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Once it was clear the Hawks had the play-in game in their pocket Tuesday night, Dominique Wilkins began to have NBA flashbacks.
The team for which he starred all the way to the Hall of Fame and was now a broadcaster had vanquished host Miami and earned a place in the real playoffs — and a first-round date with Boston.
Wilkins was smiling Saturday afternoon before Game 1 of the series. Standing on the midcourt sideline in TD Garden before doing his pregame TV hit, he greeted familiar faces, then dribbled down memory lane with Heavy Sports.
“It brought back memories,” he said of his first thoughts upon realizing it would be Boston-Atlanta. “I’m sure you know that. All those games we had with the Celtics, those battles, man, I wouldn’t trade that for the world. It was a great time. Even in the losses, it was a great time. Man, we had some battles. We just blew our chance in Game 6 (in the 1988 conference finals). That haunts you, but it also makes you feel good, because you know you played against the greatest team at that time.”
That series ended with the famed Game 7 shootout between Wilkins and Larry Bird. Dominique outscored Larry, 47-34, but the Celtics got the 118-116 win.
“I remember that seventh game. Larry said, ‘Man, we both should have won this game. Unfortunately one of us got to go home.’ He said, ‘You was amazing.’ I think that’s the best compliment I ever got from a star player,” Wilkins said. “Under those type of circumstances, it was unbelievable. Stuff like that is very special to me, because I know what kind of guy he was and is and how hard it was to compete against him. You know, when I hear people making comparisons to Larry, I’m like, ‘Stop. He’s one of a kind.'”
Hawks See Celtics as Big Rivals
It was a game and a series and am era that’s still a big deal down south. The Hawks don’t conjure much emotion in Bostonians these days, but the feelings are far more intense in The ATL.
“To me and to us, it’s a huge rivalry,” Wilkins said. “I know it’s different for Boston, but for us it’s huge. This is the most talked about rivalry than with any team that Atlanta’s ever played to this day. That’s crazy, right? But both teams brought a lot to the table. The Celtics were always the team to beat for us, the team in the way. Look, call it what you want with the other good teams that were around then — and there were some great ones — but for us, the Celtics were the team. If you could get by them, the road to the championship looked good. But getting by them was a sonofabitch.
“From back in the ’50s and ’60, the Celtics have always been the standard bearer in this league — what they accomplished as a team, the organization and the way they led in so many ways.”
Wilkins, nattily attired in a perfectly tailored suit and leather sneakers, shook his head.
“There was that mystique, especially in the old Garden,” he told Heavy. “Remember how your guys used to mess with the water? We would come in after a game and the water would hot, or the locker room would be steamin’ hot.”
Informed that conditions were just as bad in the Celtics’ dressing room and that Kevin McHale used to reach up with an old hockey stick to open the windows for a bit of relatively fresh air from the ramp to Interstate 93, Wilkins laughed.
“I believe that, but I still believe y’all cut the hot water off on us,” he said. “It makes me feel better to think that, yeah.
“But that’s what made it so special, no matter if it was true or not. That made it special man. It was something to talk about. And we enjoyed it.
“And I’ll tell you what, even in this new Garden, it’s still got the same mystique, because those banners are still up there. So it don’t matter what building they’re in, that’s what brings the mystique — all that stuff up in the ceiling, that’s what makes the building special.”
‘You Were a Celtic Once’
The city, too. Wilkins played for the Celts during the 1994-95 season (the last in the old Garden) and maintained a home in the area “for five years after.”
“Being back here will always be personal for me — in many ways, first of all because I competed against them for so many years and it was at the highest level. And then I happened to play here a year, and I got to see it from the other side,” he said. “I tell you, the Boston fans gave me so much respect when I came here because of what I brought before I got here. Even to this day, I walk in the city and the fans say, ‘Hey, you were a Celtic once, so you OK.’
“I loved it out there. I did not want to sell that house, but I got an offer I couldn’t refuse. I had to let it go. But I loved being here. Boston, for me, was a well-kept secret. For me to be here that long after I retired, that tells you something. I enjoyed Boston. The only reason I went back is because I went in the (Hawks’) front office. But I had a great stay here. Even after I stopped playing, the Boston organization looked out for me.”
Now Wilkins and the Hawks are looking out for an Atlanta upset in the series — something that would seem far less possible than 35 years ago.
“Hey,” said ‘Nique with a smile, “you never know.”
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