The NBA : Defending Champion Celtics Are Playing It Loose on and Off the Court

Befitting their status as the defending NBA champions, the Boston Celtics are a loose group. Such was the case before Tuesday night’s 117-109 upset loss in Hartford, Conn., to the Washington Bullets.

In the locker room, a group of the Celtics were huddled around a television screen, not watching films of the Bullets but rather an episode of an obscure game show. The contestants? Actor Larry Linville, one of the former stars of “M-A-S-H,” and Boston center Bill Walton, who was out of basketball at the time of the taping. “It was at least five years ago,” Walton said of the show, which was repeated in the Boston area last week and taped by teammate Larry Bird.

Walton has had very little to do this season. Last season, he set a personal record for games played, 80, but he has missed all the Celtics’ 16 games this season because of problems with his right ankle. The 12-year veteran has started brief workouts but confesses, “I don’t know when I’ll be able to play again.”

After Walton’s game-show appearance ended, a new tape was inserted into the VCR, a film of the Bullets’ 111-99 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers a week ago. In that game, Washington forward Terry Catledge scored what was then a season-high 20 points, two of them coming on an impressive base-line drive and dunk shot.

“Larry, did you see that? That’s your man tonight, isn’t it? Did you see it? Who are you guarding?” asked McHale.

Bird, stretching out in a far corner, was watching the screen but didn’t seem overly impressed.

“Who am I guarding?” he asked. “It doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter.”

Two hours later, the Celtics’ 48-game “home” winning streak was history, and Bird was hobbling on a strained right Achilles’ tendon that would force him to miss the Celtics’ next game Wednesday night against Denver.

The game here yielded an interesting assortment of statistics and oddities. The Celtics were listed with only 15 turnovers for the game. That seemed awfully low, especially considering that the Bullets had 13 steals. That would mean that Boston players lost the ball out of bounds, traveled, were called for an offensive foul or offensive goaltending just twice the entire game.

The Bullets shot 54% from the field, so there weren’t many rebounds available. But even when they did miss, it was the Bullets who often retrieved the ball. Washington had 18 offensive rebounds, a third of them by Moses Malone. He finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, but didn’t even score his first basket in the game until the third quarter.

All season long, Malone has stressed the importance of getting to .500. With the win, the Bullets attained that, but Malone wasn’t moved enough to utter any predictions for the future of his team.

Chris Washburn of the Golden State Warriors has had a difficult time adjusting to the rigors of NBA life. Now, he has someone to help him get to meetings and practices and make planes. Gus Williams Enterprises, an agency run by the former Bullets guard, sent an employee from New York to Oakland with instructions to get Washburn where he’s supposed to be on time.