NBA CHAMPIONSHIP : Lakers vs. Celtics : Even Going Home Brings Celtics Little Joy : A Down Bird Says: ‘If We Lose the Next Game, Our Spirit Will Be Broken’

In deference to Laker GM Jerry West who has asked for more positive/less inflammatory coverage of the Celtics, we are pleased to report the following moral victories:

--The Celtics haven’t been beaten by 20 points in this series yet.

--No one who wasn’t already injured has been hurt.

--The ones who were injured are still ambulatory, if marginally. Kevin McHale limped off late in the first half, but he limped back on in the second.

--None of them has been taken prisoner.

--They’re going home.

All the Celtic faces and most of the Celtic limbs are still accounted for, even after Thursday’s night’s 122-141 loss to the Lakers, which put them down 0-2 in the NBA finals.

There was more concern about McHale’s right ankle. He left the floor, seemingly in pain after stepping on Robert Parish’s foot. CBS announced it was a cramp.

“An ankle cramp?” said McHale later, bemused. “That’d be the first ankle cramp in history.”

Whatever it was, it seemed to pass in a hurry. A few minutes after limping out, McHale ran off the court for the halftime break, without limping. He had been overheard after Game 1, telling a Boston medic that “Something is moving around in there.”

So, is there?

“I don’t know what the hell I got,” McHale said.

“He’s either got a lot of guts or he doesn’t care about his body any more,” said the Lakers’ Mychal Thompson, McHale’s old Minnesota teammate.

“Knowing Kevin, he has the whole summer to soak it in Budweiser.”

Laughs were harder to come by down the hall.

Larry Bird said he was “down, very down. We’re down, 2-0. We always feel when we get up, 2-0, we’ve got everybody beat. So it don’t feel too good.”

It must not, indeed. The Celtics started the game by scoring on seven of their first eight possessions. Late in the third period, they were shooting 58%... and trailing, 91-71. At one point, the Lakers led in fast-break points, 40-4.

Even going back to Boston Garden, where the Celtics lost one game the entire regular season, offers less than the usual delight. The Lakers were the team that beat them.

“The beat us there once this year and we played pretty well,” Bird said. “You got to look at it realistically. They got three chances to win one game.”

And if it’s the next one?

“I think if we lose the next game, our spirit will be broken,” Bird said. “I can’t sit here and say we’re going to win the NBA championship. We’re just trying to win one game right now. We know everybody is talking about us losing in four, five.

“We worked so dang hard to get here. We struggled to get here. We really struggled. We never did have our whole team. Now the guys who are injured are better. I don’t know if their injuries are better but they’re feeling better.

“I was so happy to get here. Now I wish we’d won the home-court advantage, so we’d have had the first two at Boston Garden. I never did think the home court advantage was so important until this year (the Celtics are now 5-20 on the road since Feb. 21).

“I wanted to get here so bad because everybody counted us out. Now we’re here and it’s not so good.

“I knew tonight we’d have to play a really, really good game to beat them. Now I think we have to play a perfect game in Boston to beat them.

“Our fans are gonna have to really whoop it up. After Kevin hurt his ankle, he’s gonna be hurting. And we need him.

“The thing is Kevin and Robert just can’t get back (against the Laker fast break). They used to be able to get back. They used to be able to clog the middle. I hope at home, they can get back better.

“We need all the help we can get. We need the people at the game hollering and screaming. We need the people at home hollering and screaming.

“We’ve got to play a little more physical, bump, push, box out tough. If we don’t do that, we don’t have a chance.”

Translation: It’s going to be big-time loud in Boston Garden for Game 3 Sunday, and no Laker should show up without adequate medical insurance.

It should be noted that the Celtics, as outmanned as any recent entry in the NBA finals, as beleaguered as they’ve been in recent history, conducted themselves with grace throughout their stay here. They answered questions patiently and candidly. They never offered excuses.

The games, themselves, were more difficult. Parish was asked how he’d describe the first two games.

“Two whippings,” he said, succinctly, accurately and, at least until the teams play a third time, a complete update.