Celtics Not Planning on a Major Overhaul

The Boston Celtics had too many injuries and too little bench strength but still made it to the sixth game of the National Basketball Assn. finals. Panic and wholesale changes for next season are not likely.

“The nucleus of the team will be around for three or four years,” Boston General Manager Jan Volk said Sunday after the Lakers took the title from the defending champion Celtics. “If we make changes, it will be after careful consideration.”

“I don’t believe that anybody in the starting lineup of ours will be touched,” Celtic President Red Auerbach said. “I’m very adamant. Our starting five is still the best in basketball.”

It wasn’t Sunday, when Larry Bird and Danny Ainge had off-days and Robert Parish fouled out with 7:32 left in the Lakers’ 106-93 victory. Forward Kevin McHale, who has played for about three months with a broken bone in his right foot, is expected to undergo surgery and may not be ready for the start of next season.

Another concern is the limited contributions of the Celtics’ bench.

In the finals, Boston’s backups had 95 points, 51 rebounds and 28 assists in 294 minutes. Laker substitutes had 162 points, 69 rebounds and 38 assists in 438 minutes.

“You need seven or eight guys you have confidence in playing every game, like the Lakers did,” Bird said. “That’s why everybody was talking about a Lakers sweep before the series and why they probably should have swept us. But I thought we were going to win, and we had every chance.

“We need to make changes,” he added, “even if it’s just one guy.”

Volk said the salary cap limits Boston’s freedom in making trades.

“We have a good team,” he said. “If the starting five had been healthy, forget the other injuries, we would have been all right.”

McHale and Parish, who suffered from a sprained ankle during the playoffs, kept playing. Ainge was bothered by postseason knee and ankle injuries. Scott Wedman missed most of the season with a heel problem. Bill Walton tried to play during the playoffs despite a painful foot but was ineffective.

“It’s got to make us feel proud” to come within two victories of the NBA title despite the obstacles, Bird said. “There were many times when we were in trouble, but we did not quit.”

With 33 points, matching his career playoff high, and 10 rebounds, guard Dennis Johnson, who directs the offense, was Boston’s best player Sunday.

“I believe that this team is supposed to be here (in the finals) every year,” he said. “Any loss is tough to take.

“But this isn’t just another loss. We’re done for the season. So are the Lakers. But I have to carry this around for the off-season,” he added. “Next year, I’m going to play a lot harder.”

They Celtics also will have to play a lot better on the road, where they lost their last 7 games and won only 4 of their final 21.

“We never did get it solved,” McHale said of the road troubles. “Maybe we needed two or three more players healthy. I don’t know.

“You can’t blame our losses on injuries,” McHale said. “I’ve said all along that in a best-of-seven series, the best team will win. And the best team did win.”

The Celtics, though, who reached the finals after surviving tough seven-game series against the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons, didn’t come up short in courage or effort.

“We shouldn’t have been here,” Boston Coach K. C. Jones said. “That’s the thing to remember. This rag-tag team with the broken feet. These guys fought, hustled, grabbed, sat on the floor, did everything they could do. That’s the thing to remember.”