Unfinished Business: May 17, 1991- Celtics season comes to an end
And that...is that. What else can I say? I hope you've enjoyed this "Unfinished Business" segment as this is the final posting of it. I was so devastated at the time of being knocked out by Detroit, I wrote the final article myself below, at age 12. It's not Sam Goldaper or Jeff Horrigan or David Dupree or Harvey Araton or Jack McCallum writing it. But I didn't want to remember what any of those guys had to say about that. It's in my own words.
I actually even tried to obtain a copy of the game 6 closeout game on DVD to re-watch it 25 years later, but wasn't able to get my hands on it. I haven't seen the egregious offensive-goaltending call referee Jack Madden made on Kevin McHale that basically ruined the Celtics' chances that night. With under a minute left, after fighting back from a 17 point deficit on the road in the 3rd quarter in Detroit, Kevin tipped in a Reggie Lewis miss that would've given the Celtics a two point lead. Madden waived it off and the game wound up going to overtime in which Detroit prevailed. The replays clearly showed the call was botched and to this day I think it was one of the worst calls I've ever seen in NBA history.
Not everyone has forgotten it over the years. I'm convinced had it gone back to Boston for Game 7 the Celtics find a way to win. And that would've set up the Bulls-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals that I wanted so badly.