ankle injury that required multiple surgeries and extensive rehabilitation. Two of the regular members of TNT's NBA studio show are on the list: Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal.
The 1979 class leads the way with five honorees, three of whom are Hall of Famers (Isiah Thomas, James Worthy and Dominique Wilkins) and two of whom are included on the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List (Thomas and Worthy). One memory that stands out for me from McDonald's All American history is a two handed dunk thrown down in the 1979 game not by renowned high flyers Wilkins or Worthy but by 6-2 John Paxson, who played his high school ball in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio before starring at Notre Dame and winning three championships with the 1991-93 Chicago Bulls teams headlined by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Steve Kerr succeeded Paxson in the role as Chicago's designated sharpshooter and won three rings during the second Jordan-Pippen "three-peat." Casual fans may assume that Paxson and Kerr were similar players cut from the same stereotypical mold: non-athletic white guys who can really shoot. Nothing could be further from the truth, as Kerr told me a few years ago when I interviewed him for an article about how to define athletic ability and I mentioned Paxson's McDonald's dunk; Kerr replied that Paxson had a lot of "junk" (i.e., explosiveness) in his game, a marked contrast to the ground bound Kerr (Kerr was one of the few NBA players of his era who could not dunk and possibly the only one in that small group who is a legit 6-3). I did not include Kerr's comment about Paxson in my athleticism article (it did not really fit with the overall theme of the piece) but seeing the 1979 alumni dominate the McDonald's list reminded me about the time that a player from my home town had a highlight moment long before his clutch fourth quarter shooting in the clinching game of the 1991 NBA Finals helped Michael Jordan to capture the first of his six NBA titles.
Here is a special video featuring the members of the 35th Anniversary McDonald's All-American team:
Kobe Bryant is now the elder statesman among the NBA's elite players but 16 years ago he was a high school phenomenon:
In Part I of the 1980s Celtics-Lakers Finals trilogy, Larry Bird's Boston Celtics defeated Magic Johnson's L.A. Lakers 4-3 in 1984. The Lakers avenged that defeat with a 4-2 victory in the 1985 Finals in Part II and at the time it certainly seemed likely that those teams would meet again in the 1986 Finals--but fans would have to wait an extra year for the third and final chapter in this saga.
In 1985-86, the Celtics added Bill Walton--the 1978 regular season MVP and 1977 Finals MVP--to provide frontcourt depth and the injury prone center enjoyed the healthiest season of his career, averaging 19.3 mpg while appearing in 80 games, far surpassing his previous career-high of 67 games. Walton won the Sixth Man Award after shooting .562 from the field and averaging 7.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.1 apg and 1.3 bpg. The Celtics' frontcourt rotation was ridiculously good, consisting of Hall of Famers Larry Bird--who won his third straight MVP--Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Walton plus former All-Star Scott Wedman, who provided an offensive spark off of the bench that season, averaging 8.0 ppg in 17.7 mpg. Of course, the backcourt was not too shabby either, with 1979 Finals MVP and perennial All-Defensive Team member Dennis Johnson at one guard and sharpshooting future All-Star Danny Ainge at the other guard. Jerry Sichting shot .570 from the field in 19.5 mpg as the first guard off of the bench. Not surprisingly, the Celtics cruised through the regular season, amassing one of the greatest records of all-time, 67-15. They were particularly dominant in the friendly confines of the Boston Garden, setting a record that still stands by winning 40 out of 41 home games. They won their last 31 home games of the season, which is still the current NBA record for such a season-ending streak, and when they won their first seven home games in 1986-87 they set a record for consecutive home wins that stood for nearly a decade.
The Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs but that series is remembered not for Boston's dominance--the Celtics won game one by 19 and game three by 18--but rather for a breakout performance by second year sensation Michael Jordan. After winning the 1985 Rookie of the Year award, Jordan missed most of the 1986 season due to a broken foot. Against the team's wishes, he came back late in the season, playing limited minutes and helping the Bulls qualify for the playoffs. He scored 49 points in the first game--but that was just a prelude to his game two performance when he scored 63 points as the lowly Bulls pushed the powerful Celtics to two overtimes before bowing, 135-131. Jordan broke Elgin Baylor's 24 year old record for most points in a playoff game (61, which is still the Finals record). Interestingly, Baylor missed most of the 1962 season due to his armed forces commitment and he later said that being fresher helped him to have such a great game; no one else has scored more than 56 points in an NBA playoff game. After Jordan went over, around and through various Boston defenders, Bird famously said, "He's God disguised as Michael Jordan." In the Eastern Conference semifinals the Celtics brushed aside Dominique Wilkins' Atlanta Hawks 4-1 and then they destroyed the Milwaukee Bucks 4-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Lakers easily posted the best record in the West (62-20), they swept San Antonio in the first round and then they beat Mark Aguirre's Dallas Mavericks in six games in the Western Conference semifinals. In the Western Conference Finals they faced the Houston Rockets, who were led by the "Twin Towers," Hakeem Olajuwon and 1984 Rookie of the Year Ralph Sampson. The Rockets seized homecourt advantage by winning game two in Los Angeles, they captured both games in Houston and they wrapped up the series in game five on Sampson's twisting shot at the buzzer. There would be no repeat for the Lakers and no rematch for the Celtics. The Finals proved to be anticlimactic as the Celtics won the first two games at home, earned one victory in the middle three games in Houston and closed out the series with a convincing 114-97 game six win at home. Bird had perhaps his best Finals game ever in that contest, finishing with 29 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds after nearly having a triple double at halftime. He won the Finals MVP, averaging 24.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg and 9.5 apg in the series. McHale (25.8 ppg, .573 field goal shooting) was the leading scorer in the Finals for the second year in a row; Bird led the Celtics in scoring twice in his five Finals appearances and was the leading overall scorer in the Finals once (1984).
The 1986 Celtics were undoubtedly Bird's greatest team and one of the best teams of all-time--and the 1987 Lakers were most likely Magic's greatest team and one of the best teams of all-time. If there is one regret about the 1980s NBA it is that there was not some way to have the 1986 Celtics face the 1987 Lakers in the ultimate battle of champions.
Magic once said that the best thing about his rivalry with Bird is that they each made the other play his best game. Perhaps it was inevitable that after Bird and the Celtics stormed through the NBA in 1986 that Magic and the Lakers would have a virtually identical run in 1987, posting a 65-17 record and winning 37 of 41 home games. Bird and Magic were not the first NBA players who added something new to their games each offseason but because they faced each other in the Finals three times in an era during which media coverage of the league expanded tremendously even casual fans knew about how they transformed their games: Bird added the three point shot as a deadly weapon and, with range no longer a factor, he perfected a deadly stepback move that made him almost unguardable during his prime; one offseason he really stepped up his cardio training, hit the weights and his body looked more toned than ever. Meanwhile, Magic steadily improved his free throw shooting and he added the three point shot to his repertoire in the latter stages of his career. However, the most famous addition to either of their games happened prior to the 1986-87 season when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar taught Magic how to shoot the skyhook. Magic modified the move slightly and he used it to good effect that season--and very famously in game four of the Finals--as Abdul-Jabbar accepted a lesser role and was not his team's leading scorer for the first time in his career. Magic averaged a career-high 23.9 ppg, led the NBA in assists for the fourth time in five years and won his first MVP award, beating out Jordan and Bird. The Lakers made a key midseason acquisition by picking up Mychal Thompson, a former 20 ppg-10 rpg player who could play power forward and center; he took the place of the departed Bob McAdoo, who had been a key bench player for the Lakers since the 1981-82 season.
The Lakers annihilated the Western Conference in the playoffs, posting an 11-1 record with scores that included 128-95, 140-103, 133-108 and 133-102. The sole loss came in game four of the Western Conference semifinals after they had already taken a 3-0 lead over the Golden State Warriors. Golden State guard Eric "Sleepy" Floyd--a career 12.8 ppg scorer who averaged 18.8 ppg that season--simply went nuts and had one of the most improbable playoff performances in NBA history, racking up 51 points as the Warriors won, 129-121.
The Celtics' road to the 1987 Finals was much more arduous. Their season began with tragedy when Len Bias, the second overall pick in the draft, died of heart failure after overdosing on cocaine; the Celtics had hoped that he would infuse their frontcourt with youth and athleticism for years to come. Although they finished with the second best record in the league (59-23) the frontcourt depth that had been so key in 1986 was wiped out by injuries to Walton (who played just 10 games) and Wedman (who played in only six games). The Celtics had to rely on their starters more than ever and they also had to deal with strong challengers in Atlanta, Detroit and Milwaukee. In the first round they again faced the Bulls and had to contend with Jordan, who had just set the non-Wilt Chamberlain single season record by scoring 3041 points (37.1 ppg). The Celtics held Jordan slightly below his average (35.7 ppg) and won 3-0. Then they had a long, hard series against Milwaukee, losing on the road in overtime in game three and then winning on the road in double overtime in game four. Milwaukee retaliated by capturing game five in Boston and it took the Celtics the full seven games to dispatch the Bucks. Things only got tougher in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Celtics faced a Detroit Pistons team that lacked their star power but was built specifically to combat the physicality of their frontcourt. The Celtics won the first two games at home but the Pistons scored two routs in Detroit to even the series. The Pistons led 107-106 and had possession of the ball late in game five when Bird made one of the most famous plays in NBA history, stealing Isiah Thomas' inbounds pass and feeding a cutting Dennis Johnson for the game-winning layup. The Pistons bounced back to win game six at home but dropped a 117-114 decision in game seven at the Boston Garden.
The Celtics had made it back to the Finals but they were truly the walking wounded, with the most notable injuries being the foot fractures suffered by McHale and Walton, each of whom played anyway in the playoffs and later had fusion surgeries. As Walton said on Tuesday during ESPN's special rebroadcast of game six of the 1987 Finals, the lesson here for young players is don't play if you have a broken foot. Walton never played in another NBA game after the 1987 Finals. McHale played for six more seasons but never reached the All-NBA First Team level that he performed at in 1986-87, when he averaged 26.1 ppg and became the only player to shoot at least .600 from the field (a league-best .604) and .800 from the free throw line (.836) in the same season.
Not surprisingly, the well-rested Lakers jumped out to a 9-0 lead in game one of the Finals, led 69-54 at halftime and coasted to a 126-113 victory. Magic had 29 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and no turnovers. James Worthy had a game-high 33 points on 16-23 field goal shooting and he narrowly missed posting a triple double (10 assists, nine rebounds). Bird led the Celtics with 28 points and seven rebounds.
The Celtics kept pace in a high scoring first quarter in game two, only trailing 38-34, but the Lakers blew the game open in the second quarter with a 20-0 run. Michael Cooper accounted for all 20 points by scoring or via assist as he tied a Finals record with eight assists in one quarter. Cooper also shot 6-7 from three point range in this game, finishing with 20 points and nine assists. Remarkably, in the third quarter Magic also had eight assists; he ended up with 24 points and 20 assists. Byron Scott tied Magic for game-high honors with 24 points as five Lakers scored at least 20 points in a 141-122 victory. Bird led the Celtics with 23 points.
If you think the phenomenon of players performing better at home than they do on the road in the playoffs is something new, consider what happened in game three in Boston: Scott's production plummeted to four points on 2-9 field goal shooting, while Worthy--who scored 56 points on 26-38 field goal shooting in the first two games--had just 13 points on 6-18 shooting. Magic (32 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists) and Abdul-Jabbar (27 points, seven rebounds) tried to carry the load for the Lakers but the Celtics prevailed because of strong performances by their five starters, who scored 107 of the team's 109 points in a six point win. Bird led the way with 30 points, though he shot just 10-24 from the field. He also had a game-high 12 rebounds and four assists. There had been some understandable talk before this game that the Lakers might sweep the Celtics and afterwards Bird admitted that the Celtics had thought about this: "We're just too good a team to be swept. This was the most important game of the series for us. If we lost, it might've been tough to get up for game four. Now it's going to be easy."
The 1987 playoffs produced two of the signature moments in NBA history. The first was Bird's steal in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals. The second was Magic's game-winning shot in game four, a dagger that he termed the "junior, junior skyhook." For most of the game it did not seem like the score would be close enough for a last second shot to make a difference; the Celtics built a 15 point second half lead but then the Lakers rallied and went ahead on a lob from Magic to Abdul-Jabbar with less than 30 seconds to play. Bird answered with a three pointer to put Boston up 106-104. Abdul-Jabbar split a pair of free throws but the Celtics were not able to control the rebound, so the Lakers had one final chance. After a timeout, Magic received a pass on the left wing, drove to the middle of the lane and hit one of the most famous shots in NBA history, a hook lofted over the outstretched arms of Boston's Hall of Fame frontcourt. There were still two seconds left and Bird got free for a corner three pointer that could have won the game but he missed--and the game, the series and the rivalry tilted in Magic's favor. Magic finished with a game-high 29 points plus eight rebounds and five assists. McHale led the Celtics with 25 points (shooting 10-14 from the field) and 13 rebounds. Bird had 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists but he shot 7-19 from the field.
"You expect to lose on a skyhook," Bird said after the game. "You don't expect it to be from Magic." He knew that the Celtics had squandered a great opportunity. "We turned the ball over twice (late in the game). We missed a rebound after a free throw. We really can't blame anyone but ourselves...A lot happened in the last minute and a half. Robert (Parish) gets the ball taken away from him. I throw the ball at Kevin's feet. They miss a free throw and we don't get the rebound. How many chances do you need to win a game?" Bird realized that the odds of the Celtics winning the series were not good. "I know when we're up 3-1 I always say it's over. It's not a good position. There's no question we're in trouble. We're not a good road team. I don't know if we can beat them twice out there. But we'll give it a try."
Naturally, the Celtics did not want the Lakers to celebrate a championship in Boston. All five Celtic starters scored at least 20 points in a 123-108 victory that shifted the series back to Los Angeles. Dennis Johnson led Boston with 25 points and 11 assists, while Bird had 23 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists though his shot was again off (7-18). Magic led the Lakers with 29 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds but Worthy (12 points on 6-19 shooting) and Scott (seven points on 3-10 shooting) once again struggled on the road.
The Celtics survived a slow start to take a 32-25 first quarter lead in game six and they still led 56-51 at halftime. However, they were done in by a disastrous third quarter during which the Lakers outscored them 30-12. That proved to be too much to overcome and the Lakers clinched the title with a 106-93 victory. During game six, CBS ran a graphic titled "Bird's '0 for' starts": he shot 0-6 from the field to start game three, 0-3 to start game four, 0-4 to start game five and that trend continued with an 0-3 to start game six. He eventually scored eight points in the first quarter but he ended up with just 16 points on 6-16 shooting. He also had nine rebounds and five assists. Bird averaged 24.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg and 5.5 apg in the series while shooting .445 from the field. Dennis Johnson led Boston with a game-high 33 points and he added 10 rebounds, tying McHale for game-high honors. Abdul-Jabbar scored 32 points on 13-18 shooting, a remarkable performance for anyone, let alone a 40 year old. However, the night belonged to Magic, who finished with 16 points, 19 assists and eight rebounds to clinch his third Finals MVP. Magic only shot 7-21 from the field but he orchestrated the Lakers' fastbreak attack to perfection. Magic led both teams in scoring (26.2 ppg) and assists (13.0 apg) during the series in addition to averaging a team-high 8.0 rpg. He shot .541 from the field. Bird put it best: "Magic is a great, great basketball player. The best I've ever seen."
After the series was over, Dennis Johnson said to Michael Cooper, "Same time, same place, next year" and Cooper agreed--but it was not to be. The Lakers survived three brutal seven game series to win the 1988 championship, becoming the first team since Bill Russell's 1968-69 Celtics to repeat as champions--but the Lakers' opponents in the Finals were the Pistons, not Bird's Celtics. Bird played in his last Finals game in 1987 and the Celtics have not been back to the Finals since then--until tonight. Magic's Lakers lost in the 1989 Finals to the Pistons and then they fell to Jordan's Bulls in the 1991 Finals as Jordan captured the first of his six championships. Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant revived Laker glory earlier in this decade by winning three straight championships (2000-02) and making a fourth Finals appearance in 2004. Will Bryant's Lakers and Kevin Garnett's Celtics author their own Finals trilogy or is this year's engagement strictly a one-time showing? As Cooper and Johnson found out, next year is never promised to you, so you have to make the most of each opportunity to win a championship.
1986-87 NBA Leaderboard ---------------------------
Best Regular Season Records
1) L.A. Lakers, 65-17 2) Boston Celtics, 59-23 3) Atlanta Hawks, 57-25 4) Dallas Mavericks, 55-27 5) Detroit Pistons, 52-30
MVP
1) Magic Johnson (Lakers) 2) Michael Jordan (Bulls) 3) Larry Bird (Celtics) 4) Kevin McHale (Celtics) 5) Dominique Wilkins (Hawks)
1) Charles Barkley, 14.6 rpg (76ers) 2) Charles Oakley, 13.1 rpg (Bulls) 3) Buck Williams, 12.5 rpg (Nets) 4) James Donaldson, 11.9 rpg (Mavericks) 5) Bill Laimbeer, 11.6 rpg (Pistons)
Assists
1) Magic Johnson, 12.2 apg (Lakers) 2) Sleepy Floyd, 10.3 apg (Warriors) 3) Isiah Thomas, 10.0 apg (Pistons) 4) Doc Rivers, 10.0 apg (Hawks) 5) Terry Porter, 8.9 apg (Trail Blazers)
Notes: ------
Roland Lazenby's excellent 1996 book The NBA Finals: A 50 Year Celebration is the source for some of the quotes and background information in this post and it is truly a great read not just about the Lakers and Celtics but also about the first half century of NBA history.
Information about various records and statistics can be found in the 2008 Finals Record Book, which is made available to members of the media covering the 2008 NBA playoffs. Other statistical information can be found in various editions of the Sporting News Official NBA Guide and the excellent website Basketball-Reference.com.
Part I of this series looked back at the greatest individual NBA rivalry of the early 1980s (hint: it was not Bird-Magic) as a prelude to examining the 1984 NBA Finals, the first of three showdowns between Larry Bird's Boston Celtics and Magic Johnson's L.A. Lakers. The Lakers blew several golden opportunities to take commanding leads in the 1984 Finals and that made for a long offseason of discontent for Magic, who Celtics star Kevin McHale sarcastically dubbed "Tragic" in reference to several late game gaffes committed by the Lakers' point guard. In 1984-85 there could be only one goal for the Celtics--become the first team since the 1968-69 Celtics to win back to back championships--and there could be only one goal for the Lakers: return to the Finals and finally topple the Celtics, a franchise that enjoyed an 8-0 Finals record against the Lakers.
While fans eagerly anticipated a Celtics-Lakers rematch, one other story captured a fair amount of attention that season: a spectacular rookie named Michael Jordan was reminding everyone of the aerial exploits of a young Julius Erving. Jordan played for a weak Chicago team that had only won 27 games the previous season and even his formidable skills were only good enough to add 11 victories to that total but he ran away with the Rookie of the Year award by averaging 28.2 ppg (third in the NBA behind Bernard King and Bird), 6.5 rpg, 5.9 apg and 2.4 spg; he led the Bulls in each of those categories, plus free throw percentage (.845), leaving people to wonder what he could accomplish if he had a better supporting cast. While watching Bird and Magic duel for the 1985 title, who could have imagined that Jordan would eventually win more championships than either of them?
The interesting thing about looking back at these championship series in detail is that there is an inevitable tendency to think that the great players of the past never committed turnovers, never missed shots and never made mental mistakes--but, as Part I made very clear, Bird, Magic and several other future Hall of Famers hardly played perfect basketball in the 1984 Finals. Championship play--not just in basketball but in any competition--is defined not by perfection but by heart and will and determination and the ability to maintain focus in spite of previous errors, bad calls and other real or imagined obstacles. We like to think of championship teams as well oiled machines that personified perfection but the reality is that in order to win a championship you have to battle, you have to scratch, you have to claw--it's a dirty, rough business, not something that is nearly as pristine as it looks after NBA Entertainment carefully packages the highlights into a DVD.
That point can be underscored most clearly by bringing this discussion full circle and zooming ahead from Jordan's rookie season to briefly glance at Jordan's last championship run. I'm sure that when most people remember Jordan they recall his high flying exploits but I think that the game that best exemplifies the champion he became is game seven of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals when his Bulls defeated the Indiana Pacers 88-83. If you are looking for basketball beauty then this game would not even enter the discussion: the Bulls shot 29-76 (.382) from the field but they won primarily because they battled their way to retrieve 22 of those misses. Jordan shot 9-25 from the field but he had five offensive rebounds. Scottie Pippen shot 6-18 from the field but he had six offensive rebounds. The Bulls did not win that game by being pretty or creating a lot of highlights or even by being efficient; they won it through sheer effort and determination. Anyone who would try to do some kind of statistical analysis of that game--and that Bulls team--would be missing the whole point: champions do whatever it takes to win, whether or not it looks good in the boxscore. Think of Al Pacino's famous "Inches" speech in "Any Given Sunday": "The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the...difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying!"
So when you look at the numbers from the 1984, 1985 and 1987 Finals and when you read about the mistakes that different legendary players made at various times in those series, don't think any less of them. Championship basketball is simply not always going to be pretty.
In 1984-85, the Celtics finished with the best record in the NBA, 63-19--and the Lakers were right behind them with a 62-20 record. The Lakers had no serious challengers in the West, while it seemed like the Celtics had a pair of worthy teams to deal with in the young Milwaukee Bucks (59-23) and their old rival the Philadelphia 76ers (58-24), who had added rookie Charles Barkley to the 1983 championship nucleus of Moses Malone-Julius Erving-Andrew Toney-Maurice Cheeks. The Lakers cruised back to the Finals, ringing up an 11-2 record in the Western Conference playoffs. Meanwhile, the Celtics won a surprisingly competitive first round series versus the 36-46 Cleveland Cavaliers despite the fact that the two teams scored exactly the same number of points in the four games. The Detroit Pistons gave the Celtics a good battle in the Eastern Conference semifinals, splitting the first four games before the Celtics closed out the series with back to back wins; these were not yet the "Bad Boys" Pistons but rather a high scoring team that averaged 116.0 ppg in the regular season, third in the NBA. In the next couple years the Pistons would add Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman and John Salley and transform themselves into a tough, defensive-minded team capable of seriously threatening the Celtics' Eastern Conference supremacy.
The Celtics did not have to face the second seeded Bucks because they were swept by the Sixers. The final playoff matchup between Bird's Celtics and Erving's 76ers turned out to be one sided as the Celtics stormed to a 3-0 lead before closing the series out in five games. Now the Celtics had the opportunity to defend their crown--and the Lakers had a chance to avenge their painful defeat from the previous season.
For such a highly anticipated showdown, the first game turned out to be very anti-climactic: in what became known as the "Memorial Day Massacre," the Celtics routed the Lakers 148-114. Six Celtics scored at least 13 points, paced by 26 each by Kevin McHale and Scott Wedman, who shot 11-11 from the field, including four three pointers. Bird had 18 points, nine assists and six rebounds, while Magic had 19 points and 12 assists but only grabbed one rebound. The 38 year old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had finished fourth in the MVP voting but he looked like he had aged about 20 years as he slowly moved up and down the court while the Celtics raced past him; he finished with just 12 points and three rebounds and later personally apologized to each of his teammates for his poor performance. Lakers Coach Pat Riley later said, "He made a contract with us that it would never happen again--ever. That game was a blessing in disguise. It strengthened the fiber of this team. After that, Kareem had this look, this air about him."
It might seem strange that two great, evenly matched teams could be involved in such a blowout but Dick Stockton--who called several NBA Finals for CBS during the 1980s--noted during yesterday's ESPN special rebroadcast of game six of the 1987 NBA Finals that 10 of the 19 Celtics-Lakers Finals games in the 1980s were decided by more than 10 points, something that he attributed to one team asserting its will and its tempo early in the game and then not letting up.
Abdul-Jabbar played marvelously in game two (30 points, 17 rebounds, eight assists, three blocked shots) as the Lakers beat the Celtics 109-102 and seized home court advantage. Magic added 14 points and 13 assists, while Bird led the Celtics with 30 points and 12 rebounds. "All he (Abdul-Jabbar) read in the papers was how old he was," Celtics reserve M.L. Carr said. "That made him mad. If there had been a newspaper strike, we would have won." Riley offered a more serious assessment: "He is the greatest player who has ever played the game in my opinion. I know he is constantly scrutinized for his deficiencies but he got the big rebounds and made the big shots and that is what he is all about."
The 1985 Finals employed the now familiar 2-3-2 format instead of the older 2-2-1-1-1 setup. When the series shifted to Los Angeles the Lakers fully returned the favor from game one, blowing out the Celtics 136-111. Abdul-Jabbar became the leading playoff scorer in NBA history, finishing with 26 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. James Worthy led the Lakers with 29 points, while Magic narrowly missed a triple double with 17 points, 16 assists and nine rebounds. Kevin McHale (31 points on 10-13 field goal shooting, 10 rebounds) was the only Celtic who played well; Bird shot just 8-21 from the field and ended up with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists. In the 1984 Finals, the Celtics repeatedly beat the Lakers to the punch, literally and figuratively. This time around, the Lakers matched the Celtics' physical play in kind and the Celtics, who had mocked the Lakers for complaining about their roughhouse tactics, now had their own complaints, with Celtics Coach K.C. Jones going so far as to say that this series would be remembered as the "cheap-shot-and-dirty" Finals. Riley would have none of that: "We're playing Celtic basketball. When they play like this, it's called hard work. When we do it, we get called a dirty team" (when the Pistons eventually responded in kind to the Celtics' physical play in the Eastern Conference playoffs they too were branded a dirty team). Lakers assistant Dave Wohl (who ironically works for the Celtics now) put it this way: "They expected us to crawl in a hole but we're not going to. It's like the bully on the block. He keeps taking your money. Each day he takes 25 cents. Finally, you get tired and you whack him. You find out that you should have done it four years ago. Our guys just got tired of being the little kid on the block." Scotty Stirling, the NBA's vice president of operations, warned both teams prior to game four that fines and suspensions would be issued by the league if they did not clean up their acts.
Just like in the 1984 Finals, the Lakers now had a golden opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead--and, just like in 1984, they lost a close fourth game. Bird scored 11 fourth quarter points as the Celtics rallied from a 92-85 deficit to go up 99-96 after his steal and jump shot. The Lakers forged a 105-105 tie but the Celtics had the ball on the last possession and a double-teamed Bird passed to Dennis Johnson, whose buzzer beating jumper won the game. McHale had game-high totals in points (28) and rebounds (12), Dennis Johnson added 27 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds and Bird had 26 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers with 21 points. Magic had a triple double (20 points, 12 assists, 11 rebounds).
Although Bird and Magic were the headliners in the series, the biggest matchup nightmare for the Lakers was McHale, who averaged a series-high 26.0 ppg on .598 field goal shooting. McHale called the low post the "torture chamber" and he was victimizing every Laker who tried to guard him. After McHale scored 13 points in the first quarter of game five, Riley bit the bullet and switched Abdul-Jabbar on to him, shifting a power forward over to guard center Robert Parish. McHale only had 11 points the rest of the game, while Abdul-Jabbar not only starred defensively but also poured in a game-high 36 points on 16-28 field goal shooting in addition to snaring seven rebounds and passing for seven assists. Worthy had 33 points on sizzling 13-17 field goal shooting, while Magic orchestrated the fast break attack to perfection with 26 points, 17 assists and six rebounds as the Lakers won 120-111. Coach Jones kept shortening his rotation as the series progressed and in game five his top four players each scored at least 20 points while playing between 44 and 48 minutes: Dennis Johnson went the whole 48 minutes and nearly matched Magic's production (22 points, 17 assists, three rebounds), McHale finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in 46 minutes, Parish had 26 points in 44 minutes and Bird added 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 44 minutes.
The Celtics had never let another team celebrate a championship in Boston--until game six of the 1985 Finals, which the Lakers won 111-100. This was sweet revenge not only for Magic but also for Abdul-Jabbar--whose Milwaukee Bucks lost to Boston in the 1974 Finals--and Lakers General Manager Jerry West, who lost to the Celtics in the Finals six times as a player without tasting victory a single time (he won his only championship as a player versus the Knicks in 1972). McHale led both teams with 32 points and 16 rebounds but he fouled out with more than five minutes left. Abdul-Jabbar also fouled out but not before he poured in 29 points. Worthy scored 28 points on 11-15 field goal shooting and Magic had his second triple double of the series (14 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds).
Bird, who had won his second regular season MVP in a landslide decision over Magic, shot just 12-29 from the field, ending up with 28 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. He was battling injuries to his right elbow and index finger but refused to use those ailments as an excuse for having a subpar series (23.8 ppg on .449 field goal shooting, 8.8 rpg, 5 apg): "Kevin was the only player on top of his game this series. I didn't play to my standard. I missed too many shots. When you lose, you're a failure. Your goal is to win a championship and if you don't win it, you're a failure. Today, we played like a bunch of guys who failed."
The man of the hour was Abdul-Jabbar, the oldest player in the NBA who looked every bit of his 38 years in game one but who bounced back to average 25.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg and 5.2 apg while shooting .604 from the field in the series. That performance earned him his second Finals MVP 14 years after he had claimed his first as a very young Milwaukee Buck. Riley said, "You are never going to see another one like him. He is a superior athlete--the best of our time."
Magic averaged 18.3 ppg and 6.8 rpg in addition to setting a record that still stands for assists in a six game Finals (84; 14.0 apg); in 1984 he had set a record that still stands for assists in a seven game Finals (95; 13.6 apg) but nothing short of a victory over Boston in 1985 could ease the pain of remembering the previous year's loss: "You wait so long to get back," Magic said after the 1985 Finals concluded. "A whole year. That's the hard part. But that's what makes this game interesting. It's made me stronger."
Riley exulted, "This is the start of the Laker mystique. We broke the dynasty. There goes Boston--the mystique, the con and the deception. When we get our championship rings, we're going to have a diamond set on a parquet floor. We never again will be humiliated and tormented like they did to us last year."
Tomorrow in Part III: After a one year hiatus, the Celtics and Lakers write the final chapter of their 1980s rivalry with a showdown in the 1987 NBA Finals.
1984-85 NBA Leaderboard ---------------------------
Best Regular Season Records
1) Boston Celtics, 63-19 2) L.A. Lakers, 62-20 3) Milwaukee Bucks, 59-23 4) Philadelphia 76ers, 58-24 5) Denver Nuggets, 52-30
MVP
1) Larry Bird (Celtics) 2) Magic Johnson (Lakers) 3) Moses Malone (76ers) 4) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lakers) 5) Terry Cummings (Bucks)
Scoring
1) Bernard King, 32.9 ppg (Knicks) 2) Larry Bird, 28.7 ppg (Celtics) 3) Michael Jordan, 28.2 ppg (Bulls) 4) Purvis Short, 28.0 ppg (Warriors) 5) Alex English, 27.9 ppg (Nuggets)
1) Isiah Thomas, 13.9 apg (Pistons) 2) Magic Johnson, 12.6 apg (Lakers) 3) Johnny Moore, 10.0 apg (Spurs) 4) Norm Nixon, 8.8 apg (Clippers) 5) John Bagley, 8.6 apg (Cavaliers)
Notes: ------
Roland Lazenby's excellent 1996 book The NBA Finals: A 50 Year Celebration is the source for some of the quotes and background information in this post and it is truly a great read not just about the Lakers and Celtics but also about the first half century of NBA history.
Information about various records and statistics can be found in the 2008 Finals Record Book, which is made available to members of the media covering the 2008 NBA playoffs. Other statistical information can be found in various editions of the Sporting News Official NBA Guide and the excellent website Basketball-Reference.com.
This Thursday, the Boston Celtics and L.A. Lakers will begin writing another chapter in one of the most storied rivalries in sports history. However, because the previous chapter was completed in 1987, a large number of NBA fans were not even born the last time these teams met in the NBA Finals. The Celtics and Lakers combined to win eight championships in the 1980s and they faced each other in the Finals three times. Those matchups represented a revival of a great rivalry from the 1950s and 1960s, when Bill Russell's Celtics won 11 championships in 13 seasons--including a record eight in a row from 1959-66--and defeated the Lakers each of the seven times that they played them in the Finals. In 1969, Lakers legend Jerry West won the first ever Finals MVP and he remains the only player from the losing team to capture that award; his 42 point, 13 rebound, 12 assist effort in a 108-106 game seven loss to Boston was truly extraordinary but even though he went on to win a championship when his 1972 Lakers defeated the New York Knicks he still says that he never really got over the disappointment of losing to Boston so many times.
Over the next three days, I will take a look back at the 1980s version of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, focusing on their head to head duels in the 1984, 1985 and 1987 NBA Finals. Let's kick things off by setting the wayback machine to 1984:
Although nowadays people act as if Larry Bird and Magic Johnson dueled each other throughout the 1980s, the reality is that for the first four seasons of the decade they only played head to head twice a year in the regular season and did not meet in the playoffs. The big individual rivalry in the league at that time was Bird versus Julius Erving; they battled individually for recognition as not only the best forward but the best player in the NBA: Bird finished fourth, second, second and second in MVP voting from 1980-83, while Erving finished second, first, third and fifth in MVP voting during those seasons. Bird's Celtics played Erving's Philadelphia 76ers six times a year as they fought for Atlantic Division supremacy as a prelude to their annual showdowns in the Eastern Conference Finals, where the Sixers sandwiched two victories over the Celtics (1980, 1982) around a heartbreaking 1981 loss in which they took a 3-1 series lead before losing the last three games by a combined total of five points. Bird's Celtics took full advantage of their first trip to the Finals by beating an upstart 40-42 Houston team, while Erving's Sixers twice lost to the Lakers in the Finals.
While Bird beat out Magic for the 1980 Rookie of the Year Award, immediately became a fixture on the All-NBA First Team and annually finished near the top of MVP voting, it could be argued that Magic was an underrated player in his first few seasons. Despite winning Finals MVPs in 1980 and 1982, Magic received no MVP votes in 1980, finished 10th in 1981 and ranked eighth in 1982 before moving up to third in 1983 and 1984. Magic's teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his record sixth MVP in 1980 and Magic did not overtake him as the team's scoring leader until the 1986-87 season, which could be part of the reason that MVP voters were slow to grant Magic much consideration. Still, Magic had a Finals performance for the ages in 1980--producing 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in the game six clincher over Philadelphia when Abdul-Jabbar was unable to play due to a sprained ankle--and in the 1981-82 season he nearly averaged a triple double (18.6 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 9.5 apg) before wrapping up his second Finals MVP in his first three seasons with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists in another game six clincher versus the 76ers.
In 1982-83, the Sixers acquired Moses Malone from Houston, stormed to a 65-17 record and swept the Lakers in the Finals; the Celtics were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals, so that was the first year that Bird and Erving did not face each other in the playoffs. That Sixers team is still one of the greatest single season squads of all-time but rather than the start of a dynasty that turned out to be the end of an era, capping off a seven year run during which Erving's Sixers won more games than any other NBA team, made it to the Eastern Conference Finals six times and advanced to the NBA Finals four times.
In retrospect, the 1983-84 season was a watershed moment for the NBA in many ways, both a passing of the torch and the start of the transformation of the league into a global sports juggernaut. For the first time since 1979, Erving did not make the All-NBA First Team and he finished out of the top five in MVP voting. His defending champion 76ers suffered a shocking first round playoff loss to the New Jersey Nets and that helped pave the way for Bird's Celtics to face Magic's Lakers in the Finals for the first time. Also, in February 1984, David Stern became the NBA Commissioner and his visionary leadership soon helped to guide the league into an era of unprecedented popularity and financial success.
The Celtics had a new coach--K.C. Jones replaced Bill Fitch--and a superstar with a new mindset; Bird was embarrassed by Boston's abbreviated 1983 playoff run and after the loss to Milwaukee he vowed to elevate his game to another level: "People say, 'As Larry goes, so go the Celtics.' So okay, next season I'll take on that pressure. I'll come back with more desire than ever. If it's got to start somewhere it might as well start here." Bird established career-highs (each of which he surpassed in subsequent seasons) in scoring (24.2 ppg), assists (6.6 apg) and free throw percentage (.888, best in the NBA) while leading the Celtics to a league-best 62 wins. He captured his first MVP in the official balloting conducted by the media, though he finished second to Bernard King in a poll of NBA players conducted by the Sporting News. Do you remember what a great three point shooter Bird was back then? If you said "Yes" then you either have a real bad memory or you are a liar: Bird shot 18-73 (.247) from three point range that season and the only time in his first five years in the league that he shot better than .300 (not .400, mind you, but .300) from three point range was his rookie season (58-143, .406). At that time, most teams only shot three pointers as last second heaves at the end of a quarter or in situations when they trailed late in a game; those half court flings and desperate shots lowered many players' percentages. The three pointer only gradually became a regular part of NBA offenses and the three point prowess for which Bird is legendary did not become a part of his game until 1984-85.
The Celtics beat the Washington Bullets 3-1 in the first round, survived a seven game battle with King's New York Knicks and gained revenge over the Bucks with a 4-1 victory in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Magic's Lakers posted the best record in the West (54-28) even though he missed 15 games, most of them due to an early season finger injury. Magic won the second of his four assists titles with a career-high 13.1 apg average and he shot a career-best .565 from the field while scoring 17.6 ppg, second on the team to Abdul-Jabbar's 21.5 ppg. The Lakers swept the Kansas City Kings 3-0, knocked off the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 and defeated the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals. At long last Bird and Magic had the opportunity to play a rematch of their 1979 NCAA Championship Game battle. Although the media understandably played up the Bird-Magic angle, the 1984 Finals featured a total of seven future Hall of Famers: Bird, Magic, Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Bob McAdoo, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale. In addition, five other participants--Dennis Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes, Danny Ainge, Scott Wedman and Swen Nater (ABA)--made the All-Star team at least once during their careers. Bird, Magic, Abdul-Jabbar and McAdoo each won at least one regular season MVP during their careers, while Bird, Magic, Abdul-Jabbar, Worthy, Dennis Johnson and Cedric Maxwell each won at least one Finals MVP.
The Lakers seized home court advantage with a 115-109 game one win in Boston. Abdul-Jabbar led the way with 32 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocked shots and two steals. Magic contributed 19 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, while second year forward Worthy added 20 points and five rebounds. McHale led the Celtics with 25 points, while Bird had 24 points, 14 rebounds and five assists but he shot just 7-17 from the field and committed six turnovers.
The Celtics led 37-26 after the first quarter of game two but the Lakers rallied and eventually took the lead in the third quarter. It looked like Worthy would be the hero of the game; he finished with 29 points on 11-12 field goal shooting, converting an astonishing five three point plays as Boston's defenders struggled to deal with his lightning quick first step. With just 18 seconds left in what had been a back and forth second half, the Lakers led 115-113. McHale missed two free throws but a series of miscues cost the Lakers a chance to take a commanding 2-0 lead. After a timeout, Magic passed to Worthy, who looked like he was the last man on Earth who wanted to have the ball at that particular moment. Worthy lobbed a careless cross court pass that Gerald Henderson intercepted and converted into the tying layup. On the Lakers' next possession, Magic inexplicably dribbled the clock out, apparently unaware that the Lakers no longer had the lead. The Celtics took full advantage of their second chance and emerged with new life after a 124-121 overtime win. Bird had another subpar shooting game (8-22 from the field) but he led the Celtics with 27 points and 13 rebounds.
When you consider how that game ended--with gaffes committed by future Hall of Famers Magic and Worthy--it is amusing to hear commentators, many of whom played in the NBA and committed mistakes in big games, make sweeping declarations about what great players "always" or "never" do in clutch situations, as if great players always make the right play and never make mistakes. The reality is that over the course of his career, a great player will make many great plays and some not so great plays. No great player "always" comes through in the clutch and "always" makes the right play. Michael Jordan made a very profound point when he stated in a TV ad that he had failed thousands of times but that those failures were why he eventually succeeded; the great players learn from their mistakes, do not lose confidence and bounce back when they get another opportunity to perform in a critical moment.
If the Lakers were devastated by the sudden turn of events at the end of game two you sure could not tell based on how they played in game three; they routed the Celtics 137-104 as Magic set a Finals record with 21 assists. Seven Lakers scored at least 13 points, led by Abdul-Jabbar's 24. Bird scored a game-high 30 points on 9-16 field goal shooting but he took his most famous shot of the series right after the game, when he loaded up and fired with both barrels directed squarely at his teammates: "We played like a bunch of sissies. I know the heart and soul of this team and today the heart wasn't there, that's for sure. I can't believe a team like this would let L.A. come out and push us around like they did. Today I didn't feel we played hard." Isn't it interesting that when that message comes from Larry Bird it is cited as an example of his tough-minded leadership but if another player said similar things it would be considered "throwing his teammates under the bus"? It is fascinating how the media shapes our perceptions of events and personalities.
The Lakers led by as many as 14 points in the first half of game four but the Celtics had cut the margin to 76-70 when perhaps the biggest--and certainly the most famous--play of the series happened. Laker forward Kurt Rambis was cruising in for a layup when McHale clotheslined him and sent him sprawling to the floor. That would be a flagrant three foul today--yes, I know that there is no such thing as a flagrant three but if anyone committed a foul like that Commissioner Stern would instantly invent a flagrant three foul and administer swift justice. Riley later said that the Celtics were "a bunch of thugs." Maxwell offered this interesting take on the McHale play: "Before McHale hit Kurt Rambis, the Lakers were just running across the street whenever they wanted. Now they stop at the corner, push the button, wait for the light and look both ways."
Although Boston played a beautiful brand of basketball with a lot of passing and cutting, people forget just how physical the 80s Celtics really were; the "Bad Boys" Pistons were put together specifically to be able to match the physical punishment that the Celtics dealt out and it is ironic that the finesse-oriented Bulls later emerged to vanquish them just like the finesse-oriented Lakers ultimately won two of their three matchups with the Celtics in the 80s.
Despite the Celtics' efforts to slow down the Lakers by any means necessary, the Lakers built a 113-108 lead with less than a minute left in game four. Then Abdul-Jabbar, who had scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, fouled out as Parish converted a three point play. The Lakers turned the ball over and Bird drained two free throws to tie the score. Then Parish stole Magic's pass but after Bird and McHale each missed shots the teams again battled into overtime. Bird's jumper with 16 seconds remaining gave the Celtics the lead for good. Bird shot just 9-24 from the field and had only two assists but he finished with 29 points and 21 rebounds. Abdul-Jabbar led the Lakers with 32 points, Worthy scored 30 points on 14-17 field goal shooting and Magic had 20 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds while shooting 8-12 from the field--but this would not be remembered as a great game for Magic: he committed seven turnovers, including critical ones late in the game, and he missed two free throws with 35 seconds left in regulation. In light of Magic's late game miscues in games three and four, McHale later referred to him as "Tragic" Johnson.
The series shifted back to Boston for the critical game five and Bird authored one of the signature performances of his career, shooting 15-20 from the field, scoring 34 points and grabbing 17 rebounds as the Celtics cruised to a 121-103 win. It was a sweltering 97 degrees inside of the Boston Garden but Bird dismissed that as a concern, reasoning that most players grew up playing outside all day long in summer heat. Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 19 points but shot just 7-25 from the field, was not buying that logic. In response to a question about how difficult the playing conditions were, he said, "I suggest that you go to a local steam bath, do 100 pushups with all your clothes on, then try to run back and forth for 48 minutes. The game was in slow motion. It was like we were running in mud." Worthy led the Lakers with 22 points on 10-17 field goal shooting. Magic had 13 assists but scored just 10 points on 3-9 shooting.
Four Lakers scored at least 20 points as they staved off elimination on their home court with a 119-108 game six win. Abdul-Jabbar had a game-high 30 points, while Magic contributed 21 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. Bird shot 8-11 from the field and led the Celtics in points (28), rebounds (14) and assists (eight).
Heading into game seven, the natural assumption would be that Abdul-Jabbar, Bird or Magic would emerge as the star. Abdul-Jabbar scored a game-high 29 points on 12-22 shooting but Bird and Magic both had subpar shooting performances, 6-18 and 5-14 respectively. Bird finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and three assists, while Magic had 16 points, 15 assists and five rebounds. The man of the hour turned out to be none other than Maxwell, who had won the 1981 Finals MVP by averaging 17.7 ppg and 9.5 rpg during a series in which Bird rebounded and passed well (15.3 rpg, 7.0 apg) but struggled mightily with his shot (39-93, .419). Before game seven, Maxwell declared that the team should hop on his back and he would carry them home and he did just that, leading the Celtics in scoring (24 points) and assists (eight) and adding eight rebounds in a 111-102 victory. Bird, who averaged series-high numbers in scoring (27.4 ppg) and rebounding (14.0 rpg), won the Finals MVP. Meanwhile, Magic had to endure a very long offseason during which he was roundly criticized for his various Finals miscues. He expressed disappointment in his play--particularly the missed free throws in game four--but seemed puzzled by the extent of the animosity directed toward him: "I sat back when it was over and I thought, 'Man, did we just lose one of the great playoff series of all time or didn't we?' This was one of the greatest in history. Yet all you read was how bad I was."
Magic would have to wait a very long year before he and his Lakers had an opportunity to avenge this painful defeat.
Tomorrow in Part II: The Celtics and Lakers post the two best records in the NBA in 1984-85 and the whole season seems like just a long prelude to their inevitable Finals rematch.
1983-84 NBA Leaderboard ---------------------------
Best Regular Season Records
1) Boston Celtics, 62-20 2) L.A. Lakers, 54-28 3) Philadelphia 76ers, 52-30 4) Milwaukee Bucks, 50-32 5) Detroit Pistons, 49-33
MVP
1) Larry Bird (Celtics) 2) Bernard King (Knicks) 3) Magic Johnson (Lakers) 4) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Lakers) 5) Isiah Thomas (Pistons)
Scoring
1) Adrian Dantley, 30.6 ppg (Jazz) 2) Mark Aguirre, 29.5 ppg (Mavericks) 3) Kiki Vandeweghe, 29.4 ppg (Nuggets) 4) Alex English, 26.4 ppg (Nuggets) 5) Bernard King, 26.3 ppg (Knicks)
Rebounding
1) Moses Malone, 13.4 rpg (76ers) 2) Buck Williams, 12.3 rpg (Nets) 3) Jeff Ruland, 12.3 rpg (Bullets) 4) Bill Laimbeer, 12.2 rpg (Pistons) 5) Ralph Sampson, 11.1 rpg (Rockets)
Assists
1) Magic Johnson, 13.1 apg (Lakers) 2-3) Isiah Thomas, 11.2 apg (Pistons) 2-3) Norm Nixon, 11.2 apg (Clippers) **note: Thomas and Nixon each had 914 assists in 82 games** 4) John Lucas, 10.7 apg (Spurs) 5) Johnny Moore, 9.6 apg (Spurs)
Notes: ------
Roland Lazenby's excellent 1996 book The NBA Finals: A 50 Year Celebration is the source for some of the quotes and background information in this post and it is truly a great read not just about the Lakers and Celtics but also about the first half century of NBA history.
Information about various records and statistics can be found in the 2008 Finals Record Book, which is made available to members of the media covering the 2008 NBA playoffs. Other statistical information can be found in various editions of the Sporting News Official NBA Guide and the excellent website Basketball-Reference.com.
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
