Celtics Win It on a Knockout--and Points : Dantley Suffers Concussion, Pistons Suffer Consequences

The Boston Celtics won everything they could win Saturday--absolutely everything. Their game with the Detroit Pistons, 117-114. The Eastern Conference championship. The right to defend their National Basketball Assn. title. The right to meet their old friends, the Lakers, in the finals. The chance to become the NBA’s first repeat champions since 1969.

The Detroit Pistons lost everything Saturday--absolutely everything. The game. Their chance to go to the NBA finals for the first time since the franchise settled 30 years ago in Detroit. Their leading scorer, Adrian Dantley. Their sportsmanlike conduct. Maybe even their coach.

It could have been a happy day for the Pistons, the biggest thing to happen to Detroit basketball since Bob Lanier’s shoes. Instead, Dantley ended up in Massachusetts General Hospital with a concussion; the Pistons squandered a five-point lead in the fourth period; they lost, and Coach Chuck Daly was denying that he was about to become general manager of the New York Knicks.

Then, adding vicious insult to injury, two of the Pistons, rookie Dennis Rodman and six-time All-Star Isiah Thomas, vilified not only the Celtic organization, but Larry Bird as someone who gets the notice he does largely because he is white.

Bird has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award three times.

“He’s white--that’s the only reason he gets it,” Rodman said. “I think he’s very overrated.”

To which Thomas said: “I think Larry is a very, very good basketball player. He’s an exceptional talent. But I have to agree with Rodman. If he were black, he’d be just another good guy.”

Bird had 37 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists Saturday.

Bird’s immediate reaction was: “I’m very happy I’m white.”

Of Rodman, he said: “He’s a rookie, he’ll learn.” When told that Thomas, a veteran, had agreed with Rodman, Bird sighed and replied: “It’s a free world. We’re not in Russia. You can say what you want to say. You don’t have to like it.”

Bird’s comrade, Kevin McHale, didn’t like it a bit. He suggested someone “slap the (bleep) out of” Rodman.

So, the series ended with bangs and whimpers. The Celtics won it, 4-3, with neither side winning on the road, and have until Tuesday night to rest up for Game 1 against the Lakers.

“To be truthful, I’d rather play the Clippers,” McHale said.

Bird thought even Boston Garden, where the Celtics now have won 84 of 86 games, might not be enough help against the Lakers. “We’ll be the underdogs. Every game here will probably be close, but they may be able to run away with it at their place. They’re going to look to blow us away because we haven’t been playing well on the road.”

Rodman said the Celtics might as well stay home. “I’ll never root for Boston, as long as I live. That series won’t go long.” Thomas said he still considers the Pistons to be the better team, and predicted: “Lakers in five--maybe four.”

Detroit beat Boston by an average margin of 17.3 points a game at the Pontiac Silverdome, but in four tries at Boston Garden lost by 13, 9, 1 and 3. The Pistons have not won here since 1982, dropping 18 straight, which got Thomas going on still another tangent. “I’m sick of the way they treat people here,” he said.

Treated by whom? The Celtics? The officials?

“I don’t want to get fined. But I think everybody in America knows what’s happening in this building. It’s a shame as an athlete that you can’t get a fair shake in this building, and you know what I’m talking about,” Thomas said.

To which Rodman said:

“On a neutral floor, we’d kick their (bleep).”

To which McHale said:

“Sour grapes, man.”

That’s the way it went Saturday, and that’s the way it went the whole series: Much talk and much action. Give and take. In your face. No, in your face. A left to the head. A right to the belly. Fifteen thousand dollars in fines. Your mama. No, your mama. Before it was over, Thomas was asked a question about a shot by Danny Ainge, and his reply was: (Bleep) Danny Ainge.”

It was not a Boston fist that sent Dantley to the hospital, though. It was his own teammate’s hard head. With eight seconds remaining in the third period and the Pistons leading, 80-79, Dantley, who already had 18 points, pursued a loose ball and got into a head-on collision with Vinnie Johnson.

Dantley was carried off on astretcher. And Johnson, who wore an ice pack on his head when he returned to the bench, scored only two more points after the accident, and never returned to action after being replaced with 7:21 to play. Averaging 18.7 points a game in the series, the man they call “The Microwave”--because he gets so hot, so fast--settled this time for 10.

But the man who keeps Johnson on the bench, starting guard Joe Dumars, was hotter than minute-made popcorn. He scored 35 points, far above his career high of 24. He sank 15 of 21 shots, several from long range, and already had 21 points by halftime. In Game 6, Dumars scored eight all night.

The Celtics wasted little time taking a 10-3 lead, but the Pistons had turned the tables by the end of the first period, 31-24. A shirt-sleeved, even bare-chested Garden crowd of 14,890, sweltering in temperatures of 93 degrees at court level and close to 100 in the balcony, feared the Pistons might be too hot to cool down.

It didn’t turn out that way. After 37-30, the Pistons never led by such a margin again. The Celtics took the lead at 44-43 on a running flip by McHale, who overcame his various injuries and ailments to get 22 points and 10 rebounds. And although the Pistons regained the lead and kept it for the remainder of the half, they couldn’t pull away.

The half ended with a technical foul and a free throw by Bird, that “overrated” player who scored 36 points in Game 5, 35 in Game 6 and 37 in Game 7. The technical came on a delay-of-game call against the Pistons, one of their many giveaways in the series.

Dantley, having been called for traveling, tugged back the ball when the overrated Bird tried to pry it away from him. Bird was entitled to inbounds the ball as quickly as possible after another team’s turnover. It was the second time in the half Detroit had been called for a delay, and it is tough enough to beat the Celtics without giving them points.

Boston made a 10-0 run, scoring the last four points of the first half, then the first six points of the second. It was 61-56, Celtics, then 61-61. And then came Boston’s best run, one in which the overrated Bird scored on three straight trips up the floor--from the top of the key, on a leaner from the foul line, and on an 18-foot bank shot. Detroit fell behind, 79-72.

Pulling out all the stops, Celtic Coach K.C. Jones called on Bill Walton, making his first appearance of the series. Replacing Parish with the score 79-74, Walton lasted one minute, long enough to miss two free throws and commit a foul. And Dantley, Dumars and Johnson scored to put Detroit on top, 80-79. Out went Walton.

Next trip down the floor, Dantley and Johnson went for a loose ball and cracked heads. Dantley had to be carried off on a stretcher. The third quarter ended eight seconds later, with Boston up by a point.

Completing a run of 15-3, the Pistons opened the fourth quarter with a jumper by Bill Laimbeer and a fast-break dunk by Rodman. They led, 87-82. But their time and season had just about run out.

If there was a play of the game, it came with 3:06 to play. By then, Boston had bounced back. The overrated Bird’s beautiful eight-foot, left-handed bank shot gave the Celtics a 99-97 lead. Dumars tied it with a baseline shot. And then came the play.

Boston shot. And shot. And shot. And shot. And shot. Five tries, five misses, on the same trip. But the overrated Bird got the ball to Ainge, in three-point range. Ainge connected. 102-99.

“After that many misses, you might as well go for three because you know you’re overdue to hit one,” the overrated Bird said.

With 46 seconds remaining, Dumars’ layup put Detroit within one, 106-105. Ainge hit a 20-footer with 25 seconds left, 108-105, and all Boston had to do thereafter was make free throws, because Thomas’ three-point try was off, and Dumars fouled McHale. Dennis Johnson and Ainge also made two free throws apiece, putting the series to sleep.

When it was over, Thomas said he still thought Detroit was the better team, but McHale said: “That’s his opinion. I think in a seven-game series, the better team is going to win. Maybe not in a one-game series, but in a seven-game series, that’s just more sour grapes, man.”

And the Lakers? Are they a better team?

“They are either going to beat the living crap out of us,” McHale said, “or it will be a hell of a series.”

NBA Notes

The Laker-Celtic series begins Tuesday at 6 p.m., PDT, at the Forum. . . . Detroit Coach Chuck Daly has acknowledged that he wants to be an NBA general manager, but about the Knick rumor he said: “There’s not a thing to it. I don’t know anything about it. I have another year left on my contract, and I anticipate being in Detroit next year. Case closed. Period.” Club officials close to Daly believe he will accept the New York job if offered. . . . Adrian Dantley had a CAT scan at Massachusetts General and was held for examination overnight, listed in “very stable” condition. He is expected to be released this morning. A mild concussion was the early diagnosis.

Boston had 233 free-throw chances in the series, Detroit 202. . . . The overrated Larry Bird was 10 of 10 at the line Saturday and 47 of 50 in the series. . . . Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish had 30 of Boston’s 40 rebounds. . . . Coach K.C. Jones, back after missing Game 6 for his mother’s funeral, said: “When I watched the game from San Francisco, I’d see Larry and Kevin and the guys dragging their legs. But somehow, they keep going.” . . . Jones also said: “Last year, we were healthy. Now it’s red bandages around the head, Band-Aids and someone beating on the drum.” . . . Dennis Johnson’s shooting has gone sour. He is 9 of 31 for his last two games. . . . The Celtics blocked 9 Detroit shots in Game 7.

Not all the Pistons knocked Bird. Daly said: “He always plays great. Now it’s old hat.” Bill Laimbeer, who fought Bird in Game 3, tried to congratulate him when the game ended, but Bird still refused to acknowledge him. . . . After starting the season 3-6, Detroit won 59 of its last 88 games. . . . Boston still has not lost any seven-game series after leading 2-0. . . . The last time Detroit won here was Dec. 19, 1982, when, after trailing 109-100, the Pistons outscored the Celtics 31-5 for the rest of the game. Isiah Thomas had 32 points and 16 assists that night. . . . Not only was Boston Garden steaming hot, but Bird’s air-conditioner at home was broken. “I’ll get it fixed next week, while I’m in L.A.,” Bird said--before Saturday’s game.

Detroit guard Isiah Thomas, asked about the rough shove he gave Boston guard Danny Ainge in the closing seconds Saturday, which sent Ainge tumbling into the sideline press seats, said: “How about the way Danny Ainge fouled people in that series, but that’s OK. Danny fouled me hard right before that. He grabs my shirt and damn near chokes me to death, but that’s OK.” . . . Laimbeer, on the loss of Adrian Dantley: “When he went off, they didn’t have to double team us anymore. We couldn’t get the open jump shots like we normally would.”