Lex Nihil Novi - The Greatest Five Minutes of Basketball Ever Played

The Greatest Five Minutes of Basketball Ever Played
 









Tucked away somewhere in his private stash, Danny Ainge owns a VCR tape he entitles "The Way Basketball is Supposed to be Played." It captures quarter number 3 of Game 5 in the Celtics-Hawks 1986 playoff series.



The Celtics had managed to lose the previous game in Atlanta by a 106-94 margin, and it really wasn't that close. Embarrassed and disgusted, the GREEN had worked up a head of steam going into the next game. Bill Walton, who had missed the previous two games after a collision with Tree Rollins injured his wrist, returned to the lineup.

The score at halftime was 66-55. Boston was clearly the better team. But that wasn't enough. Locker room talk conveyed a sense of urgency for the start of the third quarter. Still upset with the arse whoopin' from the last game, the Cs began the second half with what might still be described as the best 12 minutes of Celtics basketball--EVER.

The quarter actually began quietly enough, compared with what was yet to come. Boston expanded it's lead to 17 points with a 12-6 run. 5:17 remained in the quarter. Bird stepped to the line and converted a technical called on Atlanta for illegal defense. Then the dam broke. The Celtics got the ball back and Ainge and Bird began taking turns from international waters.

On defense, Ainge combined with DJ to lock down their opponents, force turnovers, or direct their man to the interior where the helpless Hawk was smothered by Bird, McHale, and Parish. Over the next 317 seconds, Atlanta committed 5 turnovers, had three shots blocked, and incurred two 24-second clock violations.

On offense, the Celtics could do no wrong. Covered by Dominique, McHale scored at will. Bird kept feeding Parish who scored over Tree Rollins, literally left and right. DJ and Ainge had 3 break-away layups, one of which came after Rollins, out of frustration, threw an inbounds pass directly at Ainge, who calmly intercepted it and waltzed to the other end for an easy two. When the quarter mercifully came to and end, the score was 102-61.

The Cs had outscored the Hawks 36-6 in the quarter, including 24-0 in the last 5 minutes. The Hawks tried everything, timeouts, substitutions, and cheap shots. Nothing worked. "The only thing I didn't try was making a trade," Coach Mike Fratello quipped, "and the only reason I didn't try that was because the league prohibits trades during games." Doc Rivers said "it seemed like it was raining baskets from everywhere. The were all on fire at the same time. One minute it was a game and the next it was over."

Asked to comment after the game, Mchale said "it was as close to perfection as you will ever see on a basketball court."



bob



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There was a 20-0 run of the Celtics over the Lakers in a championship Game 7.  I can still recall Johnny Most, his voice strangling with laughter, "Here they come again?"  It's on his "Havlicek Stole the Ball" record.

I'll take that one.

I remember that game.  It was like watching a tsunami hit.  I didn't know that they limited the Hawks to only 6 points for the entire period and outscored them 24-0 over the last five minutes.

I just recall sitting there with my mouth agape in amazement.

Walton also said that stretch was as close to perfection as he had ever experienced.

The next game was game one of the EC finals.  They beat the 57 win Bucks by over 30 points on their way to a sweep.

Poetry in motion........

Best five minutes I ever saw.

The Hawks were pretty big as well with Kevin Willis and Tree Rollins. And of course Dominique could play much larger than his 6'7".

The rest of the team wasn't exactly chopped liver either with Doc Rivers and Randy Whitman and Antoine Carr and Spudd Webb coming of the bench.

That '86 Celtic team had the most multi-dimesional frontcourt I've ever seen. When I think of adding Len Bias to that group I still want to pound the ground and scream, "Why!? Why !?"

A very strong case can be made that they are the greatest Celtic team of all time.

swish

Swish, I think a strong case can be made that they're the greatest team of all time.

Once we have a time machine I'd take that '85-'86 team over any I've ever seen.

Had Bias lived Reggie Lewis would probably have still been available in the subsequent draft.  Boston took him at #22 in the first round in a then 23 team league.

It would have been an example of something that is not likely to happen today: an early rebuild without trading any of the established stars.

Today, teams wanting to add a great young talent to a team that already has five future HOF'ers and keep them together for more than a couple of seasons would have to shed a lot of salary or pay an obscene luxury tax, something few owners would ever agree to do.

Hell, today assembling a team like the '86 Celtics would trigger a gigantic luxury tax hit that no owner would consent to.

The league is indeed a very different place.

It could be argued that the greatest team of all-time should have "legs" rather than being a one-hit or even a three-hit wonder.  It's similar to the conversation about Walton.  Should he be granted a pass because he didn't last but a fraction of the time some other great players lasted?  This topic is no longer worth discussing.  Too many closed or uninformed minds.  We each know what we know, and bringing up the "greatest team" thing repeatedly is just asking for trouble.

Sam

I guess that's why I stated, "This topic is no longer worth discussing" and "...bringing up the 'greatest team' thing repeatedly is just asking for trouble."  

Sam

I went to Davidson College from 1982-1986. One of the things I did senior year was take a group of us down to Atlanta from Charlotte to see Larry Bird and the Human Highlight Reel go at it.

Unfortunately, it was during the regular season, not the playoffs but it had the "playoff feel" everyone talks about. It was a great game. College money well spent. I believe it was the Friday March 14th game where Boston won 121-114.

I do remember one play towards the end of a pretty tight game and someone on ATL had forgotten the #1 Rule when playing the Celtics - Please don't leave Larry open behind the 3 point towards the end of a close game line AT ANY TIME...EVER!

That was the shot that spelled the end for any hopes ATL had of winning that game, and eventually later on in the playoffs. When you can come in and beat a potential playoff team on the road, it spells doom for the opponent for the season and the playoffs if you happen to meet there.

Needless to say, that game had a lasting impression on me. Probably not as much as the one described above would have had I been there, but lasting nonetheless.

Thanks for the memories, Larry and Company!!

dbrown