Clippers Shot Down by Bird, Three at a Time

All was dark in the Sports Arena galaxy Monday night, the stars hidden beneath a cloud of bad shooting.

With 10 1/2 minutes to play, Larry Bird, though contributing 15 rebounds, was three for eight; Kevin McHale was two for seven; Charles Smith was three for 10 and Ron Harper three for eight.

Enter tradition. Bird hit two three-point jump shots in front of the Clipper bench, got the chants of “Larry! Larry!” in what is supposed to be a Los Angeles observatory and gave the Celtics a safe margin in what became a 97-86 victory before a sellout crowd of 15,800.

It’s not the first time this has happened here. Bird is conscious of having a good showing while making only one trip a season to Western Conference arenas, just as he is conscious of the crowd, at best split between the Clippers and the visitors.

They cheer, he hears.

“It makes me want to go out and hit another three,” he said after finishing with 14 points and 17 rebounds. “I hit one and started to hear it. I said, ‘I’ll hit one more and demoralize the other team.’ ”

So he did.

The Celtics led, 74-69, with 10:40 remaining before Bird went to work. He hit from the left side with 10:12 left to make it a seven-point game. After a three-point play by rookie Rick Fox, Bird connected with the first three-pointer from the right side. The Clippers, suddenly down, 82-70, called time out.

The Celtics pushed the lead to 88-74, and Bird homed in. With Coach Mike Schuler standing just behind him on the sidelines, Bird connected again, forcing the Clippers into another timeout.

Bird finished the Clippers, along with their hopes for the first 10-victory month since January of 1976. They were outrebounded, 56-38, and didn’t allow any Celtic to finish with more than the 17 points of Robert Parish and Reggie Lewis. But mostly, the Clippers got a front-row seat to Bird.

“The threes will kill you every time,” said James Edwards, who had 16 points as a reserve to tie Danny Manning for the team high. “You can’t leave a guy like that open.”

The Clippers began the night having never beaten the Celtics at the Sports Arena, though the recent games had margins of one and six points.

In the first half of Boston’s only appearance here of 1991-92, with the teams mirrored each other.

The Celtics shot poorly in the first half, the Clippers shot poorly in the first half. The Celtics got a lift from a reserve: six first-quarter points from Brian Shaw. The Clippers got a lift from a reserve: 12 points from Edwards in the first half.

It was a three-point game at halftime, Boston leading, 47-44, despite shooting 41.7%. The Clippers’ shot 38.5%.

In the third quarter, when the Celtics started to pull away, the Clippers lagged momentarily, then caught up. Boston’s lead was as big as 58-48 after Reggie Lewis’ three-point play, but two minutes later was cut to 60-58 when Manning and the Clippers responded.

Manning posted up Kevin Gamble, who is five inches shorter, for back-to-back baskets on the left side and then, with Ed Pinckney waiting to check in as a reinforcement, tried the same thing from the left side before missing.

Pinckney slowed Manning, and the Celtics surged again. They got the lead back to double digits, 71-61, before settling for a 74-65 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

Clipper Notes

Mack Calvin, one of the Clippers’ two assistant coaches, has been sidelined for at least two games. Calvin, the Southern California product in his first year with the Clippers, underwent surgery Monday to repair torn a Achilles’ tendon, suffered while playing against his brother in a pickup game the day before at a recreation center in their parents’ neighborhood in Carson. Calvin missed the game against the Celtics and also is expected to skip Thursday’s game at Charlotte. He will rejoin the team Saturday at Atlanta. Calvin said this is worse than any injury he had during an 11-year career in the pros. . . . This was the Clippers’ 19th home game, more than any other team. They play three games at the Sports Arena in January.