CELTICS VS. HAWKS : K.C. Jones One Loss Away From Retiring Today

Dominique Wilkins wore black slacks, a black shirt and a black hat when he walked out of the Omni and into the darkness late Friday night.

But today is another day, the last of the season for either the Boston Celtics or the Atlanta Hawks, who play the seventh game of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series today at Boston Garden (Channels 2 and 8, 10 a.m., PDT).

And Wilkins thinks things are going to look a lot brighter for the Hawks than they did after they lost the sixth game, 102-100, as the Celtics tied the series, 3-3.

“It’s even now, but it’s not over,” Wilkins said. “Anything can happen. When we lost, it’s not like the world ended and the season was over.

“Sure, the odds are probably against us, playing a seventh game at Boston Garden, but we’ve won there before. Now, all we have to do is believe it as a team. We just have to go out and play.”

As usual, there are a lot of factors at work here. The Celtics are accustomed to winning seventh games in these things. Their record is 16-3 overall, 14-2 at the Garden.

What’s more, until the Hawks won Game 5 at the Garden, Atlanta had lost 13 straight there.

But wait. The Celtics aren’t really coming into this showdown like gangbusters. They won Game 6 almost in spite of themselves. After Larry Bird’s basket with 5:49 left, Boston got only two more field goals the rest of the way.

They had three turnovers, two in the last minute, and survived mainly because they played well enough defensively to limit the Hawks to 34% shooting in the second half.

The biggest miss by the Hawks was the last one, just after they got the ball back when Larry Bird committed a turnover with five seconds left and Boston ahead by two points.

Coach Mike Fratello wanted the ball to go to Wilkins, but he was covered, so Cliff Levingston was forced to throw up an off-balance left-handed runner that missed badly.

So, now it’s the Celtics’ turn, Bird said.

“They had their chance,” Bird said. “I think (Sunday) is going to be a big win for the Boston Celtics.”

Of course, they would settle for any kind of win because that is all that’s needed for Boston to advance to the Eastern finals against the Detroit Pistons, who have been resting at home since Wednesday, sharpening their elbows in anticipation of playing one of these two teams.

Dennis Johnson figures that the Celtics have a clear edge today. He feels certain he knows how his team will react in a seventh game. He does not know how the Hawks are going to act.

“It’s got to be tough on them,” he said. “We’re planning on, hopefully, playing Detroit, if we can.”

If that doesn’t sound overly optimistic, then you have a pretty good indication of the fragile state of well-being currently felt by the occupants of the old building on top of North Station.

“I think we can win this series,” Kevin McHale said.

Think? K.C. Jones was certainly not thinking about whether Game 6 would be his last game and isn’t going to be thinking about it today, either.

Jones: “I’ve got enough to think about besides that.”

When the playoffs are over for the Celtics, Jones is retiring as coach and moving to the front office. Jimmy Rodgers, who will succeed Jones, hasn’t seen anything from the bench that indicates the Celtics are too old to win again.

“Chronologically, we may be old, but competitively, we’re still young at heart,” he said.

Oddly enough, the Celtics got a lift from their bench Friday night, particularly from rookies Mark Acres and Reggie Lewis, when Robert Parish and McHale went to the bench in the third quarter.

Such an unexpected bonus ought to serve the Celtics well, should they need some more help in Game 7. Johnson said he hasn’t paid attention to any end-of-the-Celtics talk.

“I don’t think I’ve ever questioned the character of this team,” he said.

Bird said the way the Celtics played in Game 6 dramatically boosted the team’s morale.

He said it would help “in the near future.”

In the long and glorious history of the Celtics, their future has never been nearer.