Celtics Get Bird’s-Eye View of Another Banner : Sampson and the Rockets Don’t Put Up Much Fight as Boston Wins It, 114-97

For the 16th time in the 40-year history of the National Basketball Assn., a championship banner will be hoisted to the rafters of Boston Garden.

For the third time in six years, it will be carried there on the wings of a Bird.

Larry Bird, the best player on the best team in professional basketball, played the type of game Sunday that champions always do. On the parquet floor of steamy, storied, old Boston Garden, nobody was better.

No one had more points or more assists and no Celtic had more rebounds than Larry Bird, who turned the sixth and deciding game of the NBA title series into his own personal crusade which ended with another victory and another championship for the Boston Celtics.

Bird turned the lights out on the Houston Rockets and also the NBA season with a 29-point, 12-assist, 11-rebound performance that carried the Celtics to a 114-97 victory and a 4 games to 2 decision over the Rockets in the NBA Finals.

Now, for at least one season, the glow of Red Auerbach’s cigar will be reflected in the NBA championship trophy, the one that was brought back to nest after a year’s absence when the Lakers had it.

Perhaps the Celtics are not the greatest NBA team of all time as some had suggested during the season, but Bird’s reputation was surely advanced with his emotional assault on a young Rocket team that escaped his wrath once, but not the second time.

From the game’s opening minutes when he took the Celtics under his wing, Bird furthered his growing legend as one of the game’s best players ever. He finished with a thoroughly dominating display of his uncanny skills as well as high pressure basketball.

One moment stands out above all others. With a minute gone in the fourth quarter, Bird finished off the Rockets with characteristic flair, a three-point basket from the deepest part of court.

Bird didn’t have to shoot a three-pointer, but after he received a pass with only seconds left on the 24-second clock, he dribbled to a spot behind the three-point stripe in the corner and sent the ball crashing down through the hoop.

Once the ball hit the net, the Rockets were done, 87-61. No one knew it more than Bird, because that’s the way he planned it. After his disappointing performance in the Celtics’ Game 5 defeat, Bird said Saturday that he had decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I was trying to get the series over with as quickly as possible,” Bird said of his three-pointer. “I know I took a couple of dribbles to get behind the line, but you got to do something like that when you have a lead to break a team’s back.”

After Bird’s shot, the Celtics had their 41st consecutive home victory sewn up. They finished with a 50-1 homecourt record, easily the best in the history of the NBA.

How well the Celtics stack up with the NBA’s greatest teams is open to conjecture, but Bird did more than his share to secure the 1985-86 team’s place among them as at least one of the best.

“All I know is that we were a championship caliber team,” Bird said. “Whether we’re the greatest, I don’t know. It’s really hard to say. Right now, we are.”

Bird played 46 minutes, all but the last two minutes of the game when he finally sat down, long after the Celtics’ lead had grown to 30 points. He made 8 of 17 shots, 2 of 3 three-pointers, 11 of 12 free throws, blocked 3 shots and was chosen the MVP of the championship series for the second time in the last three years.

There was no choice other than Bird, especially after his fourth-quarter three-pointer that completely fractured the Rockets’ fragile hopes of forcing a Game 7.

“He’s the best,” Rocket Jim Petersen said of Bird. “I never saw anyone ever able to demoralize a team himself the way Larry did. He goes out and can take on a team almost single-handedly. At times he doesn’t seem to need his teammates.”

Maybe so, but Bird got plenty of help in Game 6. Kevin McHale matched Bird with 29 points and also took down 10 rebounds. Center Robert Parish had 11 rebounds, and the Celtics reversed the Rockets’ rebounding advantage from the previous two games with a 49-44 margin on the backboards.

All five Celtic starters scored in double figures, including 19 from Danny Ainge, 11 from Parish and 10 from Dennis Johnson. First-year Celtic Bill Walton scored 10 points with 8 rebounds and wound up on a championship team for the first time since he was with Portland in 1977.

The Rockets, who were only within striking distance until midway through the second quarter, trailed by 29-23 after one period, but they fell behind, 55-38, at the half. Just as he had the entire series, center Akeem Olajuwon led the Rockets, this time with 19 points and 13 rebounds, but Ralph Sampson, the other Tower, was not a factor.

Sampson did not score until just before the half and finished with only eight points in 38 minutes, although he did get 10 rebounds.

After his fight with Jerry Sichting and Johnson in Game 5 in Houston, Sampson was booed loudly each time he touched the ball, but there were no incidents outside of the jeering by the fans.

Sampson said the hostile Boston Garden crowd did not bother him.

“I just played a bad game,” he said.

Celtic Coach K. C. Jones made a key defensive switch when he used Johnson on Rocket point guard Robert Reid, who struggled throughout. Reid made only 5 of 13 shots and had only 12 points.

“Every time Robert had the ball, I was right there,” Johnson said. “I don’t think Robert every really got in the flow.”

The Celtics appeared to be ready to put the Rockets away early, but Olajuwon stole the ball three consecutive times to lead to three Rocket breakaways and Houston kept close.

Then, five minutes into the second quarter and the Celtics leading, 35-28, Bird began asserting himself in earnest. Bird grabbed a loose ball and passed to Johnson to start a fast break, which he ended with a layup.

With McHale getting 13 points in the quarter, the Celtic lead grew to 46-32 as Olajuwon picked up his third foul. Bird wound up the second quarter with nine points and four rebounds, but he still wasn’t entirely happy since he had attempted only seven shots.

“I was a little agitated at halftime because I wasn’t getting the ball enough,” Bird said. “I could have iced the game in the first half. In the locker room, I was mad and stomping around. I didn’t want this chance to slip away from us.”

So Bird had to wait until the second half to make sure it didn’t. Bird’s first three-pointer gave the Celtics their first 20-point lead, 69-49, but the game wasn’t decided until that second three-pointer with the shot clock down to next to nothing.

“The lights went out,” Rocket Coach Bill Fitch said. “He starts thinking he can do anything.”

Right now, there are probably not too many who think he can’t.

NBA Notes

Larry Bird said he would like to win a few more championships in the four years remaining on his contract. He said he won’t play any longer than that. “Four more years and that’s it,” he said. Bird’s championship series MVP award was his second. He also won in 1984. . . . The Celtics’ 50-1 home record, which includes three regular-season victories in Hartford and 10 in the playoffs, is an NBA record. The old mark was set in 1950 by the Rochester Royals, who were 33-1 at home during the regular season and 0-1 in the playoffs. . . . Celtic Coach K.C. Jones knew his team was going to be ready because of Saturday’s practice session. “I had to call it off early,” Jones said. “These guys went at each other like Muhammad Ali and a gorilla. I’ve never seen anything like that in all the time I’ve been here. The intensity level was just incredible. This was the most determined team I’ve seen at that point in time.” . . . Center Akeem Olajuwon was easily the best Rocket performer in the championship series, but he said the right team won. “The better team always wins and they were the better team,” said Olajuwon. . . . From Rocket forward Ralph Sampson: “You’ve got to lose before you win this thing. We are on our way to being the best. We’ll be back here again and win it.” . . . Bird on Bill Walton: “We felt when we got him we’d win the championship. We knew it was between us and the Lakers. We’re just glad they made a bad move and let us have him.” . . . Rocket Coach Bill Fitch said he didn’t think Sampson played one of his better games, but Fitch was not sure what part the Game 5 fight had on Sampson. “I don’t think he was affected by the controversy, but I don’t know. He didn’t seem tentative and he had a good attitude before the game. If we even brought up the fight at all, it was all a joke.” The final word on Bird was from Dennis Johnson: “I think everything that has been said about Larry has already been said. The best thing I’ve heard is what Red (Auerbach) said which is that the difference between him and everyone else is that he comes to win every night. He is undoubtedly the best basketball player playing the game today.”

NBA CHAMPIONSHIP

CELTICS vs. ROCKETS

GAME 1--Celtics 112, Rockets 100

GAME 2--Celtics 117, Rockets 95

GAME 3--Rockets 106, Celtics 104

GAME 4--Celtics 106, Rockets 103

GAME 5--Rockets 111, Celtics 96

GAME 6--Celtics 114, Rockets 97

Celtics won series, 4-2