NBA Playoffs Roundup : Hawks Use Webb to Snag Celtics, 106-94

Spud Webb, the smallest player in the National Basketball Assn., took the dullness out of the playoffs and put some big excitement into them.

The swift 5-6 guard teamed with 6-7 scoring champion Dominique Wilkins Sunday at Atlanta to impede, for the moment at least, the Boston Celtics’ drive to another championship.

Webb ignited a second-half burst that carried the Hawks to a 106-94 victory, ending a nine-game losing streak against the Celtics and keeping their playoff hopes alive. The Celtics, leading the best-of-seven series, 3-1, can close it out at home Tuesday night. This season in Boston Garden, the Celtics are 44-1 and have won 35 in a row.

Although Celtic star Larry Bird made only 1 of 10 shots (a layup) in the first half, the Hawks were still a team going nowhere midway through the third quarter. They trailed, 62-60, when their answers to Mutt and Jeff assumed control.

With Webb, the speedy little playmaker, darting in and out among the Celtic giants, and Wilkins finding holes in Kevin McHale’s defense, the Hawks made their move. Wilkins, who finished with 37 points, scored 10 points in a row, including two three-point plays, to give Atlanta a 70-62 lead. The Celtics never again were closer than three points.

Webb, used effectively by Coach Mike Fratello in five- or six-minute bursts, responded with 21 points, an unexpected 6 rebounds and 12 assists in 24 minutes. In addition, he bounced up quickly after getting an angry chuck from Bird.

Bird, who finished with 20 points, was 5 for 19, three of the misses coming when the Celtics were striving to get back into the game down the stretch.

“Webb looked like the Player of the Year,” Celtic Coach K.C. Jones told the Associated Press. “We also saw the same old Dominique today.”

Jones tried every guard he had on Webb, and nobody could even slow him down. The biggest mismatch was when Dennis Johnson, picked on the NBA’s all-defensive team just about every season, tried to keep up with Webb.

While Webb and Wilkins played the key roles in the Hawks’ win, Glenn Rivers and Randy Wittman also had a hand.

There remained 4 1/2 minutes in the game when Bird sank two free throws to cut the lead to 90-87. The Hawks ran down the shot clock, swung the ball to Wittman, and he hit a jumper from the free-throw line. After Rivers made a steal, he fed Wilkins for a layup. Bird had another miss, and Rivers, with the shot clock almost expired, made a three-point basket.

The Hawks’ season doesn’t figure to last much longer, but they have learned how it is in the playoffs. They would appear to be a team of the future.

Denver 114, Houston 111--The theory is that if you can play the Rockets close, you can beat them at the free-throw line. The Rockets don’t shoot free throws well and they foul a lot trying to play tight defense.

Coach Doug Moe and his Nuggets worked that theory to the hilt at Denver and pulled even in their second-round series, 2-2.

Not only did one of the Twin Towers, Akeem Olajuwon, foul out early in overtime, but the Nuggets made six consecutive shots from the line to come from behind and win.

The Rockets had a 104-99 lead with 44 seconds left in regulation and appeared to have the series all but clinched. But Elston Turner sank a three-point basket, then, after a Rocket miss, sent the game into overtime with a reverse layup with 11 seconds left.

Robert Reid, who scored 11 of the Rockets’ last 13 points, sank a jumper one minute into overtime to give Houston a four-point lead, 108-104. But the Rockets made only one basket the rest of the way and missed five out of six free throws.

Alex English, Fat Lever and T.R. Dunn hit the key free throws in overtime to win it for Denver. Two by Lever gave the Nuggets the lead, and two by Dunn clinched it.

The Rockets did not score in the last 97 seconds. They did, however, throw up some desperation shots.