Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993 TAG: 9305040284
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Appropriately, the game was televised by TNT, but the Boston Celtics had to figure the explosions were over once Game 3 of their best-of-five series with the Hornets tipped off.
Then, Dell Curry started launching rockets.
"He was on fire," Charlotte coach Allan Bristow said of his fellow Virginia Tech alumnus.
Had Celtics president and coaching legend Red Auerbach been in the sellout crowd of 23,698 at the hive, Curry gladly would have lit up his victory cigar.
In his 19-point first half, Curry fired one airball to prove he was human. The rest of the second quarter, he was a human highlights tape.
In a span of 6:50, Curry scored 14 points and had two assists and two rebounds, leading Charlotte to a 119-89 detonation of the Celtics, who were left 48 hours from an early vacation after their worst playoff loss since a 33-pointer to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the 1984 NBA Finals.
Curry's first playoff series for the expansion franchise was nothing to write about until Game 3. He was 6-of-18 as Charlotte took away Boston's home-parquet advantage with a split of two Garden parties.
"It's a different game in the playoffs, but I wasn't nervous up there," Curry said before he scored 27 points on a 12-of-17 night. "I was pushing my shots. I was expecting the defense to be there before it was."
Curry was an awful 3-for-12 in the opening loss to the Celtics on Thursday, and he had shot 36 percent against Boston in four regular-season games.
In the playoffs, however, he who hesitates - unless it's someone running isolation in the half-court offense - usually loses. When Curry entered the game, he was in a rush to shoot again, but in a different manner.
"I was more relaxed," Curry said after the rout. "I haven't shot the ball well lately. When you're slumping, the main thing is don't stop shooting."
Did he consider that?
"I've never done that," Curry said, smiling.
Curry is the ultimate shooting guard, and once he started scoring, the Celtics had more than a 6-foot-5 long-distance problem. Curry, always underrated as a passer because of his shooting ability, was sucking up Boston defenders then dishing low.
"We kept leaving Dell open," said Celtics coach Chris Ford. "He was never meant to be the open man. No matter who picked Dell up, they couldn't stay with him. He's too great of a shooter."
Curry's stretching of Boston's slow-footed defense pushed Charlotte to 15 straight points for a 50-34 lead with 4:20 left in the half. When Bristow pulled Curry 1:50 before halftime, it wasn't his idea.
"It was unbelieveable," said Bristow. "I didn't want to take Dell out. He took himself out. He was tired."
With scoring leader Reggie Lewis having moved to a second Boston hospital for a second opinion on his cardiac abnormality, the Celtics had no chance in their halfcourt offense against the Hornets, whose quickness produced 17 turnovers that became 33 points.
Curry, the original Hornet as the club's first pick in the 1988 expansion draft and the leading scorer in franchise history, simply shot the Celtics to one game from playoff oblivion.
In the fourth quarter, with the seats emptying, he hit a 3-pointer while falling into the Hornets' bench.
"Some nights, you just have that feel," he said after a longer-than-expected visit to the trainer's room.
Maybe he was icing down his right arm.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB