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WHEN
those 1970’s Boston Celtics ran onto the court of their
opponent’s arena, Paul Silas would routinely ask the
sportswriters how many people they thought were in
attendance.
When
informed of the number of paying patrons, Silas would
harrumph and exclaim loudly enough for all to hear,
“Good. We’re going to shut everyone up.” And for the
most part, Silas’s Celtics teams (Jojo White, Dave
Cowens, John Havlicek, Charlie Scott, Glenn McDonald and
Don Nelson) resurrected the ghost of then then-retired
Red Auerbach (who moved up to the team’s front office)
into the league.
The
Celtics, alongside the New York Yankees, were the first
real professional sports team to actually affix their
photo next to the word “dynasty” (11 titles in 13 years
is an incredible feat) where the word was previously
associated only with centuries-old Chinese empires. They
carved out a mystique for themselves by winning plenty
at the old Boston Garden and in a number of Game Sevens.
With their titles and Hall of Fame lineups, there were
no illusions of home court invincibility by their foes
when the Celtics marched into town. They were in for a
royal butt kicking.
It would
be decades later when another team would display that
kind of mentality, or arrogance as some would have it.
“Walking onto the court for warmups, you could already
tell that they [the opponents] were already beaten,”
succinctly pointed out the observant Steve Kerr, a
mainstay on the Chicago Bulls’ second wave of trifecta
champions. The Bulls would turn the game into a personal
jam session, hush the crowd, and have the home team
singing their praises.
When
Chicago lost Game Five of the 1998 National Basketball
Association (NBA) Finals at home, thereby spoiling the
planned parade and celebration that would close out the
Last Dance, Michael Jordan conferred with coach Phil
Jackson. The two opined that the post-game hullabaloo
distracted them from the task of sending the Utah Jazz
home a loser for the second-straight summer. “Maybe it’s
better that way,” His Airness said of the daunting task
of closing out a series in Salt Lake City. And the Bulls
showed why they are one of the league’s all-time best
heartbreakers and lifetakers as they won 12 games apiece
at home and on the road in their six-year reign at the
top. In fact, they celebrated three of their six titles
on the road (Los Angeles in ’91, Phoenix in ’93 and Utah
in ’98).
People
have criticized this year’s playoffs as predictable as
the sun rising from the east. Thus far, the home
team—heading into Saturday’s game—has won 43 out of 67
possible games. But isn’t that the whole point—to defend
your turf? If a team is swept away, can we postulate
that they were definitely not worthy of playing in the
league’s second season?
The
original incarnation of
Detroit’s
Bad Boys used to enforce no-fly zones. Charles Barkley,
when he was with the Philadelphia 76ers, was so angry
when Kevin Johnson would routinely drive to the rack at
the Spectrum that he nearly took the head off the Suns’
point guard with a nasty clothesline. Message sent. No
Suns player dared venture into the paint at that point
and the Sixers won. As the Jazzman, the
Energy Solutions
Center
(formerly the Delta Center) fixture, once vociferously
proclaimed, “Not in our house.”
Conversely, the 1993 Finals between
Chicago
and Phoenix saw the Suns lose all three of their games
at home—a first for a finals team. And to think they had
home court advantage throughout the playoffs. But they
nearly repaid the favor by handing the Bulls two losses
at the United Center.
I
honestly don’t see what the fuss is all about not being
able to win on the road. Of course, the defense is
ratcheted up. It’s all about taking care of business at
home. No one is giving anything away unless you’re
talking about the spineless Dallas Mavericks.
However,
inquiring minds are asking, “Where have players of
Silas’s and Jordan’s stature gone with their veni,
vidi, vici attitude?” Where have all the Reggie
Millers gone—he who lived for slaying the New York
Knicks in front of their home crowd?
Much is
being said this year about NBA home teams taking their
lumps on the road before heading back home for that good
ol’e home cooking. There’s that distinct advantage of a
rabid home crowd cheering the team aside from the
familiarity of the court and all its nuances.
Some
like to believe that the home team is the beneficiary of
referees’ calls. To wit, Scottie Pippen’s phantom foul
on Hubert Davis (as called by Hue Hollins who had the
gall to say on television at the height of the Tim
Donaghy scandal that the referees were underpaid) in
Game Five of the 1994 Eastern Semifinals between the
Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks that changed the
outcome of that series. There’s Game Six in the Western
Conference Finals between the Sacramento Kings and the
Los Angeles Lakers where Dick Bavetta, Ted Bernhardt and
Bob Delaney did a number on the Kings bigs (Vlade Divac,
Scott Pollard and Chris Webber) that forced a Game Seven
at the Arco Arena. And let’s not even talk about last
year’s Phoenix Suns-San Antonio Spurs series.
More
games mean more money where an additional match easily
fetches several cool millions. Yet, as poorly officiated
as those games were, the NBA dislikes conspiracy
theories about playoff basketball such as the current
dream matchup of a Boston-LA title series that has
network executives salivating. There are already enough
to go around and have made roundball lore.
When the
Celtics played at the old Boston Garden, they parlayed
that advantage into unlike anything seen in the game of
basketball. There were stories of leprechauns, the lack
of heating or air-conditioning in the opposing team’s
locker room, dead spots on the fabled parquet, delayed
timers, and Game Seven end-game magic to pull out
another heart-stopping win. And there was Auerbach’s
victory cigar. Many wanted to prevent Red from lighting
it, but that was easier said than done.
Unfortunately, the new TD Banknorth Garden holds no such
reputation after years of mediocrity. This year’s
Celtics will have to wring out a win against LeBron
James and the James Gang (oh, they’re actually called
the Cleveland Cavaliers) and beat battle-tested Detroit
if they want that dream matchup with the Lakers (who
have to survive either the New Orleans or the Sterns who
got another lift from an unsuspecting hit by Cheap Shot
Rob on the Hornets’ David West).
Maybe
then, the talk won’t be about winning games on the road
but rather how this was a match made in
5th Avenue.
(I would
love to see
Boston
play Los Angeles in the NBA Finals.) |
