What's Green and Goes "Swish"?

By B.J. Phillips.

After a five-year drought, Boston regains the N.B.A. crown

Over the years the Boston Celtics have established something like proprietary rights to the National Basketball Association championship. The Celtics won 13 N.B.A. titles (more than twice as many as their closest rivals, the then Minneapolis Lakers), including a record eight straight (1959-66). But the proud banners of past glories that hang in Boston Garden have had no new company for what must have seemed like centuries to the fans. The Celtics last took the title in 1976, and even more humiliating, failed to qualify for the playoffs twice since then. They had the worst record in the East in 1979.

Now at last Boston is green with home team hope again. The Celtics last week reclaimed their crown by beating the upstart but impressive Houston Rockets, four games to two. The guys in the funny sneakers won in classic Celtic style: sweeping the air of rebounds, then dashing upcourt with the game's finest fast break. In the final game, played before 16,121 screaming Houston fans, Boston withstood a dazzling fourth-quarter resurgence by the Rockets. Over a five-minute stretch, Houston scored 16 points to a mere two for Boston, whittling the Celtic lead from 15 points to three. But Forward Cedric ("Cornbread") Maxwell, the series' Most Valuable Player, and Running Mate Larry Bird pumped in 14 points between them in the remaining four minutes. Maxwell was the only one of the Celtics' big guns whom the Rockets never managed to quell. He averaged 17.7 points and 9.5 rebounds for the series, but dismissed his performance: "I just try to get in the nooks and crannies."

Presiding over the festivities, and passing out his hallmark cigars to celebrate, was Celtics President and General Manager Red Auerbach, who has also shepherded the team's revitalization. When the Celtics of the mid-'70s became clogged with ballhogs and playground freelancers, Auerbach decided to clean house. His first major acquisition was Maxwell, a former University of North Carolina-Charlotte standout. Spindly at 6 ft. 8 in., 217 lbs., Maxwell looks awkward walking across a room, but displays a spidery grace leaping for rebounds or twisting over the outstretched arms of defenders as he soars for a layup. Last year he was joined at forward by Larry Bird, the Indiana State star who was a first-round draft choice as a junior and signed as a senior for a reported $650,000 a year. That acquisition gave the Celtics the N.B.A.'s best pair of forwards, unselfish team players who value an assist as much as a score. Says Coach Bill Fitch: "We use an equal opportunity offense. That gives us a chance to give the ball to someone who's hot. Most of the time, we spread it over nine or ten people."

The Celtics needed all of their resources to get past the determined Rockets. Houston had a 40-42 record in the regular season, the second worst of any N.B.A. finalist in history. They whipped the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers two games to one in the first round of the playoffs, beating the Lakers on their home court in the final game. Houston Coach Del Harris had experimented with a youth movement early in the season, then decided to go with his old pros. Center Billy Paultz (6 ft. 11 in., 240 lbs.) was paired with Center Moses Malone (6 ft. 10 in., 235 lbs.) in a unique double-big-man offense. Houston also dominated rebounding at both ends of the court, and "small" Forward Robert Reid (6 ft. 8 in., 210 Ibs.) blossomed. He shared honors with Malone as the Rockets' playoff star, holding Bird to merely eight points in two consecutive games, and leading Houston in scoring twice. Reid came from tiny St. Mary's University in San Antonio, so he had to learn big-time ball the hard way -- against the pros. Says Coach Harris: "Paultz and Malone made Reid a tougher guy. Here's a player who had the body and the ability, but he was a fancy dancer and prancer. They made him a man."

Thus the two teams brought distinctive styles to the championship series; the Celtics swift and efficient, fast-break artists who could run Mercury off the court; the Rockets muscular and intimidating, backboard battlers who could shove Hercules out of the gym. They took turns imposing those styles on one another: Houston won the fourth game, manhandling Boston under the boards, and the Celtics replied by streaking to a 29-point fast-break blitz in the fifth game. In the end the Celtics carried the series with versatility, speed, Bird's brilliant rebounding and a tight defense that kept the Rockets under 100 points in all six championship games.

Maxwell summed up: "It was like a pendulum. We thrashed them a couple of times, but they came back each time. We just played hard and things finally kept falling our way." As any Bostonian of a certain age can attest, that has always been the Celtic way. --B.J. Phillips Reported by Jamie Murphy/Houston

With reporting by Jamie Murphy

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.