| | BOSTON -- Game time was just 45 minutes away Friday night
and the Houston Rockets were shooting around. Charles Barkley was
nowhere to be found.
Steve Francis and Matt Bullard took aim at one basket. Walt
Williams and Thomas Hamilton shot at the other. A team of
youngsters and journeymen had lost its star, and the NBA had lost
one of its most colorful personalities of the last 15 years.
|  | | Charles Barkley says goodbye to the Boston crowd. |
"We lose his experience, knowledge and uniqueness," Houston
coach Rudy Tomjanovich said before the first game in the
post-Barkley era, against the Boston Celtics. "Our security
blanket is gone."
The Rockets also lost the game, 100-96 after wiping out a
25-point deficit and tying it at 89. Barkley could have made the
difference, but his career ended Wednesday night when he suffered a
serious knee injury at Philadelphia.
"It was hard," Barkley, who showed up five minutes before the
game dressed in black, said after sitting on the bench all game.
"It's hard that I'm leaving them for good tonight and it's hard
that they're leaving without me tonight. It's really hard."
Barkley made the trip to Boston because of his respect for the
rivalry he had with the Celtics when he played with Philadelphia.
He was honored at a halftime ceremony Friday and received two
framed mementos -- a green piece of the Celtics' parquet floor and
photo of him and former Celtic Larry Bird battling under the
basket.
In a video tape, Bird, who won three championships, took a jab
at Barkley's lack of an NBA title: "If you ever want to borrow any
of my championship rings, I'll let you use it, any time you want."
"It was definitely worth making the trip to Boston," Barkley
said. "When you think about professional basketball, it always
starts with the Celtics."
Barkley had planned to retire after this season, his 16th. But
his career ended Wednesday when he was helped off the court in
Philadelphia.
On Friday, the 6-foot-6 Barkley was subdued as he received a
standing ovation and listened to former Celtic forward Cedric
Maxwell, the master of ceremonies, say, "you don't measure the man
by his size but you measure the man by what's in his heart."
Then Barkley told the fans -- one of them holding a sign saying,
"Thanks for the memories Charles" -- why he wanted to come to
Boston despite his injury.
"I was sitting around one night with some old guys and they're
big sports fans and the old guy said, 'I played against the Yankees
one day. You ever heard of them?' " he said as the crowd booed the
mention of the Boston Red Sox nemesis.
"And this old guy, this old hockey player, he says, 'I played
against the Montreal Canadiens,' " Barkley said, sparking more
boos at the reference to the Boston Bruins rival.
"You know what I said to them? I said, 'Yeah, but I played
against the Celtics,"' he said. And this time the crowd roared as
Barkley limped away.
With no need to warm up for a game he wouldn't play, Barkley had
entered the FleetCenter arena to a standing ovation about five
minutes before the opening tip.
Barkley entered the NBA in 1984, one year after guard Calvin
Murphy retired from the Rockets.
Murphy, now a broadcaster and member of the Rockets' community
service organization, lamented the loss of Barkley, the personality
as well as the player, in a league short on veteran marquee
players.
Case in point: The Rockets signed little-known 27-year-old
forward Devin Gray, a three-year CBA veteran, from the Yakima Sun
Kings to take Barkley's roster spot.
"Charles said things and made people think. The NBA can't
afford to lose him now," Murphy said. "No matter where Charles
went, if he was cheered or booed, the place was packed. That's
better than going to a game and having a silent crowd."
Rick Pitino is in his third season as Celtics' coach, but his
most vivid memories came when, as coach of the New York Knicks from
1987-88 through 1988-89, he tried to find ways to stop Barkley.
"I coached against Charles when he was probably in his prime
with Philadelphia and we played him in the playoffs and he was
great back then," Pitino said. "Not that he still isn't a great
player."
At age 36, he averaged 15.1 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.3
assists in 19 games.
"It was a horrible experience for everyone on our team to see
him carried off," Tomjanovich said. "His loss means about 20
possessions a game where we have to find another option."
Barkley spiced up the league with controversial comments and
brought fans to their feet with aggressive play.
"He's a good ambassador for basketball," Pitino said. "He
might get himself in some tight jams (with his comments) but he
always gets out of them."
The knee injury is one jam even Barkley couldn't escape so he could
complete his career as he had planned.
"He's just an amazing character to take it as well as he's
taking it," said Murphy, a member of the Hall of Fame that Barkley
is certain to join. "The team and the NBA are going to surely miss
him."
| |
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