Paul Pierce's 20 points lead a balanced attack by Team BigMck as they beat Reds Army 108-97 to capture the Legends Series, 4-2.
Larry Bird (14 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists) was named series MVP. Dave Cowens added 14 points and 15 rebounds.
"Our guys deserve this moment," said Bird as he poured champagne over the head of GM Chuck McKenney. "This guy right here (McKenney) deserves all the credit for drafting the players and putting together a fantastic game plan."
Bill Russell came up with an enormous game 5 to help Team RedsArmy avoid elimination with a 114-111 win. His 20 points, 19 rebounds, 6 blocks and 3 assists made him the easy choice for player of the game.
Reggie Lewis scored 16 points off the bench on 7 of 11 shooting... 10 of those points coming in the first quarter as Team RedsArmy took a 6 point lead. But they followed a 35 point first quarter with a 20 second quarter to go into halftime tied.
From there, it was tight the whole way. Team BigMck took a 7 point lead midway through the 3rd, but RedsArmy went on a 13-5 run to end the quarter. Russell owned the 4th quarter with 10 points and 7 rebounds. RedsArmy made its free throws at the end, despite shooting under 67% for the game, to hold on for the 3 point win. Larry Bird had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in the loss.
"They did a good job bottling me up in the first couple of games," said Russell. "I'm just happy that I could do something to help our team win. Nothing I did would mean anything if we didn't pull it out tonight."
Team BigMck leads the series 3-2. See the full box score here
A Sam Jones bank shot with ten seconds left helped Team BigMck hold off a furious 4th quarter rally by Red's Army and win Game 4 119-116. Team BigMck now holds a commanding 3-1 lead in the Legends Series.
Team BigMck shot 55% from the field and had 7 players in double figures. Larry Bird played another marvelous all-around game; 15 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. John Havlicek lead all scorers with 16 points.
Bill Russell (13 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks) turned in his most dominant performance of the series. Kevin McHale chipped in with 14 points, 11 rebounds in only 26 minutes of action.
Lead by Dennis Johnson's 9 points, Team BigMck put 36 points on the board in the 2nd quarter and lead 57-55 at halftime.
After trading baskets for most of the 3rd quarter, Team BigMck ripped off a 13-2 run and lead by 7 heading into the final quarter. Paul Pierce scored 8 of his 14 points during the spurt.
A steal and dunk by Bird gave Team BigMck their largest lead, 104-91 with 7:18 remaining the game. Back to back three point plays by Cousy and Russell cut into the lead, but a pair of buckets and two free throws by Hondo kept the lead at 9, 113-104 with 2:44 to go.
Red's Army went on a 10-2 run over the next 2 minutes and cut the lead to 115-114 with :30 left. But with Jo Jo White draped all over him, Jones nailed a bank shot from the left side with :10 left to stretch the lead to 3.
After a quick lay-up by McHale and two Jones' free throws, Red's Army had one final attempt but Cousy's three pointer at the buzzer clanked off the rim.
Team BigMck jumped all over Reds Army in the opening quarter and never looked back en route to a 112-103 victory in Game 3 of the Legends Series.
Larry Bird scored 17 of his 22 points in the first quarter as Team BigMck raced out to a 19-point lead. While Bird scored just 5 points the rest of the way, he did just about everything else, grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing 9 assists.
Reds Army closed the gap to 97-93 with 4 minutes left, but Dennis Johnson (17 pts, 6 assists, 4 reb) slammed the door with a three point play and slam dunk on consecutive possessions.
Kevin McHale lead Reds Army with 23 points. Bill Russell had 15 points and 20 rebounds.
Team BigMck leads the series, 2-1.
After dropping Game 1 to BigMck, team RedsArmy came back to take Game 2 on a Tommy Heinsohn 16 footer at the buzzer.
"I figured if I was going to be giving out 'Tommy Points' in my broadcasting career, I might as well set the example," Heinsohn said.
Tommy only shot 5 of 13 on the night, but still managed to score 12 points. RedsArmy had 6 scorers in double figures, led by Bob Cousy's 16 points
Cousy bounced back from 6-20 shooting in game 1 to shoot 5 of 9 from the field and 6 of 8 from the line. He also dished out 7 dimes and had 3 steals to earn him player of the game honors.
RedsArmy took a 62-54 lead into halftime, but the lead was cut to 2 when Kevin Garnett scored twice and set up another basket. After long stretches of sloppy play, BigMck took the lead on a 3 point play by Larry Bird. A Sam Jones bucket with 2:30 left in the 3rd stretched BigMck's lead to 7, but RedsArmy responded with a 7-0 run to tie things up.
"In a situation like that, when you've got the momentum and you've got a 7 point lead, you've got to put a team away," said Garnett, who only managed 6 points and 1 rebound in 15 minutes.
The 4th quarter was a back-and-forth affair with RedsArmy taking a 107-102 lead on a Jo Jo White fadeaway with 3:27 left. But with 1:07 left, Jones took a feed from John Havlicek on the right wing and drilled a jumper to cut the lead to 1. With :28 left, Jones grabbed a Heinsohn miss and team BigMck drained 21 seconds off the shot clock before Jones hit a jump hook with :07 left.
RedsArmy quickly inbounded the ball instead of calling a time out. Heinsohn got the ball at half court with :04 left on the clock and managed to get to within 16 feet before launching his game winner.
"In that situation, we decided to let our guys make it happen out there, rather than call a time out and let the other team set their defense," said coach John Karalis after the game. "Those are some of the best players ever. There's nothing I can tell them that they don't know."
The difference in the game was from beyond the arc. RedsArmy shot 4 of 9 from deep, with Danny Ainge hitting on 2 of 4 attempts. BigMck was 2 of 11 from beyond the arc.
"When you look at the numbers, they look bad," said BigMck coach Chuck McKenney. "But we had six guys miss on their only attempt. The real story here was them shooting almost 52%. If we're going to win this thing, we can't let them shoot like that."
For those who haven't heard, John and I drafted teams of Celtics legends and are pitting them against one another in a Legends Series, courtesy of WhatIfSports.com.
Team BigMck edged RedsArmy in Game 1, 103-94. Larry Bird was the player of the game; 18 pts, 9 reb and 5 assists. Havlicek had 18 pts and KG chipped in with 12. Team BigMck held RedsArmy to 40% shooting while outrebounding them 56-46.
"I was stunned to see #8 guarding me. I had to take advantage of him, I did and it helped us win," said Bird after the game.
Team BigMck put the game away with a 9-1 run midway through the 4th.
Danny Ainge led RedsArmy with 16 points on 4-7 3FG. Bill Russell had 14 boards.
|
|
