BOSTON GARDEN - April 29, 1973
The The Sports Time Traveler™ was here yesterday for a big one. A game 7 between the New York Knickerbockers and the Boston Celtics. The winner to face the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals.
We’re here because the Knicks who led 3 games to 1, dropped games 5 and 6.
In addition to having home court advantage, the Celtics have three enormous factors on their side:
A perfect record 10 - 0 in game 7’s in franchise history
A home record of 33 - 6 this season
Center Dave Cowens - the league MVP
Each team has one key player that is dealing with an injury that is likely to hamper their performance. Celtics star forward John Havlicek has a shoulder injury, although he was 9 for 15 shooting over the past 2 games. The Knicks guard Earl “The Pearl” Monroe is dealing with a hip injury, although he managed to shoot 11 for 19 in game 6.
Knicks coach, Red Holzman, made a key decision prior to the start of the game that he said was based on game film he watched that morning. He decided to have the more mobile Dave DeBusschere guard the Celtics leading scorer in the series, Dave Cowens, instead of his center Willis Reed. He then planned to have the defense sag in around Cowens, forcing the Celtics to either take outside shots or force risky passes into Cowens.
But the plan didn’t initially work as the Celtics managed to score on several fast breaks early in the game and led at the end of the quarter.
CELTICS 22 KNICKS 19 - End of 1st Quarter
Red Holzman made another move to start the 2nd quarter. He took out Earl Monroe and put in back up guard Dean “The Dream” Meminger, a speedy 6 footer, to defend against Boston guard Jo-Jo White.
Meminger never came back out.
He played the final 36 minutes without a break after only playing 16 minutes in game 6.
Meminger not only played aggressive defense, he helped open up the offense. Walt Frazier said in New York Daily News, “Dean really gets us moving. He makes Cowens commit himself on the drive and then kicks it back out to the open man. If Cowens doesn’t move then Deano goes all the way in.”
The Central Jersey Home News described the impact Meminger had, “2 plays best demonstrate what the Dream did to give the Celtics nightmares. First he took an outlet pass in full stride after a Boston miss and didn’t stop until he dropped in a layup… The second play was just as eye catching… he barreled full tilt between 2 Celtics to intercept a pass and streak half the length of the court for the easiest layup of the brutal contest.”
Meminger had 9 points in the 1st 9 minutes of the 2nd quarter and the Knicks took the halftime lead.
KNICKS 45 CELTICS 40 - HALFTIME
Then the Knicks opened the 3rd quarter with Jerry Lucas guarding Cowens as DeBusschere got into foul trouble. When Lucas got into foul trouble, Reed took over guarding Cowens. The MVP, who had scored 15 in the first half managed only 2 in the 3rd.
Meanwhile the Knicks scored 6 of the first 7 points to extend the lead to 51 - 41.
Moments later the Knicks went on a 17 - 7 run.
The Knicks shot 65% in the 3rd quarter, with at least 5 shots from deep outside.
The Celtics made just 6 baskets in the entire quarter, and by the time it was over the Knicks had a commanding 15 point lead.
KNICKS 72 CELTICS 57 - End of 3rd Quarter
The Knicks continued to expand the lead reaching a 20 point margin with 5 minutes to go at 86 - 66.
In the prior 31 minutes of basketball time, the Knicks had outscored the Celtics 67 - 44. Moreover, the Knicks in that stretch had hit 13 outside shots. The Celtics had hit none.
The game was essentially over. The Knicks eased up on defense to avoid fouling and won the game by 16 and took the series 4 games to 3.
Leonard Koppett, of the New York Times, wrote, “The Knicks pulled together all the elements of the team play that had become unraveled as they allowed a 3 - 1 lead in the 4 of 7 game competition to dissolve… they produced the big performance in the big game.”
KNICKS 94 CELTICS 78 - FINAL SCORE
In 82 regular season and 12 playoff games, this was the Knicks best defensive performance and the only time all year they held an opponent to less than 80 points.
The Knicks defense was stellar. The Celtics shot just 37% for the game.
Walt Frazier told Larry Fox of the New York Daily News, “We just played aggressive on defense. And that must be the secret, being aggressive. We forced them into bad shots. This game we had the poise and we controlled the tempo.”
The Knicks were also good on offense. They played team ball and found the open man. 27 of their 38 field goals came on assists compared to just 16 assists on 31 field goals for the Celtics. Frazier led the Knicks with 25 points and 7 assists.
Coach Red Holzman, who guided the Knicks to their only title in 1970, said to Leonard Koppett, “I’d say this was the most satisfying victory I’ve ever been connected with.”
Bounced from the playoffs after finishing the regular season with the best record in Celtics history, the Boston press searched for answers. The Boston Globe had a headline on the front page of the sports section that read:
The Leprechauns Weren’t in Their Garden
Leigh Montville of the Boston Globe summed up the game this way, “The New York Knicks were simply too good.”
Paul Silas told the Boston Globe, “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you have to be ready in the playoffs.” Montville concluded, “The Celtics were not ready. That’s all there was to it… There wasn’t any mysticism or strategy involved. The Celtics were just flat.”
So it turns out the Celtics can lose a game 7.
POSTSCRIPT from The Sports Time Traveler™
There is no full game video that is publicly available. But there is a short 4 minute film that contains parts of the 2nd half, including the final buzzer:
That video is all I’ve ever seen of the game.
I was 9 years old when the game took place on the afternoon of Sunday, April 29, 1973. It was a great spring day in New Jersey and I was very happy playing outside in our backyard. Temperatures were close to 60 degrees.
I was big Knicks fan, but I was also a 9 year old kid who had spent the arduously long winter waiting for a weekend day like this. At 9, winter seemed like it had lasted forever. And I was enjoying this time out in the sun.
In what must have been late in the game, my dad came outside and yelled to me, “Come inside the Knicks are going to beat the Celtics!”
Searching for an excuse to stay outside, I yelled back, “The Knicks always beat the Celtics.”
In my 9 year old view of the world, the Celtics dynasty was ancient history. It might as well have happened in Roman times. What was top of mind for me was that the Knicks had beaten the Celtics 4 games to 1 in the Eastern Conference Finals the prior year. So I expected another Knicks victory.
I didn’t listen to my dad.
And I missed this end of this epic game 7.