The NBA : Celtics May Not Take a Postseason Cruise

This may come as a shock to a lot of teams, even the Lakers and Boston Celtics, but former Celtic star Bill Russell says there are four teams that could beat Boston in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Russell lists Atlanta, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Detroit as the teams that could knock off the Celtics.

“As good as the Celtics are, they could be beat,” Russell said. “Of course, I don’t say they will .”

There’s always a catch, isn’t there? Any team in the playoffs might win a playoff series against a favorite, but in the opinions of Russell and Rick Barry, his broadcasting teammate at WTBS, it’s going to be extremely difficult to have anything other than a Laker-Celtic championship series.

That isn’t exactly shocking news. Yet both Barry and Russell seem to agree that the Celtics could have more trouble getting to the final series than the Lakers.

“Honestly, I would be very concerned if I were K.C. Jones,” Barry said.

What on earth for? Is Larry Bird sick or something?

“Nothing like that,” Barry said. “But during a season, there is always one bad streak, one down period. The Celtics haven’t had one. When the playoffs start, maybe they might have a little bit of a letdown.”

Maybe? Might? Little bit of a letdown?

“That’s right,” Barry said. “Someone could scare them. If they had a little down period against, say, Atlanta, they could get beat.”

Barry said that the Lakers have already had their down time, while Russell eventually agreed with his television partner that both the Lakers and Celtics should be playing for the championship in June, barring injuries.

Russell, however, isn’t as sold on the Celtics’ chances against the Lakers as many others are.

“I think the difference between which is the better team is dwindling,” he said. “Think about it. What’s the difference in the standings? Five games? That’s not much over a full season.

“The thing about the Lakers and the Celtics that makes them different from the other teams is that they know one important thing that the rest don’t. They know why they win. They stay with the same formula. Anyone can tell you how you win, but not why , and there is a difference.”

Russell downplayed the theory that the Celtics have more to prove than the Lakers, since they lost their title to the Lakers last season.

“It’s not motivation, it’s the players,” Russell said.

Barry believes the motivation factor is even anyway.

“One team is trying to repeat and the other wants to prevent that,” he said.

Barry said that the Lakers might have had a better record if they had been pushed a little more in the Western Conference.

“They got so far ahead, they just don’t have the challenge,” he said. “The West has a lot of weak teams. The Lakers are playing better now than they were and they have a chance to beat Boston, even through they still aren’t playing their best.”

Will the Lakers beat Boston, if they meet?

“Not the way they’re playing now,” Barry said. “Boston would win.”

Scratch Chuck Daly from the list of potential job-seeking coaches in the off-season. Daly agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Detroit Pistons on Monday. There was speculation that Daly would leave the Pistons when the season ends.

Terms of the contract were not announced, but according to United Press International, Daly will get $450,000, with incentives, for the two years. Daly’s record with Detroit is 140-109, the second-best in team history, and he’s had the Pistons in the playoffs three straight seasons.

Still caught up in rumors are at least seven other coaches: Don Chaney of the Clippers, Hubie Brown of the New York Knicks, John Bach of the Golden State Warriors, Jack Ramsay of the Portland Trail Blazers, Stan Albeck of the Chicago Bulls, George Irvine of the Indiana Pacers and interim coach Gene Littles of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If Chaney doesn’t last, former Laker and current Loyola Marymount Coach Paul Westhead’s name could be his replacement with the Clippers. Paul Silas is being mentioned at Golden State and rumors have Kansas Coach Larry Brown going to the Knicks, though Brown said Saturday in a television interview that he will not be coaching the Knicks next season.

You’ve just got to admire those Denver Nuggets for keeping alive NBA tradition of flapping their mouths and scoffing at discretion. In case the Lakers weren’t listening, outspoken Denver Coach Doug Moe reiterated his belief that the Nuggets can defeat the Lakers in the playoffs.

Moe even went so far to say that the Nuggets may have a harder time advancing as far as a series with the Lakers than beating them.

“We can beat the Lakers, I know that now,” Moe said after the Lakers beat the Nuggets last week in Denver, 121-115. “I thought we could last year, but now I’m positive we can. The tough part is going to be getting to the Lakers.

“It’s still a long way off, but I love our chances if we can get there. I think we’re the only team that can sustain against them. They played great and they’re going to have to play that way every game if they’re going to beat us.”

The Nuggets won the season series from the Lakers, 3-2.

Just so there won’t be any controversy later when the envelopes are opened by the NBA, here’s how I filled out my ballots for the All-NBA team, the sixth man and Rookie of the Year:

All-NBA First Team--Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins at forward, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center and Magic Johnson and Dennis Johnson at guard. On the second team are Kevin McHale and James Worthy at forward, Akeem Olajuwon at center and Isiah Thomas and Maurice Cheeks at guard.

Bird and Wilkins were easy choices, but Abdul-Jabbar was a more difficult selection over Olajuwon. Kareem’s scoring average is his highest in four years, but he has rebounded in double figures in only 5 of 74 games. Dennis Johnson is more worthy of being on the first team than Thomas, who has been up and down, and Cheeks rates over Alvin Robertson. Worthy and McHale are slightly ahead of Alex English and Charles Barkley.

Sixth Man--Bill Walton. There’s nobody else.

Rookie of the Year--Patrick Ewing. Maybe Seattle’s Xavier McDaniel should rate pretty high, but the SuperSonics haven’t done much better than the Knicks with a team that has been a lot healthier. Even though Ewing didn’t play a lot because of knee and other problems, his statistics are still better than McDaniel’s.

Moses Malone, the NBA’s fourth-best rebounder, makes a living going to the glass. After what happened to him Friday night, he may be going to the glasses instead.

Malone in goggles? Somehow, it’s hard to picture Malone wearing goggles, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Ralph Sampson do, but that is how a Philadelphia ophthalmologist sees the veteran 76er center.

Malone is out until the playoffs. Center Randy Breuer of the Milwaukee Bucks accidentally socked him in the face, breaking the bone that surrounds Malone’s right eye. Dr. Jack Jeffers, the 76ers’ eye doctor, said that Malone should have no lingering effects from the injury, but Jeffers has recommended that Malone wear goggles for the rest of his career.

“He’s very lucky,” Jeffers said. “As far as we can determine, there has been no hemorrhaging, no other complications. I think the thing that has gotten to him is that he is not invulnerable.”

Meanwhile, the 76ers have other health problems to worry about. The most troubling is the continuing saga of Andrew Toney.

Toney had surgery Monday to reduce torsion of the spermatic cord after complaining of pain in his groin before a game Sunday.