Apr. 9, 1964 - The Celtics, professional basketball’s giants, resumed their all-conquering role tonight, outclassing the Royals, 109-95, before a capacity Boston Garden crowd of 13,909 to win their eighth consecutive Eastern Division playoff championship.
Boston took command early, spurting far out in front after Cincinnati’s Jerry Lucas was injured in the fifth minute of play. After that, the Celts were in control at all times. Boston will be going for its sixth straight world championship against the survivor of the St. Louis Hawks-San Francisco Warriors series.
Bill Russell, snapping back from his fourth game letdown, dominated the game as he had done in the first three games of the series. He gave a stupendous exhibition as he took 35 rebounds and scored 20 points.
But Russell was a star with a powerful supporting cast, as the Celtics to a man were at the top of their game.
K.C. Jones, lauded by the losers’ coach, Jack McMahon, after the game, again did a dogged, effective job covering the great Oscar Robertson.
A tightly knit, tenacious defense combined with a relentless offense overwhelmed the Royals in what was the most bruising game of the series.
The injury to Lucas was costly. The Royals’ prize rookie had sparked Cincinnati to its fourth-game victory and was rough on the Celtics during the regular season as the Royals took seven of 12 games. Lucas suffered a badly bruised elbow and a bump on his head, coming down with a thud after a collision with K.C. Jones.
Five Celtics were in double figures, Sam Jones leading the pack with 23 points. Oscar had 24, tops for the night, but K.C.’s shackling sharply reduced Robertson’s output of assists.
“All of our guys were great,” said Boston coach Red Auerbach afterward, “but it was the same old story. In the big one, he’s still Mr. Russell. But I’ll have to say this. The big difference in this game and in the whole series is that Russell has been getting more help. We played five-man defense.
“In other words, we weren’t letting guys drive by and saying, ‘Oh well, Russell will take care of it.’ Every man concentrated on the man he was covering. It took some of the load of Bill.”
McMahon agreed.
“Russell dominated the game again,” the disappointed coach said. “What a guy to have back there. He’s just like a big lock. But tonight, they would have beaten any team that ever played the game. I’ve never seen them hustle or go after any game like the way they did tonight.
“Another guy that killed us was that Heinsohn. He tore our hearts out with some of those shots he threw in at the start. Just how can you stop a running hook shot from the corner? You can’t, so when he’s going like that, you just have to sit there and take it.”
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