Celtics Rise to Occasion : A 102-100 Victory Over Hawks Sends Series to Game 7

A giant funeral was planned for the Boston Celtics Friday night when a sellout crowd of 16,451 filled the Omni, perhaps wishing they could file past the Celtic bench and pay their last disrespects.

Only it didn’t exactly happen that way.

After they defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 102-100, the Celtics are still around and now they’re going to show up Sunday afternoon in Boston Garden with a chance to win a series many thought they had already lost.

Boston, down to the Hawks, three games to two, evened its NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series with Atlanta on the Hawks’ home court and forced a seventh game by riding an emotional wave to their narrow but satisfying victory.

Think the Celtics enjoyed it?

“It was a lot of fun,” Larry Bird said. “They were ready to party at our funeral, to come see K. C. (Jones) coach his last game. I guess we’ve still got a little life in us.”

Surely, the Celtics showed a lot of emotion. Danny Ainge said he hadn’t seen as much all season long.

In times past, this used to be called Celtic Pride. In this series, though, right up until the Celtics melted the Hawks down to their red-and-white Beat Boston buttons, it’s been more Celtic Mistake than Celtic Mystique.

But there was Dennis Johnson, normally about as emotional as a librarian, running down the floor with the basketball after rebounding Cliff Levingston’s missed left-handed shot with one second left.

If Levingston’s driving shot had gone in, it would have forced an overtime, which Jones knew could have had only one possible outcome.

“We would have lost,” the Celtic coach said.

There was just one question about the Hawks’ last shot: Why was Levingston taking it? Where, oh where, was Dominique Wilkins?

“I got smothered,” said Wilkins, who scored 35 points in 43 minutes. “As soon as I went to the ball, I had two guys on me. There was no way I was going to touch the ball.”

The Celtics led by two points with five seconds left. Doc Rivers inbounded the ball to Levingston, who drove the middle with Robert Parish standing in his way. Levingston shot. It wasn’t close.

“I felt I had a shot at it when I let it go,” Levingston said. “It’s just one of those things. You make it and you win. You miss it and you lose.”

Cliff’s notes weren’t exactly correct. He makes it and it’s a tie. He misses it and, presto, it’s a tied series instead.

These haven’t been the best of times for the Celtics, a basketball tradition that has had the air taken out of it lately. Why, when the Celtics lost Game 5 at Boston Garden, a few fans actually booed Kevin McHale. Some called him a wimp.

“It’s not wise to say anything about our big guys,” Johnson said. “As for people giving us up for dead, those are not the people we’re having to play.’

Ainge hadn’t been treated much better. The best thing that was said about him was that it looked like he had just combed his hair with a ceiling fan.

Yet, it was McHale and Ainge who were most directly responsible for the Celtics hanging on and forcing Game 7. McHale had 6 offensive rebounds and 19 of his 26 points in the first half to put Boston ahead by one.

It was Ainge’s turn in the third quarter. For the Hawks, it became a hair-raising experience. Ainge scored 9 points in just over 2 1/2 minutes to shoot the Celtics to an 83-74 lead with 1:06 left in the period.

“I just felt it,” said Ainge, who had 22 points.

Now, what must the Hawks be feeling? They had just squandered probably their best and perhaps only chance to rid the playoffs of the Celtics once and for all.

Coach Mike Fratello wasn’t real pleased.

“This was the poorest game overall in what we were attempting to accomplish,” Fratello said. “With all the excitement, everyone tried to do his own thing. They seemed to pull away from team efforts.”

Even so, the Hawks were still in it right to the end. Rivers, who scored 32 points, got loose on a breakaway three minutes into the fourth quarter to bring Atlanta within 85-82.

But they got only six more baskets the rest of the way. McHale was guarding Wilkins, who said it didn’t bother him, but Dominique nevertheless was limited to five points in the fourth quarter.

When Bird, who had 23 points, shot over Levingston and scored on a turnaround jumper from 18 feet, the Celtics led, 101-93, with 3:01 left.

A three-pointer by Rivers and then his short jumper cut it down to 101-98 with 1:18 left. The rest of the game was not exactly highlight basketball.

Ainge traveled, apparently just before Tree Rollins slammed him to the floor. The call by official Darell Garretson didn’t sit well with Ainge, who termed it, “The worst call I’ve ever seen.”

Robert Parish rejected a shot by Wilkins. Ainge made one of two free throws. Wilkins scored on a drive with 29 seconds left to cut Boston’s lead to two points.

Bird went one-on-one with Wilkins but couldn’t get a shot off before the 24-second clock ran out. That gave the Hawks one last chance, but Levingston clanked his shot, and that was that.

The Celtics, who scored exactly three points in the last 4:34, didn’t exactly win in a runaway, but at least they won.

“Being on top for so long, we must have some kind of true grit in us,” Jones said.

It remains to be seen if they have one more win left in them Sunday.