Two plays provided final proof that the Boston Celtics, long the most feared and revered franchise in the NBA, weren't anything special anymore.
With 4:16 left in Boston's last game of the season, Larry Bird missed a shot that's tough to miss - a reverse dunk that would have cut New York's lead to 103-101.Later, scrambling to beat the 24-second buzzer, the Knicks' Patrick Ewing desperately threw up a 3-point shot. It went in. New York had a 113-101 lead and the remaining 2:02 of Sunday's 121-114 Knicks victory was a formality.
The win broke the Knicks' 26-game losing streak at Boston Garden and made them just the third team in NBA history to capture a best-of-5 series after losing the first two games.
In another era, the much discussed Garden ghosts - the memories of Celtic dynasties and superstars - wouldn't have let that happen.
They would have lowered the basket an inch so that Bird, who rarely dunks, would have revived his team with an unlikely basket. They would have made Ewing's hands tremble so he couldn't hit the second 3-pointer of his five pro seasons.
But why should anybody get nervous anymore when they play Boston?
Celtic mystique got drowned in a wave of Celtic mistakes.
"We had a chance to go to the finals but we were beaten in the first round. That hurts very bad," backup center Joe Kleine said. "We can't point fingers at anyone, especially the coach. We all have to look at ourselves and say why we didn't do better."
There were many reasons:
- Although he settled on an eight-man rotation for the playoffs, Coach Jimmy Rodgers never had a reliable bench.
- The frontcourt of Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, the nucleus of three of Boston's 16 title teams, began playing together in 1980 and remains strong, but there has been no steady infusion of young talent to serve as dependable backups and eventual successors.
- The Celtics are too slow for most teams.
- Inconsistent shooting, a problem all season, resurfaced Sunday.
- Rodgers made some curious personnel moves; there is no guarantee he will be back for a third season as head coach.
The defection of Brian Shaw, a productive rookie point guard last season, to play in Italy, hurt. It forced a reluctant Rodgers to stay with 35-year-old Dennis Johnson at that position.
The future of backup forward Ed Pinckney, a decent rebounder and leaper, also is vague. He started the first 52 games before his ineffectiveness led Rodgers to switch to rookie Michael Smith, the Celtics' first-round draft pick. He shot well, but shabby defense and rebounding vindicated skeptics who said the Celtics had wasted the pick.
Forward Dino Radja, Boston's second-round draft pick last year, is expected to join the team after spending this season in Yugoslavia. The addition of Shaw, Radja and a first-round choice this year signals a major, and overdue, roster turnover.
"I don't know" what will happen, Bird said. "I get asked the same question every year when we lose."
Bird, Parish and McHale seem safe as starters, while Reggie Lewis and Shaw should start in the backcourt.
General Manager Jan Volk said, "I'll take a step back when everything settles down. This is not quite the way I anticipated it to end. I don't think anybody did."
Last season, Bird missed all but the first six games with heel problems, and Boston was eliminated in the first round by Detroit. But this season, Bird was healthy, the team was playing its best basketball going into the playoffs with nine wins in 10 games, and the Knicks were struggling at 6-15 in their last 21. Then Boston won the first two playoff games.
"We may have peaked early," Rodgers said. "I guess timing is everything."
"The third game was our chance," McHale said.
The Knicks won that 102-99 as Bird missed a wide open 3-pointer in the final seconds. In Game 5, Bird, the man the Celtics count on when they get in trouble, missed his last five shots.
McHale suffered a torn ligament in his left foot in the second quarter, an injury that went unannounced until after the game was over and he had played 45 minutes. He was scoreless in the last quarter.
Boston's lack of speed was apparent as New York's Johnny Newman and Gerald Wilkins raced by them through the lane.
"We played hard but we were a step behind all day," Bird said.
The Celtics haven't won an NBA title since 1986 and, despite winning 52 regular-season games, are several levels below the top teams now. Like perennial also-rans Cleveland, Denver and Utah, they were eliminated in the first round for the second straight season.
"You try not to worry about these things, but it's going to linger on," Johnson said. "Afterwards, Larry and I looked at each other and said we were just as shocked as the fans."
They shouldn't have been.