At 7:58 PM on June 7th, at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, the starting players of the Celtics and the Lakers were already on the court.
Celtics starting lineup: Danny Ainge, Zhang Yang, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish.
Lakers starting lineup: Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, James Worthy, A.C. Green, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Tonight, Auerbach didn't stay in the box, but instead came to the sidelines, standing with K.C. Jones.
K.C. Jones: "Are we really going to play like that? Coach, there's still time to change..."
Auerbach: "..."
During yesterday afternoon's pre-game strategy meeting, Auerbach's first reaction to the tactic provided by Bird was—can the game be played like this? Is that even a basketball game?
He then realized that this couldn't possibly be something Bird came up with alone; it must have been that young man who was staring at the ceiling.
Auerbach wanted to ask, what are other players supposed to do with such a tactic?
