1987 NBA PLAYOFFS : Forcing Game 6, Celtics Go Coast to Coast on Lakers

Perish on parquet, or Parish back in L.A.?

Given that choice Thursday night, the Boston Celtics made for the nearest airline counter.

Eventually, champagne will flow in the National Basketball Assn. finals, but not here. Not on this floor.

As last stands go, the Celtics’ 123-108 win over the Lakers in Game 5 begged the following question:

Is anyone sure just which team is supposed to be on the ropes?

Celtics? Sure, they still trail in the series, 3 games to 2, but only by the slimmest of the remaining hairs on Red Auerbach’s head--that’s how close Larry Bird’s last-second shot Tuesday came to giving the Celtics a three-game sweep here.

Thursday night, all five Celtic starters--you know, the same battered guys who looked like they needed a jump-start in Los Angeles--scored 20 points or more, led by Danny Ainge, who hit five three-point bombs.

Meanwhile, the Lakers, who had run the Celtics halfway to Tijuana in the first two games, all but disappeared in the cracks in the floor Thursday night.

Instead of smelling blood and going for the kill, the Lakers took one sniff and nearly suffocated.

They shot 38% in the first half, by which time they already were 15 points in arrears, the last three coming on Ainge’s 40-foot buzzer-beater.

James Worthy made 1 of his first 9 shots, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 4 of his first 12.

Their idea of regrouping at halftime was to fall back by 19, 96-77, at the end of the third quarter, during which Ainge neatly deposited four more three-pointers.

They did get it down to eight, 103-95, with 5:58 to go, only to have the Celtics take off on a 13-4 run that made for cameos by Mike Smrek and Adrian Branch of the Lakers, curtain calls for the Celtics.

Making matters worse was that while Ainge was making like Michael Cooper, the Lakers’ three-point sharpshooter was making like a Celtic--in other words, he got hurt.

Cooper knocked knees with Dennis Johnson of the Celtics with 2:28 left in the first half, fell to the floor, and couldn’t get up. He did a sort of backwards-crab walk to the sideline, then was assisted from the court--the first time he’s needed an escort since Game 6 of the 1985 finals, when he sprained an ankle.

This injury was originally described as a hyperextended right knee. Cooper returned and played in the second half, but after the game, Laker officials said the knee was sprained, too.

Cooper remained on a trainer’s table until long after most reporters had left. Asked if he were OK, he pointed at trainer Gary Vitti, but a moment later gave a little smile and nodded his head.

With Cooper hurt and Byron Scott a nonfactor (his 7 points Thursday gave him three straight games here in single figures), the Boston backcourt prospered.

“We’ve been here before,” Ainge said.

“We know what it’s all about. There was no way we could let them celebrate again in Boston Garden.”

The Laker comfort, such as it is, comes in the knowledge that the Celtics travel like the Griswolds the minute they cross their own threshold.

“We sneaked out a win here, and we’ve got the advantage--the advantage to go home to win the championship,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said.

“We’ve got two games to do it, and if we don’t, we don’t deserve it.”

The sooner this is forgotten, Riley said, the better.

“What happened here is history,” he said. “We’re looking forward to going home, playing in the Forum, in front of our families, our friends, our people.

“Whatever happened here, you can file away.”

File it under Blown Opportunity for the Lakers, who know better than to give the Celtics added life.

“It seems we’re a little more healthy right now,” Ainge said. “At least we’re playing that way.”

Each time Ainge connected from long distance, of course, he gave the Celtics another transfusion.

The Lakers crept to within nine, 69-60, after Worthy banked one in off the glass, only to have Ainge hit from the left corner.

A.C. Green slammed home a basket on the break to make it 72-62, only to have Ainge connect from the right of the key.

“Every time we made a run,” Riley said, “he got us right back.”

The Lakers’ line Thursday was this: They only needed to come out of here with just one win.

“No question I’m upset with our performance,” said Magic Johnson, the only Laker playing as well at home as away--he had 29 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds.

“We’ve just got to get better, and we all know that. We’ve all got to come out with the energy and the attitude to get it done.

“And I’ll you what: We’re going home, and we’ll be ready.”

It’s still up to the Celtics, of course, to show they can be something other than feeble at the Forum.

It would help if they could get 25 points and 11 assists from Dennis Johnson, 23 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists from Larry Bird, 22 points and 14 rebounds from Kevin McHale, and 21 points apiece from Ainge and Robert Parish, which is just what they got here Thursday.

“What we’re going to do is transport our parquet out there,” Boston Coach K.C. Jones said. “That (L.A.) floor’s too pretty.”