Celtics Have the Champagne, and Perhaps Rockets, on Ice

A match is poised beneath one of Red Auerbach’s fat, brown cigars. Soon, perhaps very soon, Larry Bird may also take up smoking.

“I guess I might as well start, as much as I’ve been around all Red’s smoke,” the Boston Celtics forward said.

For the 16th time in team history, the Celtics are getting ready to celebrate winning the NBA title. They do not act as if they are blowing smoke, either.

Check the Celtics’ party plans so far. They have a supply of Auerbach’s favorite Havana cigars, they have put the champagne on ice and they already have planned a victory parade.

But before experiencing the smell of burning tobacco and the sound of popping corks, there is something the Celtics must do. They have to beat the Houston Rockets one more time.

With Boston holding a 3-1 edge in the best-of-seven NBA championship series, Bird said the end of the season looks very near.

“We’ve got one game to go, and I think we’ll do it,” he said. “We’re definitely in control now. The Rockets had better not let us get ahead of them, because if we get a lead, we won’t give it up.”

If the Celtics win Game 5 tonight in the Summit, their party plans won’t go to waste.

They ordered several cases of champagne Wednesday and announced plans for a victory parade through downtown Boston, tentatively scheduled for Monday.

“I hope we don’t feel bad about ordering that champagne,” Celtic guard Dennis Johnson said. “I say let’s get it over quick. We’ve got a chance to do that and we want to say, ‘Yeah, we didn’t pass it up.’ ”

Forward Kevin McHale concurred. “I feel like the season should be over already, so we can start playing golf and go fishing,” he said. “We have to win one more game. We’re so close to smelling the roses. We can see the flower shop, anyway.”

At the same time, the Rockets can see the walls closing in on them.

Theirs is not an easy task, for even if the Rockets manage to avoid losing Game 5, they will still have to go back to Boston and sweep Games 6 and 7 at Boston Garden.

Even so, Houston guard Robert Reid said the Rockets aren’t quite ready to concede the championship.

“Maybe I’m dumb, maybe I’m stupid, but I don’t think it’s time to pack up and go home yet,” Reid said.

“Look at it this way. What was the mood of the country when the American (hockey) team played the Soviets that time in the Winter Olympics? Everybody thought there was no way in the world the U.S. would win, that they had made a gallant effort and should have been happy to get as far as they did.

“It’s the same with us. Then we saw what winning does to people. If we pull this off, everybody will be jumping on our bandwagon.”

Reid was asked if he was comparing the Celtics to the Soviets.

“The big, bad, Russians, huh?” he said. “Well, if a cartoonist was drawing this series, they would be the 6-8 giants casting a big shadow on the poor little 6-2 guys, which we are.

“They can order champagne, caviar, get the commissioner ready and have that championship trophy halfway out in the hall, but they might as well keep it under wraps,” Reid said. “If they’re going to win this thing, they’re going to have to do it on their home court.”

The Celtics moved into position for another title by beating the Rockets, 106-103, Tuesday night on the Rockets’ home court, which is where Boston won its 14th NBA title in 1981.

If Houston is going to avoid the same treatment tonight, the Rockets need Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson to remain in top form and for Lewis Lloyd to find his.

Lloyd sat out the entire second half in Game 4 when Coach Bill Fitch benched him.

Lloyd also stayed out of sight of reporters before Wednesday’s practice. He isn’t feeling well right now, and that is understandable. He has a cold and a skin rash, and his game is sick.

In the series against the Celtics, Lloyd is shooting only 39% and averaging 8 points. No one has seen the real Lloyd in this series, Reid said, apparently not even Lloyd himself.

“Lewis Lloyd is trying to find himself,” Reid said.

Although he stopped short of mentioning Lloyd by name, Fitch said: “In each series, there is someone who steps forward to be a hero and someone who wears goat horns.”

The Celtics are thinking about wearing new rings and also about hanging a new championship banner from the rafters of Boston Garden. Bird said he isn’t nearly as excited about having a ring as adding another banner to the 15 already in place.

He added that his ring from the Celtics’ 1981 title season, which was his first, is missing.

“Maybe I lost it, I don’t know, but I’ve never worn it,” he said. “I liked the one from 1984 better, but this one will be special because I’m going against my ex-coach (Bill Fitch) and I want to beat him.

“When they play the national anthem at the Garden, there are three things I look at,” Bird said. “The flag, our championship banners and Bobby Orr’s jersey.”

Bobby Orr’s jersey?

“I don’t know why,” Bird said. “It doesn’t say Bobby Orr. It’s Robert G. Orr. I’ve read it.”

Celtic center Robert Parish wants to make sure that Bird doesn’t look at Orr’s jersey again this season. And the only way to do that is for the Celtics to finish the Rockets tonight.

“We want to get it over with,” Parish said. “We don’t want to give the Rockets any light at all. If we go more games, anything can happen. They are the kind of team that plays on emotion, and we don’t want to give them any emotional drive. We’ve got them down now. We want to keep them down.”