Forcing Game 6, Celtics Go Coast to Coast on Lakers

Given that choice Thursday night, the Boston Celtics made for the nearest airline counter.

Eventually, champagne will flow in the National Basketball Assn. finals, but not here. Not on this floor.

As last stands go, the Celtics' 123-108 win over the Lakers in Game 5 begged the following question:

Is anyone sure just which team is supposed to be on the ropes?

Celtics? Sure, they still trail in the series, 3 games to 2, but only by the slimmest of the remaining hairs on Red Auerbach's head--that's how close Larry Bird's last-second shot Tuesday came to giving the Celtics a three-game sweep here.

Thursday night, all five Celtic starters--you know, the same battered guys who looked like they needed a jump-start in Los Angeles--scored 20 points or more, led by Danny Ainge, who hit five three-point bombs.

Meanwhile, the Lakers, who had run the Celtics halfway to Tijuana in the first two games, all but disappeared in the cracks in the floor Thursday night.

Instead of smelling blood and going for the kill, the Lakers took one sniff and nearly suffocated.

They shot 38% in the first half, by which time they already were 15 points in arrears, the last three coming on Ainge's 40-foot buzzer-beater.

James Worthy made 1 of his first 9 shots, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 4 of his first 12.

Their idea of regrouping at halftime was to fall back by 19, 96-77, at the end of the third quarter, during which Ainge neatly deposited four more three-pointers.

They did get it down to eight, 103-95, with 5:58 to go, only to have the Celtics take off on a 13-4 run that made for cameos by Mike Smrek and Adrian Branch of the Lakers, curtain calls for the Celtics.

Making matters worse was that while Ainge was making like Michael Cooper, the Lakers' three-point sharpshooter was making like a Celtic--in other words, he got hurt.

Cooper knocked knees with Dennis Johnson of the Celtics with 2:28 left in the first half, fell to the floor, and couldn't get up. He did a sort of backwards-crab walk to the sideline, then was assisted from the court--the first time he's needed an escort since Game 6 of the 1985 finals, when he sprained an ankle.

This injury was originally described as a hyperextended right knee. Cooper returned and played in the second half, but after the game, Laker officials said the knee was sprained, too.