NBA CHAMPIONSHIP : Lakesrs vs. Celtics : Celtics Take This Loss in Their Collective, Yet Hobbling, Stride

For the Boston Celtics, it was a night like any other, except that all their worst dreams came true in the space of 48 minutes. This may have been a surprise to them, but since they were 10, count ‘em, 10-point underdogs and lost by 13, you’d have to say someone saw it coming.

Afterward, Laker Coach Pat Riley, who has a team to motivate, said this would light a fire in the Celtic locker room. If it did, it must have been a little fire, and someone must have dunked it in the tub of ice water that Larry Bird was soaking his feet in.

If there was one emotion the Celtics didn’t show after Tuesday night’s 126-113 loss to the Lakers, it was anger.

Another no-show was defiance. If they woke up Pinklon Thomas and told him his deal with Mike Tyson was best-of-seven, Thomas might not be angry or defiant, either.

Remember after their Game 3 loss in the ’84 finals when Bird, in the same dressing room, called his teammates “quitters,” rallying them to victory in Game 4?

Tuesday night, Bird said he hoped they could find the wherewithal within themselves to fight back.

“I’m not scared,” Bird said. “I’m going to go out and play as hard as I can. I just hope everybody else has the energy to do that.”

You know how the Celtics have been rejecting suggestions they’re tired, or to be less delicate, out on their feet?

Now they’re worried about their “energy level.”

“I don’t worry about it at home,” Bird said. “The crowd fires us up. Tonight it (the energy level) was non-existent.

“If we were playing with our team from last year and it was healthy, I’d say it was a good matchup. The way they played tonight, there was not much we could do about it.”

But the Celtics are all agreed, aren’t they, fatigue is not a factor, is it?

“I think it was a factor tonight,” Danny Ainge said. “I thought we played tired, whether we were or not.”

Remember the Celtic running game? Think back. Think way back.

“The Lakers get the ball out quickly,” Bird said. “That’s something we used to do. Now we hold the ball a little too long. They get it out to halfcourt and run with it. Our guys, they like to get it and hold it, show everybody they’ve got it.”

Remember when the teams were evenly matched? Didn’t the Lakers seem faster?

“It was not seemed ,” said Boston Coach K.C. Jones, smiling thinly. “It was reality.”

But the way the Lakers ran on them, the Celtics must not be able to believe that stuff, right?

“I saw Detroit do it a week ago,” Kevin McHale said. “I wasn’t totally surprised.”

How did the Celtics know this wasn’t their night? They missed their first five shots. Two of them were blocked. Of the game’s first 37 rebounds, the Lakers had 36.

Of course, no Celtic game any more is complete without a limp-off. Sure enough, McHale did go to the dressing room after the first quarter, although it wasn’t what you might have suspected, his stress fracture, or one of the two sprains on the same ankle, or his knee or wrist.

“I had to go to the bathroom,” McHale said.

When you’re not, you’re not. But then, there is always Game 2, isn’t there? Things have to get better, don’t they?

“We’ll work a little harder, see if we can stick with ‘em” Jones said. “How’s that for a statement?”

It filled up another half-column inch.

“We used to be a team that was good on the road,” Bird was saying. “We went out there and expected to win. Now there’s some doubt about it. We don’t talk about it as a team, but look at our record the last few months.”

The Celtics have played 19 road games since Feb. 21 and lost 15. They’ve lost their last five playoff games. The last four margins have been 18, 26, 8 and 13 points.

Game 2 is at the Forum.

On the plus side, the Celtics suffered no new injuries. Robert Parish didn’t limp off once. How’s the ankle holding up, Chief?

Chief?

“Not talking,” said Parish, saving a word. Economy counts for everything at this stage.

Late in the evening, a Celtic doctor probed gently into McHale’s ankle. He smiled at McHale.

“Made it through another one,” the doctor said.

Aside from that, things are looking up for the defending champions.